Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Round 1)

    The book I am writing about this week is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling. It is about Harry Potter and his friends in their third year at Hogwarts, dealing with new classes and and a new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. There is also a mysterious criminal who has escaped from Azkaban named Sirius Black, who is expected to show up at Hogwarts. So far, I have read 143 pages of this book so far. I chose this book because I have been reading the Harry Potter series and I wanted to continue it. I think I will continue to read this book and write about it.

The main character of the story is Harry Potter. His parents were killed by the evil wizard Voldemort when he was two and he lives with his uncle and aunt, who hate him. He is kind, brave, and loyal to his friends. He is also very good at Quidditch, and plays on the Gryffindor quidditch team.

The antagonist of the story is Sirius Black, the escaped prisoner from Azkaban. Although Harry has not met him in person yet, he seems to be after Harry. Harry overhears the Weasleys talking about Black and how he wants Harry dead. Another possible antagonist could be the dementors, who are looking for Sirius Black, but make Harry faint. Harry is scared of these dementors.

One setting in the book is Hogwarts, a wizarding school. This is where Harry learns how to be a wizard and faces many enemies. At Hogwarts, there are many subjects that young witches and wizards learn, like Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. There are also 4 houses of students, which compete for points. They are Gryffindor(Harry's house), Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Another setting in the book is the Dursley house, which is where Harry was forced to grow up. The Dursleys hate anything to do with magic, so they lock Harry's wizarding books away for the summer. They are always looking down on him and are embarrassed of him.

A conflict Harry faces at the beginning of the book is when Aunt Marge comes to visit the Dursleys. When they are eating dinner, Aunt Marge starts saying insulting things about Harry's parents, like that they are lazy and left Harry as a burden to the Dursleys. His anger unexpectedly causes Aunt Marge to blow up like a balloon and float. Uncle Vernon, horrified, gets angry at Harry, who is nervous because he is not allowed to do magic over the summer. He grabs his trunk, runs out of the house, and escapes the Dursleys.

I liked when Harry and his classmates were in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, with their new teacher, Professor Lupin. He tells them to turn their worst fears into something that they found funny. This part of the story was very entertaining to read, because I could imagine the Boggart transforming rapidly into these different figures.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets(Round 5)

    The book I'm writing about today is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling. I have finished the book. So far, it is about Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione trying to figure out who the heir of Slytherin is and why they are attacking students at Hogwarts. In the section I read this week, Harry goes into the chamber of secrets and figures out that the Basilisk, a giant snake, was the one turning students to stone. Also, Harry finds Tom Riddle, who is essentially a younger version of Voldemort, and fights him.
    I would be enemies with Draco Malfoy, a student in Slytherin at Hogwarts who doesn't like Harry and his friends. I would be enemies with him because he is always acting rude and entitled. He thinks he is above everyone just because his family is pure bloods. He also calls people degrading names like 'mudblood' because their parents aren't wizards. He would impact my life because I would stand up to him when he bullies people, making him hate me.
   A character that is different from Draco Malfoy is Harry Potter. He is kind, determined, clever, and wants to help his friends. He seems realistic because he deals with problems like abuse from the Dursleys despite being a famous wizard. Harry also struggles to navigate all the attention he gets for being a famous wizard. He lies sometimes, but that is justified because he is doing it for the greater good, and to save Hogwarts from danger.
    I think that the author did a good job with world building in the book. The world of magic and Hogwarts seems very believable. The author does well with explaining how wizards and Muggles coexist in this world, for example platform 9 3/4, which only wizards know how to get to. The system of school at Hogwarts is also very well explained. We learn how a typical day at Hogwarts goes, how it looks inside, and what students do in each class.
    I think the conflict is very ominous and interesting. I think it is resolved very well at the end when Fawkes the phoenix comes back to help Harry. I liked the story about Tom Riddle and his diary, and how Harry and his friends slowly found out more and more until everything about him was revealed at the end. The conflict wasn't resolved too quickly, and it was truly challenging to the characters to solve.
    I would recommend this book to my 16 year old cousin. She likes reading fantasy books, but she hasn't read Harry Potter yet. She also likes watching movies involving magic, so I think she would love reading Harry Potter.