Disney Movies are Generally Based Off of Stories

Okay, so most movies are. But unlike most book-based movies, Disney changes it to the point it's barely recognizable and actually can make it better. (Is it the fact that they usually have songs? It's probably because they have songs.) Most of these you probably knew. But you'd have to be paying attention to catch a few of these. Here are a few.
1. Almost all of the princess movies. So, besides Brave, Mulan, and Pocahontas, yeah, the princess stories were not thought up by Disney, but were still remarkable just the same. "Snow White" was a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, as well as "The Frog Prince" (which is where we get The Princess and the Frog) and "Rapunzel" (which is where we get Tangled). "The Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella" were by Charles Perrault and the Brothers' Grimm, obviously there are a million versions of all these fairy tales but I'm giving you the originals, given to me by my trusty information source Wikipedia. :) "The Little Mermaid" was by Hans Christian Anderson. Although, I would like to say that Beauty and the Beast, commonly thought to be a fairy tale, is actually its own individual book. (Wikipedia thinks otherwise, but come on, Wikipedia! I have the book on my Kindle! That's kind of as individual bookish as it gets.) Well, if Wikipedia is right, go look up who wrote it, but my Kindle says that it is by... oh. Awkward. I think that it is a fairy tale, considering that every page is 2-3% of the entire thing. Okay, this is really awkward for me. I'm sorry about that. So it is a fairy tale, Wikipedia says its most common version is by the person who wrote my version, Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. Sorry about that whole thing.
2. Peter Pan. Peter Pan was a novel by J.M. Barrie. (Weird use of the past tense. I say it like it isn't still a novel.) I've read part of an abridged version, I think I want to read the full version someday. According to my friend Wikipedia, who I hope is not offended by me thinking that it was wrong about "Beauty and the Beast", Peter Pan was the most famous thing J.M. Barrie wrote.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia!!! Fangirl fangirl fangirl!!! Thank you, Disney, for making one of the serieseseses (What the heck is the plural for series? I'm going to go with seri. You know, like octopi and cacti.) into movies! Although they only made three of the seven, they probably did the best three. Dang, I should just watch those movies. Like, as soon as possible.
4. The Jungle Book. Whaaaaat? I just found out that The Jungle Book is a collection of stories in a book, not just a book! Thank you, Wikipedia ;) Well yeah, it's a collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling, and my family has an abridged version of that one too. But I don't know, I've never really been into it, I guess. I've never even seen the whole Jungle Book movie.
5. Mary Poppins. Okay, maybe you guys didn't know about this one awhile ago, but surely you know about it now that SAVING MR. BANKS HAS COME OUT OH MY GOSH I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT I JUST ASLDKFJ;ALKSJDF;KJ. The book series was by P.L. Travers, who, in Saving Mr. Banks, is portrayed by Emma Thompson, who our loyal Potterheads may know as Professor Trelawney. So yeah, now that I'm done fangirling about that one I can't wait to share this one with you, because I didn't know it was a story until my mom read a review that said so on our way to see it, also if you were paying attention to the credits it was in there too.
6. Frozen. Yeah, it really is, it really is! Frozen was based off of "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. But you know what's funny? (And this I learned while looking at the Disney Wiki) For those of you who have read the fairy tale, Anna was based off of Gerda (as well as Rapunzel from Tangled), which makes enough sense. And of course Elsa was based off of the snow queen herself. (It didn't say this and they probably weren't thinking this, but I also saw Elsa similar to Kay. You know, how she and Anna who is like Gerda were close as little kids, and then she disappears and her dear friend goes on a quest to find her? I think it fits.) But Kristoff? He was based off of the little robber girl! I know! I didn't really think that at all, but seriously! If my friend Disney Wiki is correct, the little robber girl inspired his character. I don't know. I guess so. I would also like to say that right now I have "Love is an Open Door" stuck in my head. And I shall leave you with this: "Let it go! Let it go, and I'll rise like the break of dawn!"

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everybody! Well I have been thinking about this, and I have a few things I want to share with you guys.
Firstly, I would like to say that if you don't have any plans for Christmas, The Titan's Curse takes place during the winter :) Wintery reading! I know, I'm lame. But YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! It's Christmas!!! So... yeah.
Do you remember in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe how they had Christmas in Narnia? And they got the weapons, I think? Right? If it's the same way it is in the movie, that's what I can remember, it's been a while since I've read it. But yeah, that's pretty cool. But that's how Queen Jadis knew she was in trouble, right? Because Christmas was never supposed to come? Sorry if I'm totally making things up at this point. :/
But guess what guess what guess what??? I got a few books, may I tell you about them??? Well the first one I got was YAY!!! The House of Hades!!! Rick Riordan, thank you for that lovely dedication :) For those of you who didn't read that, it went a little something like this: "To my wonderful readers: Sorry about that last cliff-hanger. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But seriously, I love you guys." Still haven't read The Mark of Athena yet, so I won't be reading it yet :/ I'm not breaking down until The Blood of Olympus comes out!!! I also got two books called Lost & Found by Jacqueline Sheehan and La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith. I got a Culinary Mystery, Blackberry Crumble, by Josi S. Kilpack. And, lastly, The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, the book I'm reading for my next school book project. :)
Friends, you know, when I think about books and Christmas, besides getting some new ones of course, I think of Christmas at Hogwarts. They always talk about how magical Christmas is at Hogwarts. (Although I guess Hogwarts is always magical, haha.) Harry's first Christmas at Hogwarts, Fred and George pelted Professor Quirrel in the back of the head with snowballs, little did they know that all those snowballs were also hitting Voldemort in the face ;) Then second Christmas they got themselves into a little trouble by sneaking into the Slytherin common room! And Hermione got turned into a cat :) His third Christmas he got a bunch of gifts from Ron and Hermione from all their Hogsmeade visits, I believe it was also that winter that Fred and George give Harry the Marauder's Map! His fourth Christmas at Hogwarts was the Yule Ball, which was pretty sad because Cho was going with Cedric instead of him, Parvati and Padma were expecting him and Ron to do a little more than sit there, and then Ron and Hermione were very upset with each other by the end of the night. And yeah, the next Christmas he spent at St. Mungo's because Mr. Weasley got a rather deadly snake bite, his friends found out about Neville's parents, and they saw what had become of their friend Gildaroy Lockhart, and I can't remember what he finds out, but he overhears something that wasn't exactly fun to know. Our sixth Christmas with Harry is all right, though. He gets to go to the Burrow, and what isn't great about the Burrow? But, sorry to end it on a sad note, the last Christmas we get to spend with Harry, he decides to go to Godric's Hollow, his and Dumbledore's old home, finds his parents' graves and found Bathilda Bagshot who turns out to be dead and, instead of finding out about Dumbledore or anything else important, gets attacked by Nagini and barely escapes Voldemort, and then his wand breaks, so as far as bad Christmases go, that one's probably one of the worst.
Bye! I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! So there are some things we're all grateful for, and our favorite book characters are here to share them with us :)
Firstly, we all love food, especially if you're in marching band. But even if you're in marching band, you may not love food as much as this kid.

We're grateful for our family too, and this family loves each other more than anything.



And, we're grateful for our friends.

We're grateful for clothes. And Harry is especially grateful for his favorite shirt.

 

We're grateful for the beautiful nature around us.

We're grateful for our other half. And for those fangirls that don't have one, we're grateful that we get to read about these guys.

We are grateful for our pets.

And for helping others, and for when people help us.

We're also grateful for people who taught us a lot.

We're grateful for laughing so hard that we can't breathe.

We're grateful for gifts, especially from our favorite people like these cuties

.And we're grateful for special moments with special people.

We're grateful for memories.

And for doctors like this awesome lady.

We're grateful for crying....

And for people to comfort us when we cry.



We're grateful for music. (This is Katniss singing to Prim, folks. It makes sense.) 

And, we're grateful for books! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Annabeth's Hair

Did I make up the fact that Annabeth's hair is curly? In the first book it is mentioned. But other people thought that she grew out of that, like it was something she was doing to her hair. I thought that Annabeth's hair was naturally curly! Did anyone else get that vibe? I thought that was it. I mean, come on! Did I make that up?

All the Characters Are the Same

Well, not exactly the same. But, I mean, all the stories have the same type of characters. Let me show you what I'm saying, and then you'll be like, "Oh yeah, you're right!"
The first type is the hero, like our friends Harry, Katniss, and Percy.
Then there's the villain, just like Voldemort, President Snow, and Kronos.
The best friend of the hero: Ron, Gale and Grover.
Love interest: Ginny, Peeta, and Annabeth. (Poor Ginny. I guess she didn't get the love-interests-must-have-curly-blond-hair memo.)
The right-hand guy, who's a great helper and friend: Hermione, Finnick and Thalia.
The wise teacher, in this case, Dumbledore, Haymitch, and Chiron.
The poor misunderstood kid: Draco, Cato and Luke.
Then there's the kid that you love because of how weird/annoying they are: Luna, Effie, and Silena.
The underrated hero: Neville, Johanna and Tyson.
The faithful pet: Hedwig, Buttercup (haha in a sense) and Mrs. O'Leary.
See what I mean? I guess there are some "Great Story" elements that you can't go without. Can you guys think of any others?

We're Grateful for Harry Potter

Guys, just so you know, our dear Harry Potter-loving friends, ABC Family, are having a Harry Potter marathon... on Thanksgiving! What a great way to celebrate what we're thankful for :) But dang it, I was going to have a huge party. Maybe I'll just record the whole thing and have the party later.

Muggles and Wizards

You know, wizards are just adorable. We all  love them anyway, but the way they think Muggles are the cutest things ever and so very interesting is just the darlingest thing. (According to thesaurus.com, "fetching" is synonymous with "adorable". I rather enjoy that word. Mental note to use it more often.) Since we think it's so cute that the wizards think so highly of the Muggles, it's especially depressing when the Dursleys are so rude to the wizards. We all think, "No come on you have to be nice to them they think you're the greatest things ever!" but hey, some things will never change I guess, except it turns out (Deathly Hallows spoiler) that Dudley didn't mind Harry this whole time. As for Aunt Petunia, some things in your past will affect you forever and Uncle Vernon is the normalest person on the planet, so he isn't going to find wizards the most fetching people he's ever met. (See what I did there?) But then, since it's so common, I guess that we forget that it's rather unkind the way some wizards treat the Muggles. I mean, we obviously can't forget since it's basically the whole point of the story, one of the reasons that they want to stop Voldemort, but still. They do horrible spells to them if they can get their hands on them and they say horrible things about them when there aren't any Muggles available to torture. And we just want to say, "I don't care how special you think you are, Voldemort! Sure you're a great and powerful wizard or WHATEVER, but you're still not nearly as cool as you think you are and Muggles are totally decent and awesome people too!" Gosh dang it people, listen to Harry and his friends. Just like we all know in our real world, everyone's a person even if they're different from you. No one said it as good as our friend Kingsley Shacklebolt did: "We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

Little Things You Know You Love About the Fandoms

Well, I mean we basically love almost every part of the fandom, except for that one person who makes you think "Augh why the heck are you so AGGRAVATING?!" (How many of you just thought of Dolores Umbridge?) or when the characters do something that makes you think "Oh my gosh, why did you do that?" But, I mean, these are the things that barely affect the story, and some of them actually affect the story quite a lot, or some of them affect it more than we realize while we're reading but we realize have more of an impact on the story when we decide to become little book philosophers. But hey, once you read this you'll think to yourself, "Oh yeah, I do love that."
Firstly, you know you love the fact that Katniss sings. Especially us choir kids, and yes I am one of them, we're all like "Oh yeah Katniss you get us." But I mean, think about it, Katniss sings all the time. She sang to Rue when she died and singing was the way they communicated and it was something they both did really well. She sang "The Hanging Tree" to herself while they were out on a little filming trip for no actual reason. And, the biggest proof of this is in Catching Fire she knows the obvious choice for her victor talent would be singing because it's something she's actually good about but she doesn't want to because she doesn't want to give a real part of her and something she actually likes doing to the Capitol. Katniss, you're cool.
And in District Twelve they dance. I mean, come on. That is just so cute! Come on, that is seriously just adorable. You can't get over the cuteness either. You just think about it and you think "Awww." Just a little quote from the book so you can further enjoy the cuteness of this, here you go:
   "After the kiss that seals the union, the cheers, and a toast with apple cider, the fiddler strikes up a tune that turns every head from 12. We may have been the smallest, poorest district in Panem, but we know how to dance. Nothing has been officially scheduled at this point, but Plutarch, who's calling the propo from the control room, must have his fingers crossed. Sure enough, Greasy Sae grabs Gale by the hand and pulls him into the center of the floor and faces off with him. People pour in to join them, forming two long lines. And the dancing begins.
   "I'm standing off to the side, clapping to the rhythm, when a bony hand pinches me above the elbow. Johanna scowls at me. 'Are you going to miss the chance to let Snow see you dancing?' She's right. What could spell victory louder than a happy Mockingjay twirling around to music? I find Prim in the crowd. Since winter evenings gave us a lot of time to practice, we're actually pretty good partners. I brush off her concerns about my ribs, and we take our places in the line. It hurts, but the satisfaction of having Snow watch me dance with my little sister reduces other feelings to dust."
Okay, and before we go off on a little rant about how adorable Katniss and Prim's relationship is, we'll move on to the next point.
The guard at the Empire State building reads Harry Potter. Okay, you may not have noticed this, but it's so a thing. Listen to this, from The Lightning Thief:
   "He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. I wasn't much into fantasy, but the book must have been good, because the guard took a while to look up."
A huge book? Picture of a wizard? Really good? Guys, Rick Riordan is making a reference to something famous, an allusion to those of you who pay attention in English class, to the beloved classic (you are kidding yourself if you don't think it's so) Harry Potter! For you Potterheads who didn't realize this before now, you are free to fangirl without being judged by me. I'll speak for myself, however.
And come on, Percy's relationship with his mom is the cutest thing. So so so cute! Sally Jackson never gives up on her son. Seriously, Percy has been getting into trouble since he was a little kid. Does that make any difference of how she treats him or how much she loves him? No. He's not the easiest kid to raise, he can be a little aggravating sometimes. Does that mean anything? Not at all. And no matter what happens she wants to do everything to make Percy happy, safe and in general okay. And Percy is a demigod. So naturally trouble is going to find him and he knows he will always make her life hard. But does Percy give up on trying to be good even though he knows that he will always be involved in trouble? Nope. He wants to be normal just so his mom can relax and not worry about him or him causing anyone else trouble anymore. He constantly wants to be good so that his mom doesn't have anything to stress about. That relationship is perfect.
Professor Dumbledore starts talking about love.... And while he's doing it Harry's just finding it all so overrated but we're all thinking, "No, he's right, Harry!" Because really, the way Dumbledore believes in love is just really great. I just thought of Percy Jackson and his conversation with Aphrodite in The Titan's Curse, but it is so not the same thing. Dumbledore knows that Harry's a great wizard and all, but his greatest power is that he can love other people. And some people will tell you it makes you vulnerable, but it really doesn't. It makes you know so much more and feel so much more. And more experience in life means that you can do more. Dumbledore's got it right, y'all! And we love it!
And lastly, Luna Lovegood is just plain awesome. Luna is weird. Seriously weird. And we all know it. And we all love it... except Ron. He teases her for it all the time. But what does Luna say? She tells him he's wrong. We love that Luna is always herself and she doesn't care what people think of her. She know Ron thinks she's crazy. She knows that people call her Loony Lovegood. She doesn't care. She likes herself and she doesn't want to be anyone else. And a good portion of us appreciate her for that.
How much do you feel right now, readers? Do you feel happy? Are you smiling? Good. I hope so, dears.

Catching Fire!!!

That's right cuties! The Catching Fire movie has officially come! Last we saw Seneca is locked in a room with rather deadly berries, Katniss is in big trouble with the Capitol, and President Snow wants to do something about it.... Unless you saw it already and if you tell me anything I will be very upset!
So to celebrate I thought that I would give you guys five reasons the Hunger Games is super great!
1. Oh man those adorable Capitol people. And you might be taking that the wrong way but don't worry let me explain myself. The Capitol people are so oblivious that what they're doing is wrong. You gotta love Katniss's prep team. And how much Effie actually does love Katniss and Peeta..... Ugh. It hurts a little. Like Katniss said herself, "It's more complicated than that. I know them. They're not evil or cruel. They're not even smart. Hurting them, it's like hurting children."
2. Prim and Rue are just the sweetest little things ever. I'm not sure why completely, but even before I read Hunger Games Prim always gave me a good vibe. I always liked her. And Rue is just fabulous and adorable. "Deep in the meadow, under the willow...."
3. We all love Finnick and Johanna. Man, Finnick Odair is just plain cool. You can think he's attractive all you want, but when it comes down to it Finnick is really awesome. And Johanna the rebellious little soul..... Oh we all love that girl.
4. In the end, Katniss is a good heroine: Okay, it's horrendous of me but I can never get past the fact that Katniss had a hard time forgiving her mother for her mental health problems. (Yeah a lot of people don't agree with me, but Katniss's mom didn't abandon her kids on purpose. She was seriously depressed. It wasn't her fault! :( ) But hey, we all make mistakes. Katniss is really awesome. Thanks for being the best heroine we could have asked for, dear.
5. No offense, but Peeta Mellark is in general perfect. Deny it all you want, Gale fans and shippers! But Peeta is super cool! He's really kind, sweet and giving, not just to Katniss, but to everyone! Gale himself said that he was annoyed how hard it was to hate Peeta. And what he does for Katniss is really nice, and Peeta, I know you love her a lot, but still, get a hobby. And I know you have that baking thing, and on the side you have that painting thing, but that doesn't seem to be working out for you either. So seriously. Get a hobby. But other than that, we love you! (Leave him alone, Gale fans.)
Are you excited to see it yet, guys? "Fire is catching. And if we burn, you burn with us!"

 

School Book Projects

Hey guys! First of all thanks for following me! I love it :)
All right secondly I was reading Nancy Drew right...? Well that is on hold because for school I have to do a project on a fiction book second quarter, a memoir third quarter, and a classic fourth quarter. Well you might say "Well that's okay Nancy Drew is fiction you can read one of them for your project" but the book I read has to be at least 250 pages long. However, if I have a book shorter than that I can just read two books to make up one. But still it has to be my grade level or above. Most books are about fourth or fifth grade level. Even difficult classic books and adult books are about seventh and eighth grade level. A book exactly my level can't be found. Luckily I am allowed to read said adult book that is about seventh grade level and over 250 pages. The teachers say they let us choose our own books so we want to read them and are interested in them. But I have a slightly different idea of school book projects.....
I don't think we should get specific of what genre you have to read, fiction or memoir or nonfiction or classic or whatever, because if you really want a kid to be interested in what they read maybe they're not a fiction person or a memoir person or a classic person. It also shouldn't have to be at your grade level or above because a lot of kids aren't at that reading level yet. When I was in seventh grade a girl I knew was reading a book that was probably not even a hundred pages because she just wasn't that good at reading yet. You may think they are ready for a book at that level but really, a lot of kids aren't. Same thing for the number of pages we need to read. Some kids think 150 pages is really long. They will seriously go crazy if they have to read a book that long.
So, basically, if I were an English teacher, which teaching is honestly a job I would never want to have, that's basically how I would do that. The bad thing is a lot of English teachers like to read so they don't understand the kids that don't like to. Honestly, I can't understand people who don't like to read either. But I know some of them, so I know that some people can't handle that. And if you really want the kids to be interested in what they read they should be able to choose the book COMPLETELY on their own.
:) Haha, thanks for listening to my rant today!

It's Been Too Long, Guys

Hey guys, just thought I'd check in. Well a big day has come for all the Percy Jackson fans: The House of Hades has been out for a while now, and last I checked it's the #1 book in the country! That's pretty cool :) I'm not reading The Mark of Athena or the rest of the books until The Blood of Olympus comes out.... Guess I've got a while!
The next big event that I can think of is November 22nd, which of course means Catching Fire the movie is coming out! That'll be a good movie to see, especially if it is as good as the first movie was!
Oh hey, that reminds me, Potterheads! For those of you who don't totally obsess over Harry Potter like the rest of us do, did you hear about our... new movie?!?! That's right y'all! Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is now being made into a movie! And for those of us who have been to midnight premieres we're all squealing with joy waiting to dress up as Luna Lovegood and take pictures with the Whomping Willow again. It's always a blast in the Harry Potter fandom.
The Harry Potter fandom will never DIE!

Read This Whole Title! Harry Potter Readers (But Not Only for Harry Potter Readers, This One's For Everybody)

You know, here's a real lesson on attitudes, everyone. People who are Harry Potter haters walk into their reading experience thinking it's not going to be good and then stop after the first few books because it's boring. But the Potterheads walk on into the fandom with hopes of reading a good book and find out that they chose the best fictional book in the world. So, just saying, guys: attitude is everything. And I guess on a Harry Potter-related note, if you stopped after the first few books, let me just say: try again. And go into it thinking of the fandom that you could join. Just saying. Everyone should read this.

If Les Miserables Characters Were in my Fandoms

Hello everybody! First I would like to say, wow, seems It's an Adventure is getting pretty popular! And I must say, that running the blog and the Harry Potter Facebook page has shown me, it's pretty hard to make it. So hey, if you really like reading It's an Adventure, if you would follow me that would be pretty great. (And hey, if you're curious about the Facebook page, it's called I Love Harry Potter and me and my fellow admin would love it if you liked us :)) Support is a good thing! Hopefully I start thinking about that myself :)
But anyway, now that I'm done with my philosophical speech for today, I'm going to say that I am a musical theater fan. I know, Les Miserables is a book too, but I haven't read it yet. So I know the characters the way they are in the musical. I was just thinking one day, what if the Les Miserables characters were in my fandoms, like they went to Camp Half-Blood and Hogwarts and stuff? So here we are, and we are going to discuss that right now. Let me just say that all these characters have a little Gryffindor in them. So we're all going to go into this with that knowledge. Not every brave person gets sorted into Gryffindor. (Take Dumbledore's Army, for example. Not all of them were Gryffindors, but they were certainly all brave.) All right! Let's get started!
(And sorry if lists aren't your thing. I guess they're mine.) :/
Oh well! Let's start with.....
Jean Valjean: Something me and my sister were talking about one day, Jean Valjean is never just "Jean". He's Jean Valjean. And if he's not Jean Valjean, he's Valjean. Interesting how that works. But that's not important. Jean Valjean is kind and will take in anyone. Which means, if he were a Camp Half-Blood camper he would probably be in the Hermes cabin. And, since he is such a patient and merciful guy, he probably belongs in Hufflepuff. As my friend, a dedicated Potterhead, once said while we were watching the Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert, "He is a good man."
Javert: You know, Javert's actually not such a bad guy. He thinks he's doing the right thing when he's not. That happens to people all the time. But where would he be in Camp Half-Blood? Not quite as easy as Jean Valjean, is he? Well, he wouldn't be in the Hermes cabin. Probably not Apollo, Dionysus, Demeter.... Yeah, none of it really fits. Could he be in the Hades cabin? Let's go with Hades. At least we know with surety that Javert was not a demigod.
But as for his Hogwarts house, not Hufflepuff.... Ravenclaw fits a little, but not very much, and Gryffindor a little, but it seems that Slytherin is the best fit for Javert.
Fantine: Oh, Fantine. They don't get any more kind and caring than that. Definitely Hermes cabin. But I think her Hogwarts house would probably be Gryffindor. I mean, she went through a lot to save her daughter. That was pretty brave.
Cosette: I just love Cosette! I know that not many people think that way, but I just always liked her, not even totally sure why. My friend says she doesn't like Cosette as much as everyone else because Cosette didn't have any huge hardships, but that doesn't bother me. But I've always had a tendency to like the person who wins in the love triangle. (However, Les Miserables is more like a love tricycle. Cosette and Marius are in love and happy and stuff and Eponine is in all senses of the word except for the literal one the third wheel.) I sometimes think that Cosette could fit in the Demeter cabin because she has her pretty little garden. But hey, Cosette must've been pretty for Marius to fall in love with her so fast, so it could be Aphrodite. And you Eponine fans are all going, "Aphrodite! Aphrodite! Aphrodite is a useless cabin and Cosette is a useless person! It's Aphrodite!" But hey, Cosette is not a useless person, she ties all the characters together and she is a very nice girl. And the Aphrodite cabin is not a useless cabin. Two words: Silena Beauregard.
But, I mean, Cosette wasn't really any special talent, so I guess that she might not be in the Demeter cabin. Do I even know if she grew those plants herself? Let's settle on... Aphrodite. That's a good solid cabin for a person like Cosette. And as for her Hogwarts house, no matter what the anti-Cosette people think I think Cosette was pretty brave. The love of her life and her father went into battle and she had no idea whether they were alive or not the whole time and she had to be pretty strong for that. You may be arguing that if Eponine can go into battle than Cosette should be able to do that too except for Cosette's weak she could never do that. But really, if Marius didn't want Eponine to go into battle than how would he feel about Cosette going into battle? And Jean Valjean would never let her do that. And besides, Cosette was just not raised to want to do that or even think that she could. Eponine was raised on the bottom. She had nothing. She knew how unfair it was out in the world and she wanted to do something about that. Cosette didn't know that sort of life. She had it all. If she needed it, it was hers. She knew that the world was unfair, but she never experienced it, and she probably didn't know she could do anything about it anyway. So it's not totally her fault.
However, you can all relax because I don't think Cosette should go into Gryffindor. There is something that Cosette is a lot more than she is brave, and that is patient. Cosette was very patient with Marius when he was healing after the battle. So Hufflepuff it is, Cosette. (And if any of you are celebrating Cosette going into Hufflepuff, don't even think about it. It's a good house and she's a good person.)
Eponine: The one you guys are all excited about! Eponine is no idiot, but her knowledge isn't Hermione-like knowledge, it's more Annabeth-like knowledge. (Sure, Annabeth is smart in the Hermione way too, but not just that way.) Eponine can tell you where to go, how to get there, who to talk to and who to ignore. She could be an Athena camper. And we all know where Eponine the brave deserves to be at Hogwarts: Gryffindor.
Marius: I would say that Marius should be in the Athena cabin as well, but I mean, he's not the same type of smart as the Athena campers. He's more of the book smart person. So where does Marius belong? Marius is probably Big Three material. And the vibe I am getting from him is Zeus. So join Thalia in the Zeus cabin, Marius.
As for his Hogwarts house, not just anyone could handle going into battle, watching his best friend die, and then having all the rest of his friends die in battle too. He's a Gryffindor, no question.
Enjolras: I mean, seriously? The kid was born for battle. Ares cabin.
And as for his Hogwarts house, they don't get much braver than Enjolras. He gave his life for his country. Gryffindor it is.
The Thenardiers: And everyone in the room goes, "Ugh! No! Go home!" But hey, they are Les Miserables characters too and exceptional villains. (And hey, every good story needs those.) They love them some riches, but they never could get enough of them, so Hades cabin doesn't fit. Ugh! I used to have the perfect idea in my head! Oh, I got it. Hermes cabin for these two. Those kids in that cabin are always playing tricks, and I know it's not the same thing, but these guys get an A+ in the trickery department. Plus, god of thieves? Heck yes.
And, um, these guys are as greedy as they come? Slytherin it is.
And now, for my favorite..... (Or one of them, at least.....)
Gavroche!: Ugh, he's just the cutest little thing, isn't he? I'm so naming my son after him. But whatever. So Gavroche is quite as clever, if not even more so, okay so he's definitely smarter than our friend Eponine. (Oh, by the way, guess what guys?! Gavroche is Eponine's brother! Thought you guys might want to know... and yes you all just thought of Professor Quirrel) But he's also a tricky mischievous little guy. Hermes cabin for Gavroche.
And, we don't need to talk about this. Gryffindor it is for Gavroche.
All right, well, I hope you all enjoyed that! Happy reading everybody! :)

Slytherin

You know, this is something that people are realizing more and more often, but Slytherin really isn't such a bad house. It's the second best house, in fact, in my opinion. They're just ambitious. That's all. Like, Voldemort was ambitious. I mean, sure, his life's dream was to take over the wizarding world, but it was still a dream. Ambitious isn't always good. But they are what they are.
I have a friend who is a Slytherin, she's really sweet, and now that I think about it, Slytherin really fits for her. She dreams big. Not take-over-the-world big, but more sing-on-Broadway big. See? Ambitious can be good.

Books Everyone Should Read

Hey guys! Was looking through my comments, realized that someone asked me to give some recommendations. Well, here are the books everyone should read. Hope you enjoy them! (And, if you've already read them, well done. You have good taste in literature.)
Harry Potter: I mean, seriously? This is the basis of all fiction literature. It's so realistic and... ugh. Enough said. Just read it.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: So good, so funny, so beautiful, always. I love these books! They're so addictive. You will love them. (After these, you can also read the Heroes of Olympus series. It's kind of like a continuation of the Percy Jackson stories.)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Just perfect and beautiful. The fabulousness of old books. Read it. You will love it.
And hey, if you want to see what I think of other books, I am on a dandy little website called Goodreads. If you don't have an account on Goodreads you should, it is perfect for any bookworm. So basically, what I am saying is, go ahead and follow my reviews.
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/9977792-elizabeth-day

Dreams

A few words about Harry Potter and dreams for you, everybody.
But before I begin, I must say: Harry has weird dreams, Percy (and all the other demigods) have weird dreams, Katniss has weird dreams.... May I just say that important people seem to have weird dreams? But hey, heroes get half their information from dreams. (Except for Katniss. Her nightmares are just weird.) So the day I start consistently having dreams that are important to my life, not just once or twice, then I'll know I have an ultra life-changing calling in the world.
Well, firstly, when I read the Harry Potter series the second time, I would doze off and dream I was reading Harry Potter. The dreams didn't make sense. All I saw was the page of a book. The storyline didn't make sense at all. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid just had conversations that didn't make sense. But those are some of the best dreams I've ever had.
The third time reading it I wanted this to happen again. And it didn't.... Except I started having real, totally-asleep dreams, and they weren't the same thing every time like last time (unless that happened once or twice), it was different. I remember Voldemort being in one. That's about it, but does this ever happen to you guys? I might sound insane right now, but firstly, hey, I'm a writer, all writers are insane, and secondly, you guys haven't gotten to enjoy this? Is that what you're saying? Unless you've experienced this sort of thing. At least all readers are crazy. I can take comfort in that much.
But... ah! The dream diaries in Harry Potter! So funny! Love how Harry and Ron just make up stories, using each other to form them and stuff.... Although they should be more organized about it though, Harry had himself drown twice, and probably die even more than that. But I always say: Divination would probably be fun if you did it the way Harry and Ron did it. It would be more like a creative writing class :)

Hufflepuff

I would like to say that I was not inspired to write this because of my post last night where I defended the badgers against all possible Hufflepuff haters. This was a post I thought to write a long time ago.
For those of you who don't know, I am a Hufflepuff. You may have assumed from me defending it all the time. Well, I don't know about you guys, but when I help someone out, I feel pretty great. I think that's kind of what makes a Hufflepuff a Hufflepuff. They don't feel important when they do something really noble, or they show off their intelligence to others, or when their goal is accomplished. They feel important when they help someone else.
That is all. Hopefully you guys enjoyed a short post today :)

Camp Half-Blood Cabins and Hogwarts Houses

So, I was thinking about if demigods who were at Hogwarts were sorted into houses based on their demigod parentage, what house each cabin would be in.
Zeus: Zeus, in the Percy Jackson books, always kind of seems power-hungry to me, doesn't he? He isn't really anything else in the books. So the Zeus cabin would probably go in Slytherin.
Hera: Hera doesn't have any demigod children. So we don't need to argue about whether that cabin would be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. Probably Hufflepuff.
Poseidon: Poseidon might be in Slytherin. Want to know what made me think of this at first? I'm not sure how true this really is, but I heard somewhere that each house has an element. Hufflepuff's is earth, Gryffindor's is fire, Ravenclaw's is air, and Slytherin's is... water. Poseidon being the god of the sea, this made sense to me. But if we went off of elements of the houses, then the Zeus kids would go to Ravenclaw. (Which actually kind of makes a little bit of sense too.) But, if we were to place the Poseidon campers, um... I'm just not sure. This guy just doesn't belong at Hogwarts. I guess there's a reason that demigods aren't wizards.
But I can't give up, so I sort the Poseidon into... Ravenclaw keeps coming to mind. I don't know, it just doesn't seem right! Whatever shall we do. Ugh. I don't know. Let's go with Ravenclaw. But Slytherin might work! But he... yeah, Slytherin. Slytherin is good.
Demeter: Well, this is tricky. Demeter doesn't play a gigantic role in the Percy Jackson books. So you don't know much about the campers. Demeter might be a Gryffindor. She kind of seems like an outgoing lady, and her child that we know of, Katie Gardner, seems pretty brave too.
Athena: Athena? Ravenclaw, no question. Knowledge is kind of the Athena campers' thing. Goddess of wisdom and all that? Yeah.
Hestia: Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, I think. Probably Gryffindor, if she had children. She gave up her throne on Olympus to keep peace between the Olympians. That's a pretty big sacrifice.
Apollo: Apollo is just kind of a fun-loving guy. Where do we put his children? Maybe we can put these kids in... I just don't see Hufflepuff. It must take a lot of wisdom to be in control of music, poetry and medicines. That could make them Ravenclaw. I don't see Slytherin, and could they be Gryffindor? Well, Ravenclaw is the best we've got. Hogwarts isn't for everyone, folks.
Artemis: Artemis may not have any demigod children, but she does have the Hunters, right? They gotta go somewhere to get their magical education. "But where to put you...?" --Sorting Hat. Well, I'll be honest, the first thing that comes to my mind is Ravenclaw. Maybe it's Artemis's whole goddess-of-the-moon thing, which kind of makes me think of blue and silver, blue being one of Ravenclaw's colors. Also, I can't remember if I've said before, but Ravenclaw and the Hunters seem to have the same sort of... snobbiness...... It just seems fitting.
Ares: Very ambitious, like the Slytherins. But even more ready to fight, which means that the Ares campers definitely belong in Gryffindor.
Aphrodite: These kids do nothing but look pretty and gossip and such. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor don't seem to fit. Slytherin a little, but I think the obvious choice is Ravenclaw. The Aphrodite campers aren't as brainless as they seem.
Hephaestus: Hard worker? Certainly Hufflepuff.
Hermes: The Hermes campers generally get along with everyone with a mischievous streak. Certainly seem like Hufflepuffs to me.
Dionysus: Dionysus! Not very smart, brave, or ambitious. Seems Hufflepuff is the place for these kids. (Remember, Hogwarts isn't the place for everyone.)
Hades: He's not so ambitious or brave. Not expecially loyal and hard working, either. Must be a Ravenclaw.
But what we must remember, readers, is that we are all individual people. We are not exactly like our family. (Like the Patil twins, for example.) So since everyone is different, why don't we sort our favorite Percy Jackson heroes?
Percy: Percy's really brave, but he would do anything to help out his friends. He might be a Hufflepuff. And I'm sure all you Percy Jackson fans are going "Noooo! Not Hufflepuff! Percy's too good for Hufflepuff!" But hey, guys. Stop hating on Hufflepuff. It's a good house.
Grover: Grover also should be put in Hufflepuff. He's a great protector and searcher, he was born to help people and he is as loyal as they come. The Percy Jackson fans are now saying "Find, GROVER I can accept being in Hufflepuff!" But just stop! Hufflepuff is a good house, and Grover is a good guy!
Annabeth: As I said above about all of the Athena campers, knowledge is kind of Annabeth's thing. Ravenclaw.
Luke: (Spoilers if you haven't finished The Lightning Thief) Luke kind of had that traitor problem, so Hufflepuff wouldn't work. But he was really brave (spoilers for The Last Olympian) when he saved Olympus by killing himself. He was always pretty ambitious, so that could put him in Slytherin. Hm, I don't know. He was a fighter. He might need to go in Gryffindor.
Thalia: Thalia was brave, loyal, ambitious and smart. She probably would be in Gryffindor.
Nico: He was pretty brave, extremely loyal, but never overly smart and ambitious. Doesn't quite have what it takes to be a Hufflepuff. (Don't say it doesn't take anything to be a Hufflepuff. It's not true.) So I guess it's Gryffindor for Nico.
Tyson: Brave and loyal. He has some Hufflepuff qualities, but Tyson can't go anywhere but Gryffindor. (Need any reasons? Refer to the scene where he faces Polyphemus in The Sea of Monsters or the Sphinx scene in The Battle of the Labyrinth.)
Clarisse: She was ambitious as they come. She was brave, but mostly ambitious. Slytherin it is.
Rachel: Our mortal friend Rachel! Very brave, so Gryffindor fits, but she also has the Ravenclaw sassiness about her. I know no one likes her because we're all Team Annabeth, but we still have to consider how brave she is to be thrust into this mythical world. Gryffindor it is.
Chiron: He is wise enough to be a teacher, so Ravenclaw could fit, but he is patient and loyal. I say Hufflepuff.
Hope you enjoyed that! Hopefully not only did you recognize a few of the greatest qualities of the Percy Jackson characters, but you realized that Hufflepuff isn't so bad.

Percy's First Swordfighting Lesson

So, remember the first swordfighting lesson, where Luke was using him as an example, and Percy was getting pulverized? Well, let me tell you: at this point in the book, Rick Riordan pulled a J.K. Rowling.
When they were taking a break, Luke poured some water on his head. Percy thought that looked like an excellent idea so he did too. Suddenly he felt a ton of energy and he was ready to get started again.
Do you realize what just happened?! Want to know what we find out later? We find out that Percy is a son of Poseidon, the god of the sea! Percy poured water on his head and he felt better! Ahh! We find out later in the books that water can heal him and give him strength. But at this point we had no idea who Percy's parent was! He was foreshadowing, half of us didn't even know it the first time or the only time we read it! It was one of those that's harder to catch! This might be one of the reasons that Percy Jackson is placed next to Harry Potter as one of the most loved fandoms. Percy Jackson is so good, there's just no denying it.

Sectumsempra

All right, another one of J.K. Rowling's genius moments. If you haven't read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, you might not want to read this.
So Harry has this potion book that the Half-Blood Prince wrote notes in, right? Some of those notes were spells of the Prince's invention. Harry discovers the spell "Sectumsempra" labeled "for enemies". He wants to try it out on Ron, but Hermione is sitting right there, and since she doesn't like Harry's little book he has there, he doesn't do it.
Guys, do you realize how crazy this is? I realized this only the third time reading it. Harry wanted to use Sectumsempra on Ron. What if he had done it? He could've killed his best friend. Harry had no idea what that spell was. He only learns what it is after he uses it on Draco and accidentally slashes his chest open. Luckily Professor Snape saved him, but just think if Harry had used that spell on Ron right then. And Harry didn't even think back to that moment when he did the spell on Draco, or after he did it. J.K. Rowling just leaves the reader to figure it out for themselves, if they can. It might take a rereading, or a reading of this post, to figure it out. I mean, it took me three times and by that time I knew the Harry Potter facts like the back of my hand. But I just think that's crazy.

Good Reading Memories

These are basically the best book memories I remember. They're about the two favorites, Harry Potter and Hunger Games. (Although, guys, I must say, Percy Jackson-- and this is not quite a popular idea, but-- Percy Jackson is better than Hunger Games. Ahh!)
This one is the best, the Harry Potter one. I used to read Harry Potter every night during the middle of the night. Who needed sleep? I could survive on about five hours. Looking back on it, I just think, Those were the good old days.
My second memory is me reading the Hunger Games for the first time. Now any of you who have read Hunger Games will remember this experience. I would come home from school, do my homework, take a shower, and read Hunger Games. I would only do the homework due the next day. My friend was reading the Hunger Games at the same time as me, but she was a book behind me when she did this. We would text each other while we read about what was going on in her book and how much she loved the books. I would just sit there and stroke my hair and read Hunger Games. Maybe this is only a good memory for me, but that's enough, isn't it?
Hope you guys liked these bookreading memories, they're good to think about :)

"Mars is Bright Tonight"

This is one of my posts about how genius J.K. Rowling is. Just to warn you.
Many of you real hardcore Potterheads will remember Harry, Hermione, Draco and Neville's detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, the part when they run into the centaurs. All of the centaurs noticed that Mars was particularly bright that night. (I'm about to have a little fangirl moment.) Do you have any idea how awesome that is?!
Now you Percy Jackson fans will know very well that Ares is the war god. Others of you will know that the planets are named after the Roman names of the Greek gods, except for Earth and Saturn, Saturn being named after the Titan Kronos. Mars is Ares's Roman name. Remember, Ares is the god of war.
The events that happened in the first book of the Harry Potter are events that helped Lord Voldemort get back to power, which started the greatest wizarding war of all time. If Mars was bright, they had to know that the brightness of Mars, the Roman war god, had to mean that a huge was coming on! Ahh!

Best Friends

In the Nancy Drew books, Nancy meets a lot of different people. With a lot of them she becomes great friends. She promises to keep visiting them and she loves them so much she has to see them sometimes. But I have a question. These friends, these minor characters, are never mentioned again. What happened to friends forever? You might say that these visits are not mentioned in the book because they are unimportant to the story. But Nancy is so busy sleuthing all the time how does she have time to visit these friends! And Carolyn Keene describes Nancy's other daily endeavors, not always in very much detail, but she says what Nancy is up to. Nancy's got a pretty full schedule and it seems she doesn't have time for any of her old friends.
Let me use as an example The Secret of the Old Clock. Judy and her aunts Edna and Mary were really close to Nancy and Nancy said she would check on Judy and things. Well she never goes to see them after that book, does she? And even worse, the Hoover sisters! The Hoover sisters were so nice; I loved them! But Nancy probably never goes to see them again! The weird thing is that Nancy isn't the type of person to just say, "All right, the case that you were involved in is solved, see you never again, have a nice life." It just doesn't make sense. She would at least want to check in on them!
Oh well. That is my rant.

New Movies!

Firstly: Catching Fire, of course! Who hasn't been waiting for this movie for eternity? Well, I was a little bit afraid. I hear there was a new director...? And the first trailer wasn't too fantastic. But oh my gosh! I love this one! It made me excited again!
http://movies.yahoo.com/video/hunger-games-catching-fire-trailer-211105191.html
And now, secondly: The Sea of Monsters. I know what half of you diehard Percy Jackson fans just thought: that the first movie was a disaster, it was nothing like the book and you can't believe they thought they could just make a sequel. But honestly? I had hope for this, for many reasons. (By the way, Percy Jackson fans, you can't deny the fact that Annabeth's blond hair intrigued you.) Well, I saw the trailer, and while I was watching it, I was thinking it could be good or bad. But it looks like in general they're sticking to the story! Check it out.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/percy-jackson-sea-of-monsters/trailers/

Luke Castellan

Yes, as you may have noticed from my "Sassiest Book Characters" post I am a Percy Jackson fan :) But I must say before I begin my rant: some serious spoilers for the Percy Jackson series coming up.
You know, there are always people discussing whether or not Luke Castellan is a hero. You know, I used to say he was both. But when I said that, did I even really understand why he was a hero? I probably pitied him, because you just can't help but feel bad for Luke, and he was kind of tricked into trusting Kronos.
A little while ago I lost my Nancy Drew book so I couldn't read it. I found it today, but I needed something to entertain me. I've been going through a Hunger Games phase the past week so I was kind of clinging to that but one can only go through so much Hunger Games. So last night I got out my copy of The Last Olypian. I've been looking over it for about twenty-four hours now.
Let me just say, having just looked over Luke's death (Well, he isn't actually dead yet, but he's stabbed himself), I can tell you, now I know why they called him a hero. It finally makes sense.
Why didn't I see it before, guys? Honestly? He realizes he was wrong. He sacrifices himself so they can stop Kronos. He is amazing. I hope you guys get what I'm saying. Because I just realized a few minutes ago how much of a hero Luke Castellan really was.

House-Elves

Were you guys hoping that I would stop posting about Harry Potter now that I'm done rereading it? Sorry, you were mistaken. It's my fandom. You guys will understand.  Let me begin by pointing out that Dobby and Harry Potter have the same color eyes.
(By the way, spoilers for Deathly Hallows: the paragraph in which Dobby dies, or in which characters die in general, is absolutely stunningly written. I recommend you to reread it. It is quite fantastic. The description!)
You know, it's no joke: You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat house-elves. Take Mr. Weasley. He was very kind to Winky the house-elf in The Goblet of Fire, and if I do say so myself, Mr. Weasley is a very kind person. In the very same book Amos Diggory is rather rude to Winky. I don't particularly like Mr. Diggory. At all.
As Sirius said in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

(We'll ignore the fact that he treats Kreacher so horribly.) But while we're talking about Kreacher, remember how much Kreacher used to hate Harry? Then Harry started treating Kreacher kindly, and Kreacher was kind to Harry as well! It all adds up.

And I know how much Hermione wants to free house-elves. You know, personally I think she's dead wrong. Sure, there are house-elves like Dobby who had bad masters, but really, most house-elves are quite happy with the fact that they get to work all day and serve a family. She doesn't understand that house-elves like to work and that it's in their nature to want to work. Some things about house-elves are never going to change. Even Dobby, he was afraid of getting too much payment and holidays when he started working at Hogwarts. He wants to be a house-elf because he is a house-elf. That's just what they do.

 

 

 

Nancy Drew

Hello, everyone! I would just like to let you know some useless information, being that I have finished my rereading of the Harry Potter series. Along with the seven original books I also read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. These books are just excellent, kids. I could reread these seven masterpieces again and again.
So now I am reading the Nancy Drew series! I have only read four of them, being the first, thirty-second (I believe, unless The Scarlet Slipper Mystery is some other number in the thirties), the fifty-ninth, and the sixtieth. I will be reading a few others too, because we now have many more Nancy Drew books in my home. I was just telling my mother that Nancy Drew is like the Mary Poppins of the American 1930's: she's practically perfect in every way! She is very kind, and as my mother pointed out a few months ago and which I have certainly noticed upon rereading The Secret of the Old Clock, Nancy always is wearing the perfect outfit. You can't solve a mystery without wearing something fashionable.
Who doesn't love an old-fashioned teen detective story?

I Love Harry Potter

Hey guys, me and my sister admin this page on Facebook. Guess what it's about? Good guess! Harry Potter! Check us out and like us:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Love-Harry-Potter/223518874444447?fref=ts
Thank you!

Ron Weasley

You know, Ron Weasley is really loyal and courageous. He really loves his friends. One of Ron Weasley's bravest moments was probably in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, when they were playing wizard's chess and let the queen take him out so that Harry and Hermione could continue on to defeat Voldemort. The time he was certainly most loyal to his friends was in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, when he tells Sirius that if he wants to kill Harry he'll have to kill him and Hermione too. There's really no question why Ron Weasley is in Gryffindor, is there?

Romione

Romione is kind of my favorite. They are my first favorite book couple in the top four. The second is Toast (Peeta and Katniss), third Percybeth (Percy and Annabeth), and fourth Miri and Peder (yeah, they don't get a cool couple name, but they're from Princess Academy). I could just go on and on and on and on and on about like every thing that's happened between them, but there's just too many of them! I'll stop now before I die or something!

Fred and George

Everyone's favorite redheaded twins. No, but seriously, everyone loved those guys. If you didn't, you're crazy. A trick of Fred and George's that I remember more clearly than almost any other was the Canary Creams. It's rather an odd and random trick to remember, but I still remember it, I don't know why I remembered this one out of all the pranks and tricks they did. The book is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Harry has just successfully completed the first task in the Triwizard Tournament, and all the Gryffindors are celebrating in Gryffindor Tower. One of the twins tries to give Hermione a jam tart. Hermione is suspicious, but it's hard not to be suspicious of the Weasley twins. He tells Hermione that he did not jinx the jam tarts, but he did put a spell on the custard creams, which Neville has just bitten into. Obviously Neville does not want to eat his custard cream anymore but Neville is told that he was only joking and Neville is left to eat his custard cream in peace. That is, until Neville turns into a canary. What a wonderful joke! Then there's the unforgettable one: the Skiving Snackboxes. How fabulous those things are! Candy that makes you sick? I would love those things! Some of them aren't even that serious, like the Nosebleed Nougat. I could easily eat one end, then eat the other end right after, no problem. With Puking Pastilles, it's a little more difficult, because you're vomiting so much that you can't really eat anything, and then with the Fainting Fancies you're not exactly conscious enough to do much, but, hey. An excuse to get out of class is an excuse to get out of class. Okay, now I'm going to say DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ALL OF THE BOOKS IN THE HARRY POTTER SERIES and talk a little about Fred's death. I was sitting in class when I read that for the first time. I was just reading, and Fred died. Rowling writes this in such a heartbreaking manner that it hardly mattered how we all felt about the character anyway, but Fred was such a fun and carefree character that everyone loved, I just thought, What? Fred can't die! I really honestly kind of thought it was impossible. My teacher asked me what I was upset about but I didn't want to tell her because she hadn't read the book yet. She was a Potterhead, but I still didn't want to reveal that. I finally told her and she kind of seemed to have the same reaction as me. "Fred?" she said. So sad.
This is basically how it feels.

Summer Reading Program

Hey guys! It's summer! Did you know that means that you can sign up for a summer reading program? Well if you didn't know that I'll tell you more about it. The summer reading program is awesome; if you read a certain number of minutes then you can win prizes and whatnot. You can sign up for the summer reading program; there is a program for young kids, older kids, teenagers and adults. Say you have a little child who cannot read. That's okay! If you read to them it still counts. I am doing it, and I signed up on Saturday and I already read over two hours! That's awesome, in my personal opinion! :D It's no wonder that I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, then! If you want to sign up for the summer reading program then you can just go to a public library near you can sign up, or you can sign up online at home, either way is real easy! Have fun and keep reading!

The Sassiest Book Characters of All Time

Not a Harry Potter post today? I know! Don't worry, it shall be mentioned ;) Well yes, we are straying from Harry Potter today and listing a few of your favorite, most-loved and most-hated sassy book characters. Here goes! (But not necessarily in this order, of course)
1. Pansy Parkinson from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Girl is a gossip queen. Always checking Witch Weekly for the latest news, and she lives off of making the Gryffindors feel horrible about themselves. Always has her "gang of Slytherin girls" with her in case she needs someone to gossip to.
2. Thomasina from The Diamond Smugglers by O.M. Brookes. This is a classic that I think is a little less well-known than some of the others, but every good classic has to have a girly-girl, as you would know if you've read the Little Women series by Louisa May Alcott (And yes, readers, it is a series, which is quite a little-known fact). So, of course, what would  The Diamond Smugglers be without girly, adventurous, fabulous Thomasina?
3. Zoe from Vet Volunteers by Laurie Halse Anderson. Most people don't really know this one either. Vet Volunteers is good for you if you like animals and your idea of a long book is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and shorter reads are more your thing. Zoe is used to a life in New York where her mom was always at work (as an actress) and their maid Ethel does just about everything, including teaching Zoe how to French braid hair. Her cousin Maggie describes Zoe as "bubbly, perky, and too dramatic" in the first book in the series, Fight for Life. That should sum Zoe up for you. By the way, Laurie Halse Anderson is an amazing writer. If you couldn't tell by my little paragraph just now, Zoe and Maggie do not exactly get along. Zoe seems so annoying in the first book. But the book Say Good-Bye is from Zoe's point of view, and in that book Maggie seems way more annoying than Zoe. That's truly awesome.
4. Juniper from Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. Were you guys all expecting me to say Silena Beauregard? Silena may be a daughter of Aphrodite, but she's not that sassy. Honestly, this one was a hard one. But I concluded that the sassiest character from Percy Jackson was Juniper because she's always worrying about Grover, oftentimes when it's kind of silly.
5. Esme Squalor from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Esme was willing to do anything if it was "in". Heck, she was even willing to smoke, even though she knew it was unhealthy! She may not sound sassy when I explain it like that, but read the books and you'll see what I mean.
6. Bess Marvin from Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. Bess is always trying to lose weight. She's the cutest little thing in the world. She definitely seems like the girly-girl out of the group. Oh, and by the way, if you haven't yet, you need to read the Nancy Drew books, the really old ones from the 1930's. They're the most darling thing! I love them!
7. Corey from All the Lovely Bad Ones by Mary Downing Hahn. Corey is a drama queen. That's all there is to it. Who else could have so expertly imitated ghosts, so much that... now, I don't want to ruin the story for you! You should read it yourself! (That is, if you haven't already)
8. Lizabeth Merchant from The Girls of Lighthouse Lane by Erika Tamar. I like old stories, not that these are old, but these take place quite a few years ago, so if you're into that sort of thing these are awesome. Lizabeth is always worried about what people think about her. She thinks what Rose's mom does is disgusting (read the books to find out), and in the third book, all she wants to do is become Strawberry Queen. By the way, the third one is so good! Just saying.
9. Rebecca Baxter from Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter. Bex is just kind of what you see when you picture that sassy spy. Let's put it this way: Bex is just cool.
10. Sal from The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw. Sal quite reminds me of Corey from All the Lovely Bad Ones. Both awesome ghost stories, but let me just say this: this book is awesome. Quite a must-read.
11. Miggery Sow from The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCammilo. Miggery Sow was not at all the flashiest character. But, the flashiest aren't always the sassiest. Miggery Sow always had that in her. She was going to grow up and go to the palace and be a princess.
12. Susan from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. This one I think you kind of have to read the whole series to understand. That's all I'm saying. (By the way, these books are awesome. Everyone should read these.)
13. Mrs. Finnemore from Theodore Boone by John Grisham. I do have a tendency for picking the books that no one knows about, don't I? Well, let's face it, April was never a girly-girl and never will be a girly-girl. Her mother, however, was quite the drama queen. But, I mean, in the second book she did have a reason.
14. Dame Olga from Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. I was going to say Hattie, but, let's face it, Dame Olga is far more sassy than her daughter is. Well, the whole family is sassy, but Dame Olga is the worst. Let's just leave it there.
15. Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games. I could name just about every Capitol person in existence, but let's let Effie represent them all. Effie sums up everything a Capitol person could be. She's always looking her best, and no one loves manners more than Effie.
Well, what a list! If you got nothing out of that at least you know what books you should read. Goodbye, friends!

Crushes

You know, every single member of the Golden Trio had a teenage crush before they actually found their true loves. Harry had Cho. (And after their first date everything was ruined.) Hermione had Viktor Krum. (And he just lived in another country, and we all know how those long-distance relationships never work out, not to mention she still liked Ron.) And Ron had Lavender. (Does anyone know how that actually happened? Well, yeah, but that doesn't make it any less weird.) Don't ask me what the point of this was. I just realized it when I was reading. Also, don't trust these childhood crushes, young ones! They never last! (Except for when they do, but that doesn't count.)

Harry Potter

Let's talk a little about the Boy who Lived. I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the chapter was "The Quidditch World Cup". Lynch, the Seeker for the Irish team, had seen the Snitch. Lynch goes into a dive, and they know that this isn't a fakeout like the Wronski Feint, performed by Krum, was. And then Harry says this: "He's seen the Snitch! He's seen it! Look at him go!" Isn't that so adorable? The kid is so cute when he's watching Quidditch. Who doesn't love the boy wizard? And then, later in this chapter, at the very end, in fact, Harry is fantasizing about playing in the Quidditch World Cup someday. He's so cute! I love this kid. Sure, he is the most realistically moody teenager I have ever read, but we all love him anyway. And then he feels vulnerable without his wand. I think I just liked this because we all have those things that make us vulnerable, like being in front of a certain person or specific group of people, or maybe just being in front of people in general, or having forgotten your Harry Potter book at home ;) Haha

Fanfics

Do you guys like fanfics? I don't have the patience to read them, but I do love writing them! Maybe that's not fair, but I can't sit and read a story on the computer, but the pieces of fanfics I have read are very good. My fanfics are about my faves, of course, Harry Potter and Hunger Games. I was wondering if you guys would like to check them out!
http://www.goodreads.com/story/list/9977792
Hope you guys enjoy them!

Quidditch

Well, my friends, now I would like to share a few words with you about Quidditch. What a fantastic sport! I think one of the most exciting Quidditch match I ever read was the last one played in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Now that was quite a game! Never were there so many penalties in a game of Quidditch, at least at Hogwarts. That Quidditch game was extremely entertaining.
And Viktor Krum! Wow, he is quite the Seeker. The Wronski Feint he did in the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was spectacular! Have you ever read something so amazing? Harry should really try doing that sometime.
However, Viktor Krum does have some Seeking flaws. Doesn't he know, if the Irish team is one hundred sixty points ahead of the Bulgarian team, he certainly shouldn't catch the Snitch! He should really have watched the Quidditch game at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, where Harry didn't catch the Snitch until the team was over fifty points ahead of Hufflepuff. They still lost, because the dementors came and Harry fell off his broom and Cedric, not noticing, caught the Snitch and causing Hufflepuff to win the game. (Just on a random sidenote, I love Cedric Diggory. He's such a nice guy though I don't like his father much. I'm also a Hufflepuff. Yay!) But still. That's a good strategy they had.

Well Hello Everyone!

Hello friends! Welcome to It's an Adventure! If you are reading this you clearly love to read. (Unless, of course, you stumbled across this blog on accident and didn't actually mean to read a bunch of silly things about books.) That is what this is all about, friends! If you love books half as much as I do, you're in the right place! I love to read, and my favorites are Harry Potter and Hunger Games. The current book I am reading is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, for the third time! What an adventure! Thank you, friends! Have a nice day! (Yeah, I overdo exclamation points a lot.... That's too bad....)