Junior Booklovers Contest Winner Aaron, age 11, Surrey,
BC
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is a thrilling and
suspense-filled story that readers all over the world will enjoy.
Harry Potter is an exciting gateway to an enchanted world of magic
and curses, truth and lies, joy and sadness. All of this is woven
into a plot so realistic that it seems you are there, with Harry,
Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.
Harry is back at school again for his fourth year at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and surprises are in store for
him. This fourth book by J. K. Rowling takes the whole series to a
new level of suspense and excitement. While the basic plot remains
the same - Voldemort sets a trap to get Harry into his grasp to try
and kill him and finish the job he started years ago - the twists
and turns in this 636 page book will have you so engrossed in the
plot that you will probably lose track of time.
I highly recommend this book if you are an avid reader, because
although J. K. Rowling has doubled the size of this book compared
to the preceding ones, she has managed to capture the attention of
her fans and keep it, from cover to cover.
These books do not need to be sold to the reader as they are a
part of a cult that seems to have gained a momentum of its own. One
can safely bet that this book, like its predecessors, will be made
into a movie. I do recommend, however, that you read the book
before going to see the movie, as contrary to popular belief, words
are worth a thousand pictures!!
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The hype surrounding the release of the fourth Harry Potter
adventure was unprecedented in the world of children's literature
-- can the book itself live up to it? It depends what you were
expecting, and in the end, it's still just a story. But like the
three that preceded it, this is a well-crafted and wonderfully
imaginative story of action, adventure and intrigue -- it builds on
the events of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and
Prisoner of Azkaban and shows that Rowling is proud of the
world she's created. Rightfully so.
The first sign that this book is going to be somewhat different
comes early -- instead of the familiar opening showing Harry trying
to survive the summer at the Dursley's, the first portentous
chapter shows the dark wizard Voldemort strengthening, preparing
for his return to power. After that ominous beginning, the
narrative returns to familiar patterns -- Harry's miserable
vacation with his Muggle relatives is improved by a hilarious visit
from the Weasleys and a trip to the Quidditch World Cup. The scenes
at this magical sporting event are marvelously inventive --
thousands of wizards try to keep a low profile among the Muggles as
they arrive en masse to camp near a bewitched stadium invisible to
non-magic eyes.
When Harry, Ron and Hermione finally arrive at Hogwarts, it
becomes clear that the school year will run differently, too.
Students from two other European wizard academies -- Durmstrang, a
thinly-veiled Eastern European school filled with swarthy types,
and Beauxbatons, the snooty French school whose students wear silk
robes and disdain the "'eavy 'Ogwarts food" -- will be staying at
the castle to participate in a long-abandoned inter-school magic
competition.
Rowling introduces several compelling new characters -- the
Bulgarian Quidditch hero Viktor Krum, the muckraking witch
journalist Rita Skeeter and of course, the new Defense Against the
Dark Arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody, a scarred and paranoid veteran of
the Auror's squad, the magical world's combination FBI/SWAT
team.
The themes and events of the book are darker, and more mature, but
then Harry and the gang are 14 now. So there are crushes and
jealousies, that first wonderful and horrible school dance, and
further revelations from the past that both clarify and complicate
the battle between good and evil. The plot is more complex, with
some unthinkable twists and turns that the magical milieu makes
possible and enjoyable. There are some genuine surprises, more
dangerous and violent challenges and, as predicted, a death. But
however fantastic the events become, the reader never ceases to
care deeply what happens to Harry, Ron, Hermione and the others.
That is Rowling's genius -- crafting characters so multi-layered
and plausible, that, magic or no, we can believe they are real.
Ages 9 and up.