Introduction
What
is Harry Potter?
Hello
ladies, and gentleman. I am Nutta and today I would like to talk to you about
one of my favorite things in whole world, and that is none other than the
absolutely famous, one and only, Harry Potter!
Now
I know you have probably heard that name so many times, these last few years,
you’d cringe when you realize that some people don’t have the slightest idea
about what it really is. I mean COME ON! Because you haven’t lived unless you
experience the Magical world, of Harry.
Actually…how
many people here, have an idea of what I am talking about..?
Well
for those of you who don’t know who Harry Potter is, here is a brief summary.
And
for those of you who do know who Harry Potter is…well It won’t matter
because I will just keep talking anyway since it’s my presentation.
Ok,
so Harry is this normal kid who lost both his parents to a car accident. OR…so
he thought. See when young Harry turns 11 years old, after being brought up by
his evil aunt and uncle, the Durslys, and his nasty cousin Dudly. He finds out
that he is actually a wizard; And that his parents died while they trying to
save him, and the world from the evil Voldemort. This guy is so evil he puts
Hitler and Sadam Hussain to shame! Harry eventually goes to Hogwarts; the school
of witchcraft and wizardry. And he becomes friends with Ronald Weasly, and
Hermione Granger. They spend 7 years in Hogwarts, and every year has a new
adventure.
I
can tell by the fidgeting in your seats that you are DYING to know who the
creator of this absolute genius is. Of course it could also mean that you are
bored… but for my confidence’s sake I’ll take the first possibility.
Which
leaves us with…taadaa! J.K.ROWLING!
Now,
Joanne Rowling was born in Chipping Sudbury near Bristol, England. After she
graduated from Exeter University, she found work as a secretary, and later spent
time teaching English in Portugal before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland. Can you
tell me where Edinburgh has been mentioned these last few days? Well, it was
where the MTV Music Awards took place recently. Anyways, now J.K. Rowling lives
there with her husband and two children.
Rowling
first thought of Harry while riding a train back in 1990. She said "Harry
just strolled into my head fully formed." She worked on the book for
several years, finding quiet moments while her daughter napped. Several
publishers turned down the first manuscript before one took interest. I bet the
others are tearing at their hair out of regret. And some of them might be going
“stupid stupid stupid!”
BREAK
History of publishing the books
OK, In
1998, Harry Potter and the Phillosopher's Stone was
published in the United States, kicking off Harry-mania.
[show
book!!]
Suddenly,
kids were reading again, and their parents wanted to read the same books! The
second and third books were published in the spring and fall of 1999.
[show
books and mention the names]
On
July 8, 2000, the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire became
a major celebration, with bookstore events occurring at midnight nationwide. The
book sold an unprecedented three million copies in the first 48 hours of release
and according to Publishers Weekly was "the fastest-selling book in
history."
[show
book]
In
America, there are nearly 80 million books in print, and each title has been on The
New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller
lists. The fifth title, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
[Show
book]
Has
already broken records with its first print run of 6.8 million copies and a
second print run of an additional 1.7 million copies, Imagine this was only in
America!
Break
-
J.K.Rowlings’ awards
As if
that wasn’t enough! J. K. Rowling has won the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker
Award, the Whitbread Award for Best Children's Book, a special commendation for
the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize, and a special certificate for being a
three-year winner of the Smarties Prize, as well as many other honors. She has
been a featured guest on "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," and
"Larry King Live." Rowling has also been named an Officer of the
British Empire.
The
Books
The
Characters
Well
well well, a book cannot be called a book without characters right? So let’s
see. Who are the important characters in this one?
Obviously,
the most important has got to be the man himself Harry Potter. He is a skinny
boy, with jet-black messy hair and sparkling green eyes. He wears circular
shaped eyeglasses and is usually dressed in baggy clothes, because they used to
be his cousins’ before him. He is neither a push over, nor is he tough. He has
a wizard for a father and a mortal for a mother. He’s a delightful character
really, until you reach the 5th book…you know… his hormones start
to kick in.
The
second most important is Harry’s best male friend and that is Ronald Weasly.
Ronald Weasly is soooooo tall. He has big hands, big feet and a long nose, his
hair is red and his eyes are blue, but the cutest thing is that he has freckles
and looks like all his family members. It’s a trademark of the Weaslys. Red
hair, and freckles. Ronald has 5 other brothers and one sister. And he’s
considered poor. He comes from a pure wizarding family.
The
third character, which is actually my favorite, is Hermione Granger! She has
bushy brown hair, two visible rabbit teeth and is sooooo clever! She’s like
the motherly figure in this amazing trio. She’s the brain. Her parents are
both dentist’s so she doesn’t have a wizard for a parent.
Basically
these are the most important, then you get the rest of the Good squad, you know
Dumbledore the principle of the school. Professor MacGonagal the headmistress,
Lupin and Sirus and Snape, are Harry’s father’s friends.
Then
the Bad guys, Voldemort, Peter petreigew who was harry’s father’s best
friend but then he backstabs him. and the rest of the Death eaters.
The
Summaries
Were
familiar with the characters what about the stories?
Now I
know some people of you haven’t read up to the 5th book so I am
going to try and make the summaries spoiler free. It is just to intrigue you
into going to the bookstores and buying the books. Look at that, I’m making an
advertisement for the books but I’m not ever getting paid for it... I’m
going to make some phone calls..
Anyways!
I’m not sure if you know this but the series is going to be out of only 7
books. So far J.K Rowling released 5 of them. In the first book she introduces
the Magical world for us. She tells us how Harry grows up, and finally discovers
that he is a wizard. She then tells you about the people he meets in school, and
the basic problems he comes across. The teacher who hates him, the bunch of guys
that are annoying him, how he makes friends and accepts this new world. But the
card in this story is that Lord Voldemort makes an appearance after being cods
walloped for 11 years.
The
second book is an excellent one. They have defeated the dark lord in the earlier
book yet no one believes them. They have more general problems in school. But
this time, when the lord makes an appearance he attacks Harry with his kid form.
They also discover that Harry has an amazing power, Pratzeltounge. And that he
and the dark lord have a lot of things in common. Oh and Ginny, Ronalds sister
makes her first official appearance in this book.
Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of the cleverest books in the whole
word. I can tell you I liked the earlier 2 when I read them but this one was
just, utter genius! Now I would really like to keep this as spoiler free as
possible since if you don’t get to read the books I’m sure you will watch
the movie, which is going to be released in July 2004…but it’s hard keeping
all the unbelievable information to myself…so here it goes. In this book, they
learn the reason for Ronald’s rat’s trivial. See his rat doesn’t do any
magic so they learn the reason in this book. Also, someone escapes from Azkaban,
and Azkaban is this wizards prison. The guards feed on the souls of people so no
one ever was able to escape in the history of wizards. But in this book one
does. Harry get’s a freaky Defense against the arts teacher and she keep
telling him that he will die. And then they find out the actual story to
Harry’s parents’ death.
The
forth book is simply great! In this book, you will witness something like a
world cup football league, but instead of football, it’s Quidditch. So they
actually go to a Quidditch world cup! Oh and throughout all the other books,
whenever Voldemort shows up he’s always weak, but by the end of this book he
regains his whole powers. And the first visual death happens in this book.
When I
read the fifth book I literarily fainted after each paragraph! I mean it’s
crazy but it’s…well not true it’s exaggerated, but it felt like it. The
book is much darker than all the earlier ones put together. Because you know,
the dark lord is back with all his powers. But it is also funnier in a sense.
The funniest thing is that in this book the characters are around the age 15 so
their hormone disorder shows. The second visual death happens in this book also,
but it is grotesque…because the person who dies is really close to Harry.
J.K.Rowling wept while she was writing the chapter…Honestly, I cried when I
read it, even though I knew who it was that was going to die..It’s heart
breaking really.
But
[clap] the 6th and 7th books are not published yet. And
us, Harry Potter fanatics are waiting on pots of fire in anticipation.
Favorite
Quotes
But
let me read you a few of the greatest quotes ever.
Fred
and George were saying this, they are [point to picture] Ronalds’ twin
brothers, to their other brother Percy.
"Are
you a Prefect, Percy.? You should have told us. We had no idea.-- Hang on, I
think I remember him saying something about it, once...-- "Or twice...-- A
minute...— All summer."-
This
one Dumbledore says, after being offered some of Berti Bot’s all flavoured
beans. They are beans that literally have all kinds of flavors. Like cement
flavors and grass and so on.
"Ah
Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come
across a vomit-flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my
liking for them-but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you? Alas!
Ear wax!"-Albus Dumbledore
From
the second book there was ..Oh yea, peeves said this, he was a nasty poltergeist
"Oh
Potter, you rotter, now what have you done? You're killing off students you
think It's good fun..." –Peeves
From
the third booksie I liked when George Weasly said
"I
solemnly swear that I am up to no good."-George Weasley
and
when his brother said…
"Noble
men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers."-Fred
Weasly
Oh
and I had to add one of Trelawaney’s quotes, she’s the freaky defense
Against the Darks Arts Professor.
"I
dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could
be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to
rise will be the first to die!"-Professor Trelawney
Talk
about needing a life! Oh and Dobby is a house elf, so this one is prêt-ty
funny. It’s Ronald talking about his brother.
"Percy
wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea
cozy."-Ron Weasley
You’re
probably more familiar with the Movies than the books though…anyways
J.K.Rowling was really lucky when Warner brothers decided to make her movies.
Most people wait like 20 years for their books to be made into movies but J.K
had to wait about 2-3 years only. Her movies have been breaking records in the
box office. It’s everybody’s cup of tea!
The
Actors
Now
the delightful little creatures that play Harry Ron and Hermione are Danielle
Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. They were picked through auditions and
are all English. Daniele cried when he dreamed that it was just a dream and he
didn’t actually get the audition, Rupert had to sing and dance to a rap song
in his audition, and Emma..well Emma is a very sophisticatedly confidant girl,
but never the less she felt surprised when she got the part. They acted 2 movies
right now, and they are filming the third. There is talk about them not being
part of the 4th movie but I for one would really like the trio to
film all the books. They’re not exactly perfect for the parts but we have just
grown to love them, it will be weird if they changed it.
Show
a scene
Now I
was planning to show a scene for you guys, but it was such a really hard choice
to come up with the best scene since both movies are really great. I do hope you
enjoy it as much as I do.
Let
them Ask Question