The Percy Jackson Movies
The movie adaptations of Rick Riordans popular novel series Percy Jackson has amassed quite a fan following over the years. The series consists of two movies: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief , and its sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters . The story centers on a teenage boy named Percy Jackson , who has no idea that he is a demigod. Hes revealed to be the son of Poseidon in the first movie, and his adventures take him through various magical landscapes and encounter several mythical monsters, all from Greek legends over the course of the two movies. Hes joined by other demigod children, who aid him in his quests, namely Grover and Annabeth . The trio also learns more about their powers along with other demigods honing their skills at a secret island, just like the hidden magical world of Hogwarts. In addition to that, the first film was directed by Chris Columbus, who also directed the first two Harry Potter movies, providing the viewers with an enhanced magical experience akin to everyones favorite sorcery-based movie series.
They Are Easy To Read
My son was able to comprehend these books even when he was reading them at the age of 6. There might have been a few words that he wasnât positive about, but they were generally easy to understand. I remember trying to read A Wrinkle in Time when I was a little kid. I got a bit confused in parts. The Harry Potter series is a lot easier to understand than that thin book.
Harry Potter Fandom Also Paved The Way For The Mainstreaming Of Fandom And Geek Culture
Harry Potter has a tremendously outsized cultural reach: One 2011 survey suggested that a third of all American adults ages 18 to 34 at the time had read at least one of the books. But what really makes Harry Potter stand out is the way people loved Harry Potter.
First and foremost, the series helped make it cool to be a geek. People generally didnt read the Harry Potter books in isolation they wanted to talk about it with their friends, and then find more friends who loved the books as much as they did. This pattern coincided with the rise of Web 2.0 that is, an increasingly interactive and social internet. As more Harry Potter fans became more active online, they made discussion of YA fiction, fantasy, and science fiction seem commonplace.
And Harry Potter fans creativity is still being felt in and outside of the fandom. In the early 2000s, Harry Potter fan forums, fanfiction and fan art archives, and email discussion groups exploded across the internet. Harry Potter conventions drew thousands of fans, and Harry Potter cosplay became a well-known sight at larger geek and comic cons.
A number of Harry Potter fans also went on to make significant marks on mainstream culture. As a member of the University of Michigan theater troupe Starkid, a young Darren Criss starred as Harry Potter in the viral YouTube video A Very Potter Musical, and his popularity catapulted him into the role of Blaine on Glee and a career on Broadway.
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He Ghosts Hermione After She Tries To Help Him
Harry is thrilled when he receives a surprise gift in the mail, which turns out to be a Firebolt broomstick.
All of Harrys Quidditch related dreams have come true, and its remarkable timing considering his Nimbus 2000 has literally just been destroyed.
Whilst Harry and Ron are wrapped up in the excitement of it all, Hermione is the voice of reason, explaining that she thinks Sirius Black is behind the gift.
At this stage, Hermione, Ron and Harry are still of the belief that Sirius is a violent criminal. Considering this, its fair to say that Hermione is quite justified in going to Professor McGonagall over her concerns for her friends safety.
Harry, though, is furious, and refuses to speak to or even acknowledge his best friend, despite the fact that Hermione was clearly acting in his best interests.
It’s Set During The One Year Harry Didn’t Want Any Trouble
Ever since Harry set foot in Hogwarts, he’s been looking for trouble. If he wasn’t trying to find the Sorcerer’s Stone, he was closing the Chamber of Secrets, or trying to either hide from or help Sirius Black. Finally, at the beginning of his fourth year, Harry has decided just to take it easy this time, perhaps crush a little bit on Cho Chang and dance at bit at the Yule Ball, but otherwise take a backseat and enjoy the Tri-Wizard tournament. I personally find his desire for a normal school year remarkably humanizing, and it’s never failed to make me like Harry even more as a character. This is pre-capslock Harry, right before he is thrown headlong into the very real war against Voldemort.
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The Yule Ball Is Basically The Prom We All Wish We Had
Do you remember the last truly fancy dance you went to? Perhaps it was a prom, or a college formal, or your friends are just incredibly fancy people who can afford to throw elaborate parties, but there was a special kind of excitement that comes when you dress up nice and dance the night away. Now, imagine a kind of fancy party where everything is magic, literal fairies serve as the lighting, and an incredibly popular band is there to play for you. All I am saying is that the Yule Ball is living the dream.
Invisibility Cloaks Are Pretty Useful
After years of receiving Christmas gifts from the Dursleys clearly found down the bottom of a sofa, Harry was given the Christmas present to end them all: the Cloak of Invisibility, which had been passed down through the Potter family for generations.
In his early years, this served Harry well for undercover tasks rebellious 11-year-olds like to do, like raiding the Restricted Section, but little did he realise how incredibly vital that cloak would become.
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Why Is Harry Potter So Addictive
The story was written in a way that allowed anyone to immerse themselves into the Harry Potter universe and imagine themselves as a part of the story.
The involvement in the story was amplified even more once Pottermore was created. The website allowed the fans to get even deeper into the universe by allowing them to get sorted into the Hogwarts house, to get their own Patronus, and even their own wands.
Most of the fans are extremely involved with the universe and that in combination with J. K. Rowlings constant additions to the franchise, whether it is through her interviews or her overactive Twitter account.
This intervenes with how the franchise and the fandom surrounding it normally coexist. Usually, the fandom starts with few fans and the number grows as the franchise grows bigger, but once the franchise comes to closure the fandom will slowly die out due to the lack of content.
A great example of how content affects the life of a fandom and the fans engagement is the Star Wars franchise that got revived after years of stagnation once the sequel trilogy was announced.
Because there is a new spin-off series containing 5 movies that are currently being released and J. K. Rowling constantly adds new information about different characters and what happened to them after the series closure the fans had a constant stream of information and content which allowed them to stay invested in the franchise.
Details Within The Stories Are Well
Iâve always been a big fan of adjectives. My favorite authors are all about the adjectives and making sure to include a plethora of them in their writings. JK Rowling is very effective in portraying each character. She does it in such a way that I can easily visualize the characters and imagine the scenery surrounding them. Sheâs able to evoke feeling with her detailed descriptions.
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Jk Rowling’s Transphobic Viewpoints Left Many Potter Fans Disenchanted
In 2020, in a now-infamous series of tweets and a subsequent essay, the controversial “Harry Potter” author issued a spate of contentious statements about biological sex and gender. Rowling’s opinions led many to label her a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
A TERF is generally characterized as a person who says they’re a feminist while espousing trans-exclusionary views. Common examples include saying that trans women aren’t women, barring trans women from women’s spaces, and conflating sex with gender.
These comments weren’t her first foray into transphobia. In addition to liking a couple of offensive tweets in 2018, she also tweeted in 2019 in support of a British woman who was fired over making transphobic comments.
Then, amid the backlash of her 2020 tweets and essay, the author published a poorly received book under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, that follows a male serial killer who lures his victims by dressing as a woman.
Her actions disenchanted scores of fans, who have struggled to figure out what to do with their love for the series given the controversy around its creator.
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Whos in it? Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen
Whats it about? From wizards and dwarfs to intense battle sequences, this film series offers the closest thing you can get to the wizarding world. Join Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship as they embark on a magical quest to destroy the Ruling Ring.
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Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone By Jk Rowling
The Philosophers Stone is the first in J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series of seven novels that have made her the most successful literary author of all time, selling in excess of 400 million copies world-wide. The books are read and enjoyed by children and adults alike and have also been made into hugely popular films.
Do the Harry Potter books live up to the hype? When I first began reading the Philosophers stone I was immediately struck by how good – and laugh-out-loud funny – the humour was. You usually need to read a Terry Pratchett novel to ensure constant laughter throughout but Rowling has managed to infuse this book with a lovely wit and charm that will both amuse and delight adults and children.
Here is an example, with the ending being particularly good:
“Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large, pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes and thick, blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.”Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone: The Vanishing Glass
When Harry begins his first term at Hogwarts he is not alone in being overawed:
Is all the hype about the Harry Potter books justified? In a word, yes, the books are a joy to read and possibly the most rewarding young adults book since The Hobbit.
What Was Missing From Me
It’s a big question to ask based on a series of books about a boy wizard. But let’s go with it for a second.
A few years back I was with a partner, and we were book shopping for her nephew.
We looked at loads of different books. I’d gotten to know her nephew just a little bit, and I had some pretty good ideas of what he might like. But each book I suggested, my partner would read the description and say, “…No. Not quite.”
After we did this with half a dozen titles, she put one down and said, “I think he wants something mysterious. Like an adventure. Something that makes him think there’s still exciting adventures out there in the world. Something like Harry Potter.”
As a librarian, you start to recognize something in people. Once in a while, when talking about books, people will say something very guarded about themselves. Something about how they want the world to be.
When I heard my partner say that, I heard that voice. The voice that says, “This is what I want the world to be like.”
She didn’t believe there was adventure in the real world. But she wanted to. And she wanted a book to do that. The way Harry Potter had for her.
This is where my problem comes in. I don’t believe in magic. And when I talk about magic here, I’m talking about it in broad terms.
I’ve never been very interested in fantasy, and I think that has a lot to do with the kind of person I am. A sad, cynical person.
In Harry Potter, there’s something a tiny, weak character can do to save the world.
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Harry Potters Us Publication Made It A Bonafide Phenomenon
Harry Potter did fine when it first emerged in the UK 20 years ago, winning a Smarties Award and garnering respectable sales for its publisher, Bloomsbury. But it only started to approach phenomenon levels when Scholastic bought the US publication rights for an astonishing $105,000, about 10 times more than the average foreign rights sale at the time.
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The first Harry Potter book wasnt perfect, but it was magic
Arthur Levine, the Scholastic editor who acquired the books, had an excellent eye for British books that would work in the US, having already acquired the US rights to Redwall and His Dark Materials. But even he didnt know that Harry Potter would grow as big as it did. He just knew that he loved it and wanted to publish it. Scholastic President Barbara Marcus Barbara Marcus kept saying do you love it? and Arthur said yes, so we went for it, a Scholastic spokesperson recalled in 2002. I would have been willing to go further than that if I had to,” Levine said in 2007.
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The $105,000 sale granted Harry Potter two things: a built-in publicity hook, and a big budget.
The hook came from the press: Newspapers featured articles about the little English book that had garnered such a huge sale. Reviewers wanted to know what kind of book would justify that kind of money. It was a curiosity, and as such, it was a story.
He Toyed With Ginny Weasleys Emotions
The Weasleys invited Harry into their home in his time of need, caring for him as one of their own.
You might think that Harry would repay their generosity with kindness and gratitude. But remember, this is Harry Potter were talking about.
Harry is far too important to lower himself like that, instead revelling in the glow of Ginnys undying adoration, all whilst keeping her at arms length.
Ginny finally realises Harry just isnt cut out for a relationship and starts to move on, even showing interest in other boys.
However, Harry becomes overwhelmed with jealousy, and decides he does actually like her after all. Make your mind up, pal.
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A Cast Of Relatable Characters
What led to the success of the books and the movies were the characters that the story followed.
While Harry Potter may be the title protagonist of the stories, he is rarely any fans favorite character.
Rowling created a whole cast of lovable and complex characters, many of whom grow before the readers or viewers eyes.
Harry Potter is the perfect poster boy for the series, thanks to his troubled past and uniquely problematic life.
When he was just an infant, both of his parents were murdered, and he was forced to live with family members who barely didnt even want him around.
Many fans have been open about how Harry Potter helped them deal with rejection that they received from family members.
Fans loved watching Harry become a crucial part of many peoples lives, despite the difficult conditions he endured.
Hermione Granger is commonly one of the most favorite characters of Harry Potter fans thanks to her relatable nature.
Shes the smartest one in her friend group and often acts as the voice of reason, keeping Harry and Ron from getting hurt or in too much trouble.
Hermione is a dedicated student, despite being bullied for having a non-wizard parent.
Many fans appreciate her drive and focus which allows her to rise above the bullying.
Most fans have a friend like Ron Weasley, someone who is hesitant to new or potentially troublesome ideas yet willing to press forward thanks to their unwavering loyalty.
What To Read After Harry Potter
But like all good things, these magical books eventually come to an end. Fortunately for young readers and adults alike, there are lots of great options for what to read after Harry Potter that will give you a similar thrill as J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series and its companion Harry Potter Wizarding World theme park. Heres a comprehensive list of the best books like Harry Potter for every grade level, continuously updated as new fantasy books make their debuts.
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Mythos Academy By Jennifer Estep
Gwen Frost is out to solve her classmates murder, especially since she thinks she should have been the one who died. Gwen is a 17-year-old student at Mythos Academy, a school of myths, magic, and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebodys head with a sword.
When students start dying and the second Chaos War is at hand, Gwen uses her power of touch magic to set things right in the first novel, Touch of Frost. Five novels round out the Mythos Academy series, which is aimed at readers 14 and up. In order, they are: Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost, Midnight Frost, and Killer Frost.