Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Before the remaining three books came out, this book by far was the most action packed. Just like the maze at the end of the book, each turn held a surprise.

This summer break will be quite different for our Harry Potter. His friend Ron has invited him to the Quidditch World Cup, something that doesn't happen all the time. The only problem is to get the Dursley's permission. Well, Mr. Weasley doesn't care to have their permission so he arrives one day to pick Harry up, except his means of transportation are not what the Duresley's would've excepted.

When everyone is at the Quidditch World Cup they are blown away by all the wizards showing off. Half the camp site is maroon (for Bulgaria) while the other half is green (for Ireland). After the Irish win the cup everyone goes back to their camp sites to wind-down, but then screams start to pierce the night. Mr. Weasley has everyone run to the safety of the woods while he, with the help of the other wizards, try to subdue the rebels.

Hermonie, Ron, and Harry get separated from Ginny, George, and Fred. While Harry, Ron, and Hermonie are in deep woods a sign is placed in the air that causes more panic - the sign of Lord Voldermort.

The night before the kids leave for Hogwarts they learn that something very special will be taking place that year, but neither Mr. Weasley or anyone else will hint to what it is. While at the Welcoming Feast, Dumbledor tells that students that they will be hosting the Tri Wizard Tournament, which hasn't been hosted for many years. The tournament will begin on October 31st and anyone under the age of 17 will not be allowed to compete. When the day finally arrives the 2 visiting school arrive as well, Drumstrang and Beauxbatons. There is a wonderful feast that night with dishes from each of the visiting schools as well as the normal Hogwarts food. The next day the champions are selected - 1 from each school. When Dumbledor picks the 3 champions everyone is excited for the games to commence - until Harry's name is picked. But Harry couldn't have put is name in the running nor bewitched the cup to select his name, or could he?

Not a bad book as books go, quite better than HP and the Chamber of Secrets - but I did find the beginning of the book rather drawn out (and if I recall correctly I feel the same way for wither book 6 or 7). I do like how we got to learn about from wizards of other places, well I shouldn't say 'learn' because we didn't learn that much, but we did get to see some aspects - like their food or climate (based on how they dressed). I think my favorite part in the whole story would have to been Harry and Ron trying to find dates in time for the Yull Ball and then one acquiring them, not knowing what to do and just being extremely awkward.

Books in this series:

Books in this series:

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (c) 2000 US (c) 2000

How to Train Your Dragon

Hiccup and his fellow peers are at that tender age where you have to prove you have the guts to stay in the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. In order to stay in the tribe Hiccup and his peers must each catch a dragon and then train it to sit, stay, and catch fish. For any Viking worth his salt will have a lean mean killing machine - or dragon.

On the day that all the boys are to catch their dragon's Gobber the Belch (the Viking in charge of initiation) tells the kids what's on the line if they should fail. He tells the boys

"I need not tell you . . . that if your return to this spot without a dragon, it is hardly worth coming back at all." (p9)

Each child is given a dragon basket and they all begin the climb up the dangerous wall. The majority of the boys of The Hairy Hooligan Tribe don't like Hiccup - in fact they call him Hiccup the Useless. When everyone comes back from catching their dragons they can't help but show them off. Everyone is in awe of Snoutlout and his Nightmare Dragon (only the Chief's son of the Chief can have a Nightmare Dragon). Fishlegs gets Hiccup into trouble when he says that only Hiccup can have Snoutlout's dragon, since after all he is the Chief's son. It doesn't help that Hiccup's dragon is the tiniest dragon around and he's tootless. The boys decide to give Hiccup a new name : Hiccup the Useless and his dragon Toothless.

Things don't get better. After his dragon Toothless wakes up from his dragon slumber, he begins to train him. The normal Viking way is to yell at a dragon as loud as you can - however Hiccup doesn't think that will work, so he speaks to Toothless in dragonese.

When the big day comes, all the boys assemble to show the tribe how they've trained their dragon. Any boy whose dragon is not trained will be BANISHED! The problem for Hiccup is that Toothless is a rather disobedient little thing. When Toothless gets all the dragons to fight - and disobey their masters - the tribe has no choice but to banish the boys. That is until the Sea Dragon Maximum decides to awaken from its slumber and begin to terrorize the village. The only hope for the Hairy Hooligan Tribe is Hiccup.

Ok. This is for all you Liberians out there and I know you'll love this. The book that the kids could read, if they wanted to know more about training their dragon was called "How to Train your Dragon", and inside the book was a little blurb about the library. It went as follows :

"Meathead Public Library. A note from the Hairy Scary Librarian: Please Return this book on or before the last date stamped or I will be VERY ANNOYED. I think you know what I mean". At the bottom of the page it says "DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOK OR WE WILL BASH YOU!!" (p55) and get this the price of the book is 1 small chicken and 20 oysters!

This book was so funny and I could not stop laughing. I love how the names were always alliterated and how goofy the whole story was :) I was glad that both Hiccup and Toothless grew in stature and that they both learned their true potential.

I would recommend this book to any young boy. I think he'd get a kick out of it!

And know if I ever come across a dragon, I will know how to train it :)

How to Train your Dragon by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. (Translated by Cressida Cowell) New York. (c) 2003