Recommendations based on "Harry Potter Film Wizardry: Updated Edition From the Creative Team Behind the Celebrated Movie Series"

Includes a colorful teaching poster and engaging activities!A complete guide to teaching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Includes an author biography, background information, summaries, thought-provoking discussion questions, as well as creative, cross-curricular activities and reproducibles that motivate students.

This instrumental series contains selected themes from the box office sensation Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Playable by any combination of instruments -- large ensembles, small ensembles, or solos -- the arrangements capture the wonderful sounds from the movie. Fingering charts are included. Titles are: Hedwig's Theme * Diagon Alley * Hogwarts Forever * Nimbus 2000 * Cast a Christmas Spell * Harry's Wondrous World.

Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As Harry and Ron embark on their journey to Hogwarts in a flying Ford Anglia, little do they know that this year will be just as eventful as the last as ghosts from Hogwarts past return to haunt the school corridors. The texts

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. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson

UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER gives you five essential keys for understanding the HARRY POTTER series. Not just who will live or die in DEATHLY HOLLOWS, but how J.K. Rowling created the most successful books of our times. To understand the story behind the stories, John Granger, author of THE HIDDEN KEY TO HARRY POTTER and editor of WHO KILLED ALBUS DUMBLEDORE?, introduces the themes and patterns Rowling uses to write books that resonate with readers of all ages. This book is for "serious readers" but Granger writes in a very entertaining style. If you never understood the term "postmodernism" or how "literary alchemy" is used by great authors from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling, then this is a fun way to learn. UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER is the only book to examine in depth the importance of what Rowling said in an interview from 1998, that "to invent this wizard world" she had to learn about alchemy "in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic." - . - . - . - . - Here's what other HARRY POTTER authors and experts have to say about UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER: - . - . - . - . - "I got so hooked I had to stop everything else and just read, read, read. I carried it around the house, read it while using the excercycle, I hid in rooms away from the action of daily life so I could take it all in. I haven't had that reaction to a book since, well, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. A spectacular read for all serious fans of Rowling's works. Compelling, well-argued, fun and funny. Engaging. Thought provoking. Erudite." - Tom Morris, author of IF HARRY POTTER RAN GENERAL ELECTRIC and PHILOSOPHY FOR DUMMIES. - . - . - . - . - "John Granger peels back the layers of Rowling's stories and sees patterns the rest of us miss - and he never forgets to be a fan, engaging in fun speculation about what will come in the finale. Once more Granger has shown himself to be second to none among Potter commentators and literary sleuths. Some books are meant to be ingested quickly. Not this one. Serious fans of HARRY POTTER will relish it." - David Baggett, editor of HARRY POTTER AND PHILOSOPHY.

Titles: The Chamber of Secrets * Dobby the House Elf * Fawkes the Phoenix * The Flying Car * Gilderoy Lockhart * Harry's Wondrous World * Hedwig's Theme * Moaning Myrtle * Nimbus 2000. Includes numerous full-color photos from the motion picture as well as a souvenir poster.

Why not take seriously the claim that Harry Potter's world intertwines with our own? In this timely yet otherworldly volume, more than a dozen scholars of international relations join hands to demonstrate how this well-loved artifact of popular culture reflects and shapes our own lifeworld. A wide range of historical and sociological sources shows how Harry's world contains aspects of our own. Practices such as quidditch dovetail quite clearly with 'muggle' sports, and the very British-ness of the books has, in translation into languages such as Turkish and Arabic, been transformed to reflect these unique cultures. Chapters on the political economy of the franchise as well as the scholarly problems of studying popular culture frame what is essentially a highly info-taining read.

In Harry Potter and Philosophy, seventeen philosophical experts unlock some of Hogwarts' secret panels, and uncover surprising insights that are enlightening both for wizards and the most discerning muggles.

Now updated to include all eight of the acclaimed motion pictures, Harry Potter: Film Wizardry Revised and Expanded gives readers a front row seat to the magical journey that brought J.K. Rowling's wizarding world to the big screen. Step off Platform Nine and Three Quarters and into the hidden world behind the scenes of the Harry Potter film series as Brian Sibley, author of The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, The Land of Narnia, and other bestselling behind-the-screen books, makes the magic more real than ever with stunning art, removable extras, a new Harry Potter photo album, and interviews with director David Yates; actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman; and other members of the cast, crew, design and production teams.

While it's practically impossible for any middle school reader not to know about the blockbuster success of the Harry Potter novels, few Potter fans actually have much insight into the life of the woman who penned the popular books--J. K. Rowling. After all, she rarely gives interviews. Not to worry. With the investigative skills of the best bloodhound, Compson has been methodical about his research. The result is a fascinating look at behind-the-scenes information on J. K. Rowling and how she came up with the idea for the Harry Potter books. Also noted is her participation in the making of the first Harry Potter movie and some of her favorite books.