Harry+Potter

=Kyle Thibodeau 4/11/11=

=//﻿Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince//= =by J.K. Rowling= Action-Fantasy

Summary : //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// is the sixth installment in the //Harry Potter// series. //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// provides the rising action in the war against Lord Voldemort. Throughout the story, Harry Potter begins to realize the actuality of Voldemort's power. Throughout the book, Voldemort's power and vast and diverse following are fully revealed. //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// shows Draco Malfoy's mental struggles as he attempts to carry out The Dark Lord's orders by killingProfessor Dumbledore. Meanwhile, Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore begin to unravel Lord Voldemort's past. Harry and Professor Dumbledore travel into the past to learn that Voldemort had been interested in Horcruxes. Horcruxes are items in which a person stores part of his soul which he has split from his whole soul, by taking a life. Harry and Professor Dumbledore set out to destroy the Horcruxes, finding and destroying only 2 of 7. After destroying these horcruxes, Draco Malfoy unsuccessfully attempts to carry out The Dark Lord's wishes and take Professor Dumbledore's life, at this, Professor Snape intervenes, performing the Unforgivable Curse, Avada Kedavra, killing Professor Dumbledore, due to the fact that he had made an Unbreakable Bond, a Bond that causes someone to bind their life to the promise to carry out a deed, with Draco's mother, vowing to help Carry out The Dark Lord orders should Draco fail.

Amazon.com Review
The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated, arguably over-hyped //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// has arrived, and the question on the minds of kids, adults, fans, and skeptics alike is, "Is it worth the hype?" The answer, luckily, is simple: yep. A magnificent spectacle more than worth the price of admission, //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// will blow you away. However, given that so much has gone into protecting the secrets of the book (including armored trucks and injunctions), don't expect any spoilers in this review. It's much more fun not knowing what's coming--and in the case of Rowling's delicious sixth book, you don't want to know. Just sit tight, despite the earth-shattering revelations that will have your head in your hands as you hope the words will rearrange themselves into a different story. But take one warning to heart: do not open //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// until you have first found a secluded spot, safe from curious eyes, where you can tuck in for a good long read. Because once you start, you won't stop until you reach the very last page. A darker book than any in the series thus far with a level of sophistication belying its genre, //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// moves the series into murkier waters and marks the arrival of Rowling onto the adult literary scene. While she has long been praised for her cleverness and wit, the strength of Book 6 lies in her subtle development of key characters, as well as her carefully nuanced depiction of a community at war. In //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince//, no one and nothing is safe, including preconceived notions of good and evil and of right and wrong. With each book in her increasingly remarkable [|series], fans have nervously watched J.K. Rowling raise the stakes; gone are the simple delights of butterbeer and enchanted candy, and days when the worst ailment could be cured by a bite of chocolate. A series that began as a colorful lark full of magic and discovery has become a dark and deadly war zone. But this should not come as a shock to loyal readers. Rowling readied fans with [|//Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire//] and [|//Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix//] by killing off popular characters and engaging the young students in battle. Still, there is an unexpected bleakness from the start of Book 6 that casts a mean shadow over Quidditch games, silly flirtations, and mountains of homework. Ready or not, the tremendous ending of //Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince// will leave stunned fans wondering what great and terrible events await in Book 7 if this sinister darkness is meant to light the way. //--Daphne Durham// " From" []

Link to the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Website: []

Interview With J.K. Rowling : //The 39-year-old native of England and her Scottish husband, Neil Murray, have some kids of their own. They just had their second child together, and Jo has one older daughter from a previous marriage.// //Jo says her growing family has given her new perspective, and made writing more of a labor of love.// //Her publisher may disagree. Not including this newest novel, the wildly popular series about the sensational but shy, young wizard has sold some 270 million books in 62 languages, even Braille, turning a generation of couch potatoes onto the lost art of reading.// //And this seven year phenomenon shows no sign of waning.// //“Half-Blood Prince” is expected to out-sell the fastest selling hardback in history, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”// //“Harry Potter five was the largest product release ever in the history of Amazon.com,” says Jan Baker-Strand of Amazon.com. “And it was nearly double the size of Harry Potter four.”// //That’s why for book six, Potter’s publisher, Scholastic, ordered a printing of 10.8 million copies, the largest first printing of any book ever.// //Her paranoia is justified. Spoiler sites and stolen book pages have plagued previous installments. So, in the months leading up to book six’s release, binderies both home and abroad were forced to take extraordinary security measures to make sure Harry’s secrets were safe.// //Still, rumors were rampant the manuscript had leaked, especially after betting Web sites based in Britain were taking odds on whether or not Harry’s headmaster Dumbledore was doomed. For those of you who haven’t read the book yet, we won’t spill the beans.// //But even Jo couldn’t have conjured up// this //Potter plot: Last month, two men were arrested for allegedly trying to sell a stolen book to a British tabloid. British police confirm one of them was charged with possession of a firearm.// //Meanwhile, Rowling’s money keeps... well, rolling in.// //Never mind the books, the first three Harry Potter movies have grossed over $2.5 billion. And the fourth film, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” comes to theaters this fall.// //But Rowling hasn’t forgotten what is was like before she became synonymous with fame and fortune— less than a decade ago, when the only checks coming in to her house were welfare checks.// And when I clapped eyes on the place, I burst into tears. I couldn’t stop crying. For a moment, I was back where I had been all those years ago. It brought back this tidal wave of emotion. And I think it hit me so hard how life had changed. And in all respects, how wonderful it was. And I’m standing there and I’m looking at this place and I’m thinking, it was almost like, I would see the ghost of myself standing in the window and I would be able to communicate to that person, “It’s all going to be okay. You know, you’re working so hard, and it will be okay. And it will be more than okay, it will be fabulous.” I will never forget how it felt to go back there. //While Rowling understands everyone loves a rags-to-riches story, she says “happily ever after” is not automatically her epilogue.// //Jo told us, she’s already begun writing book seven— the one in which she will bring the Harry Potter saga to its climactic end.// //And as she looks forward to a literary life beyond Harry Potter, Jo says she will savor her final journey aboard the Hogwarts Express.//
 * Katie Couric:** Not many adult journalists are being given this opportunity so I’m very, very flattered. And why have you decided to keep the number of grownups at a minimum?
 * Rowling:** Mainly because I’ve just had a baby, to be totally honest with you. It’s pressure of time. I just couldn’t really fit a whole bunch of interviews into the, you know, the nursing schedule, so I just decided that I was going to try and focus on the kids this time.
 * Rowling:**And we’ve got a mad dog as well that your crew met earlier.
 * Rowling:**I took a break, as you may remember, between the end of “Goblet” and “Phoenix.” And then since I started writing again, I have to say I’ve absolutely love it. But I am pacing myself a little better.
 * Couric:** How are you doing it differently?
 * Rowling:** I think that emotionally, I’ve probably felt a little bit more balanced when I started writing again. And, although, life was actually fuller because I got married again and was pregnant for most of the writing of “Phoenix.” I was almost pregnant for most of the writing —in fact for all of the writing of...
 * Couric:** Maybe pregnancy makes you more creative.
 * Rowling:** Well, I was also pregnant while writing “Philosopher’s Stone” so actually half of my novelistic output has been done while pregnant, so.
 * Couric:** So maybe you shouldn’t stop having babies.
 * Rowling:** No, really Katie, I think we’ll stop here. That’s not a good enough reason.
 * Couric:** You ever get mobbed by throngs of 11-year-olds?
 * Rowling:** The most embarrassing one was last year. I was in a café in Edinburgh, and I got up and I went into the ladies room, and I heard a whole lot of people come into the bathroom and a lot of whispering. Didn’t really think about it. Came out of the cubicle to find about 11 teenage girls all standing holding bits of paper. And you really don’t want to be ambushed in that situation preferably. So that one was, I mean, they were they were adorable. But I would have preferred them to wait while I was out of the ladies room. Call me prudish.
 * Couric:**You’ve said the opening chapter of this book has been brewing in your mind for 13 years.
 * Rowling:** It has, yeah. You find out a lot more back story, really a lot. Harry finds out a lot more about the past which hopefully will be useful to him in the future. You see, I’m even measuring what I’m saying because I can see it written on fan sites, with them analyzing what I’ve just said, and thinking “What does this mean?” But you know, you could go a little bit mad.
 * Couric:** There were basically armed guards everywhere. People had to wear ID badges. And one employee joked that as of yet there had not been a body cavity search.
 * Rowling:** No you wouldn’t want it in a body cavity. This is a big book.
 * Rowling:** They think Dumbeldore’s a goner. Well, I will say that I have actually never said that a major character is going to die.
 * Couric:** So it’s not true?
 * Rowling:** I’m not saying that.
 * Couric:** Do you ever feel like the world has gone mad?
 * Rowling:** Has gone insane? Yeah, absolutely. I mean ultimately what is this? It’s a kid’s book. And I mean obviously it’s my life. I mean I’ve worked very hard on it. But 15 years ago, if someone had said “You know yeah, you’ll publish it, it will be popular, and they’ll be guns involved.” I think it’s just— it’s surreal isn’t it?
 * Couric:** I know that you’re very modest about your success. On the other hand, I read, Jo, that you are one of four self-made female billionaires in the world—
 * Rowling:** Billionaires?
 * Couric:** No, is that wrong?
 * Rowling:** It’s okay— well— You feel really sorry for me, I’m not a billionaire, what a tragedy.
 * Couric:** Well—
 * Rowling:** No, this about that figure came from Forbes Magazine.
 * Couric:** Right.
 * Rowling:** And I have been told that they are speculating on all possible future earnings, all past earnings. And, frankly, they’re adding figures together that don’t exist. So I am not a billionaire. I’ve got plenty of money, more money than I ever dreamed I would have. But I am not a billionaire.
 * Couric:** So the b-word does not apply?
 * Rowling:** No, not at all. But if we assume that they’ve inflated the other women similarly. So, you know, relatively speaking, I’m doing okay.
 * Rowling:**Last year, when I was pregnant with Mackenzie, Neil and I were on the other side of Edinburgh. And we were very near the flat in which I finished writing "Philosopher’s Stone." I hadn’t been back there since I had left it and moved to a new house. And I said to Neil, “Let’s go around the corner, this is where I used to live.”
 * Rowling:** This was something that I always had difficulty with expressing when it had all just happened to me, and everyone wanted my emotions to be very simple. They wanted me to say, “I was poor and I was unhappy, and now I’ve got money and I’m really happy.” And it’s what we all want to see when the quiz winner wins the big prize, you know. You want to see some jumping up and down, for everything to be very uncomplicated. The fact is, I was living a very pure life. There was no press involvement, there was no pressure. Life was very pure and it became more complicated.
 * Couric:** If you, God forbid, got hit by a bus...
 * Rowling:** Yeah, it’s perfectly possible, I’m a very distracted person.
 * Couric:** Does anybody know your ideas for book seven?
 * Rowling:** No.
 * Couric:** Nobody? Not a soul?
 * Rowling:** No.
 * Couric:** Not Neil?
 * Rowling:** I wouldn’t tell— Neil would forget. You know, he wouldn’t be a good person to tell anyway. No, no one knows. Which is good, because if I do get hit by a bus, I would really hate to think someone else was going to take over. It’s my baby.
 * Couric:** When you finish it, and obviously you have a lot of work ahead of you, are you going to be sad or—
 * Rowling:** Yeah. It’s going to be really emotional to say goodbye. I’m going to find it very difficult. But it must be done, it must be done. It’s been a fabulous ride, but you have to know when to get off, and I know when to get off, and it will be the end of book seven.
 * Couric:** Terrifying, though, to think about what you’ll do next—
 * Rowling:** No, liberating. Definitely. Yeah. It is. The world is my oyster. I can do whatever I like.

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