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STACKS Book Club: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Welcome back to the magical STACKS Book Club! What an amazing ending to J. K. Rowling’s, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! This book is filled with so many villains, so many friends, and so much magic, I hardly know where to begin. We’re always welcoming new members, so whether you joined Meeting 1 or this is your first time, please join the conversation!

• What type of mischief would you get into if you had an invisibility cloak?
• Would you be afraid of entering the forbidden forest?
• Hagrid’s giant, three-headed dog is named Fluffy. If you had a three-headed dog, what would you name it?
• What would your reaction be if you discovered your friend was raising a baby dragon?
• What obstacle would you be best at completing: catching a winged key, winning a game of chess, or solving a riddle and drinking the correct potion?
• What would you be thinking if you were face to face with Voldemort?

Post your answers in the Comments below and ask your own questions to the STACKS Book Club! To meet and chat with other Harry Potter fans, join the Harry Potter Message Boards.

–Brian, STACKS Staffer

What am I reading now? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
 

On Sunday, July 10, 2011, CTV aired an episode of Hiccups entitled ”Novel Idea.” Here’s a brief summary:

After the top mystery author at Haddison House casts aspersions on Millie’s Grumpaloo books, she decides to fully explore her authorship by writing a novel.

Ah, sweet ignorance. Some people truly do believe that writing children’s literature is just a matter of stringing a few words together. In fact, you’d be surprised at just how often I am faced with such remarks.

They are always quick to say, “How hard can it be?” Well, at times, it can be impossibly hard. The truth of the matter is that a children’s author is always working with a number of parameters in mind.

An author of picture books is restricted by both page count and word count. Writers of chapter books are constantly aware of their target audience’s reading comprehension level. With young adult literature, comes the concern of darkness. An issue that made waves recently with Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article “Darkness Too Visible” for The Wall Street Journal. And that’s, as they say, just the tip of the iceberg.

A children’s author must forge a connection with his or her reader while operating within the most rigid of boundaries. Sometimes all an author has is eight hundred words to create magic. Therefore, every word must have a purpose. Only a select few possess the skill it takes to write something that will linger in a child’s consciousness long after the book is closed. Those who do, deserve far more than they receive.

What am I reading now? The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by K. DiCamillo
 
On Thursday, October 28, 2010, Scholastic launched You Are What You Read, a new social networking site for readers. The main focus of You Are What You Read is to both “celebrate those books that helped us discover who we are and who we can become.”

Users can log on through existing social media accounts, namely Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google, LinkedIn and MySpace. Once users have logged on they have the chance to not only share the five books that made a difference in their lives but also connect with readers around the world through shared “Bookprints.” Daniel Radcliffe, Taylor Swift and Venus Williams are just a few of the more than 130 “Names You Know” who have shared their Bookprints.

In addition, You Are What You Read provides users with the opportunity to:

In the spirit of You Are What You Read and to get the ball rolling even further, here’s my Bookprint:

1. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

2. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

4. The Giver by Lois Lowry

5.