Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter 03); By J.K Rowling

genre } fiction | teens | fantasy | adventure | series
release date } 1st April 2000
publisher } Bloomsbury Publishing 
format } paperback
pages } 317 p
source } bought
age group } teens
interest } teens to adults
challenge } -
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter 03
By J.K Rowling

Via GoodReads
For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.

As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works.

My 2 Cents
Mmm… the book is getting thicker and thicker, isn’t it? I actually love the Dementors. The purple bus was kind of funny since we actually have purple buses in Brunei. Never see them in that way again. The only thing I can say is… the pace didn’t slow down. and I am ♥LOVING♥ it. I’m just glad I actually bought 4 books in one go here.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter 02); by J.K Rowling

genre } fiction | teens | fantasy | adventure | series
release date } 1st September 2000
publisher } Scholastic Paperbacks
format } paperback
pages } 341 p
source } bought
age group } teens
interest } teens to adults
challenge } -
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
(Harry Potter 02)
by J.K Rowling

Via GoodReads
The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart; a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom; and the unwanted attention of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone—or something—starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects . . . Harry Potter himself?

My 2 Cents
I’d picked up this book as soon the last one finished. I’ve slept and ate, no worries. The book picked up as fast as it did with the first one. That was also as page turner as it was the last too. I was actually glad I’d pick it up as fast as I did, cause damn that book was really engaging! It’s officially one of my favorite series. 

I can’t help it.. but Gilderoy Lockhart is a very annoying professor. What with one foot in Harry’s spotlight, he make sure everybody knew he knew him personally. I feel like hitting him with a baseball bat… –_-“

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter 01); by JK Rowling

genre } fiction | teens | fantasy | adventure | series
release date } 1st November 2003
publisher } Scholastic Press
format } paperback
pages } 310 p
source } bought
age group } teens
interest } teens to adults
challenge } -
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
(Harry Potter 01)
by; JK Rowling

Via GoodReads
Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.

All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley—a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry—and anyone who reads about him—will find unforgettable. For it's there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter.

My 2 Cents
It took me a while to actually get into the Harry Potter series. He kept popping up in my Amazon.com searches, so I after a bit of bugging me like that, I ended up giving in and bought it. (I’ve have bought 4 of this series in one go. – yes I’m weird like that.)

The book didn’t start all slow and time pace with background stories some books like be. It was fast, and such a page turner, I refused to do anything else other than read and if it had to, I slipped in a bit of reading the book here and there.

My first impression was “WOW”. It had been a long time since I found an engaging book to read. It has witches, wizards, unfortunate orphan, humanly evil family members, magic school, magic train, and more! That was fun and sad…

My second impression was, real life kids could relate with this one. Harry Potter may be younger than me, but heck, I could empathize with him. Yet, It was awesome to see he survive through his hard life….

Now let’s see how the story develop through out the series. So far.. I’m addicted.

Book Review: Wait Till Helen Comes; By Mary Downing Hahn

Oh man… Mary Downing Hahn is awesome. If you want to do a classic scare for kids, this would be one of those. This reminds me alot of Christopher Pike and RL. Stine, but much more given nostalgic feel to it. If you would like to introduce young readers to the horror genre, this would be another excellent book to offer them.

Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story
By Mary Downing Hahn

Beware of Helen...

Heather is such a whiny little brat. Always getting Michael and me into trouble. But since our mother married her father, we're stuck with her...our "poor stepsister" who lost her real mother in a mysterious fire.

But now something terrible has happened. Heather has found a new friend, out in the graveyard behind our home -- a girl named Helen who died with her family in a mysterious fire over a hundred years ago. Now her ghost returns to lure children into the pond...to drown! I don't want to believe in ghosts, but I've followed Heather into the graveyard and watch her talk to Helen. And I'm terrified. Not for myself, but for Heather...

Finished Reading: 23th July 2009 (library copy)
Acquire: 10th October 2011
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Children | Mystery | Paranormal | Ghosts
Release Day }  November 1987
Publisher } Harpercollins
Format } paperback  
ISBN } 9780380704422
Pages } 192 pages
Source } borrowed 
Age Group } 12+
Interests } teens   
Awards }
Support my reading by getting your copy } Kindle | Amazon

Book Review: The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles 1); By Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi

Honestly, I was fighting off stares when I bought this (because it was a children book.) Then again, it open the door to me reading children’s books again. I love this series. It’s simple but it would be a wonderful introduction for children to read urban fantasy and eerie books.

First Words. If someone had asked Jared Grace what jobs his brother and sister would have when they grew up, he would have had no trouble replying.

Quote. The room had a low ceiling, and the walls were covered in bookshelves. Looking around, he realized there was no door.

The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles #1)
By Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi

When the three Grace children -- Mallory, Jared, and Simon -- and their mom move into Aunt Lucinda's old house, readers know there's magic afoot. The kids uncover a nest of assembled junk, and on a visit to the secret library via the dumbwaiter, Jared finds a note describing "my secret to all mankind." After a few mysterious pranks that get blamed on Jared, the boy finally digs up the real prize: Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Fortunately enough, the kids meet one of the critters listed in the guide -- a brownie named Thimbletack -- who makes it all "real" and helps provide the book's suspenseful conclusion: "'Throw the book away, toss it in a fire. If you do not heed, you will draw their ire.'"

Finished Reading: 16th May 2007
Acquire: 01st May 2007
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Children | Supernatural | Urban Fantasy
Release Day }  01st May 2003
Publisher } Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Format } Hardcover
ISBN } 9780689859366
Pages } 128 pages
Source } Bought
Age Group } 9 yo +
Awards }
- 1001 Children’s Book You Must Read Before you Grow Up
- Flicker tales Children’s Book Award (2005)