New WI Availability of Harry Potter eBooks/Audio

Image by sipa from Pixabay

Sara Gold,  WiLS Community Liaison and Service Specialist writes:

"Pottermore has extended an offer to the WI Digital Library, making the audio and ebook versions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone available for unlimited checkouts with no waiting until April 30th. The titles are available through a title search and will be curated into the Always Available collection by the end of today (4/1/20)." 

Brian Selznick & His Amazing HP 20th Anniversary Cover Art

Brian Selznick/copyright 2018 Scholastic 

Entertainment Weekly caught up with Brian Selznick who talks about how his cover art for the 20th anniversary editions of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter came about.

Read about it here.

Need to Update Those Harry Potter Books?

Now might be the time. New covers illustrated by Brian Selznick will be available June 26, 2018. Thanks to Tasha at Waking Brain Cells for the tip!

Giant Harry Potter Maze

Not sure how I missed this back in September, but the Denver (Colo.) Public Library created a Giant Harry Potter Cardboard Maze.  Yes, GIANT.  With the film adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them coming our way in mid-November, this seems like the ideal time to plan something, well, giant.  Celebrating Harry Potter has been a library staple for what seems like forever, but finding a new twist can be challenging.  Luckily, the rockin' librarians in Denver have posted a great blueprint and guidelines for the creation of your own Giant Harry Potter Cardboard Maze.  Check it out HERE and get ready to geek out over the Wizarding World all over again!

A Couple of Tidbits

Looking for a vacation? Head down to Diagon Alley!

Authors recently featured on various Wisconsin Public Radio shows:

• Patrick Ness
• Joelle Chabonneau
• Kevin Henkes

Google Walking Diagon Alley

With the celebration of the new edition of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone coming up in August, who doesn't need to invite kids for a Google street view walk down Diagon Alley?

Thanks to the always fascinating Book Riot for the link!!

Harry Potter Promo

New paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, due out August 27

 

In celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Scholastic is inviting public libraries all across the country to enter to win a fabulous Harry Potter party pack for young readers in their communities. To enter, librarians should describe in 500 words or less the ultimate Harry Potter celebration they would throw to welcome a new generation of readers to the world of Harry Potter.  Deadline to enter is July 17, 2013.   Fifteen winning public libraries will be announced on Harry Potter’s birthday, July 31st, 2013. Celebrations will be held on August 27, 2013

In case you haven't seen this...wouldn't it be cool if a WI library won??
The fifteen winning public libraries will receive:

• 100 copies of the new trade paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, with the new cover illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, to give away at the celebration.
• One new paperback boxed set of all seven Harry Potter books signed by Kibuishi for the library.
• A $100 gift card towards the Harry Potter celebration.
• A Harry Potter event kit with sticker sheets, name tags, bookmarks, activities, and more.

Complete press release is here, rules can be found here, and entry form here.

It Takes a Village--and a University

Thanks to Georgia Jones, Youth Services Librarian at the C.A. Friday Library in New Richmond, for this guest post!

Collaborative programs have won a place in my heart. It opens up another level of programming, brings new people into the library, allows us to highlight the skills of people in our community, and gives me an opportunity to see the library through fresh eyes.

Last summer we had teachers volunteer to do weekly storytimes during the summer. They were just great! It was fun for families to meet the teachers and share a different "take" on storytime every week. It goes without saying how much I appreciated having a program I did not have to prepare!

We recently had a group of education students from a nearby university provide a wonderful program for us. Every year, the students in this class are required to provide a program for the community. This particular group chose the library to volunteer their efforts…..hooray! These energetic students wanted to do a Harry Potter event for the tweens/teens. We met a number of times prior to the night of the party and I tried to provide some tips and tricks for a successful event. They came prepared and full of enthusiasm!

Sooooooooooooooooo…….if you have not tapped into your community talent, start tapping!

A Reflection on the Harry Potter Phenomenon

Reposted from the YALSA Blog (Saturday, August 28, 2010)

In the teen library world so many programs have revolved around Harry Potter. At my former library our Harry Potter Release Programs were some of our most popular and well attended teen events ever. We celebrated the release of the HP books and movies.

Now the books are finished and the final two movies are to be released this fall and next summer. (You can watch the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 online.) The pressure is on to create two fabulous final “Harry Potter Movie Release Programs” for teens at the library. If you have never hosted a Harry Potter program, now is the time. I encourage you to harness the Potter excitement as the phenomenon draws to a close.

My recommendation is to start planning now. If you don’t have time for a very involved program, consider a passive program or display. There are great programming ideas and suggestions on the YA-YAAC email list archives and on the internet in general.

After the final movies, I fear these programs will become “Remember Harry Potter?” programs. If you start now, you too can re-read and encourage your teens to re-read all the books before the November 18th movie release date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Volume 1.

Program Ideas Brainstorm:

Download and use the free Harry Potter font (I used fontface.com but there are other websites that have it.)

Use PowerPoint and create a Harry Potter Jeopardy game

Play Harry Potter charades

Create a “Name that Spell” game – give various scenarios and ask which spell to use

Live Action Harry Potter Board Game: Create a giant board game on the floor and giant dice, divide participants into Houses/Teams, and have players answer trivia questions to move forward

Host a Harry Potter spelling bee

Host a movie marathon (Be sure to obtain the movie licensing to show the films at the library.)

Dress up: Have teens come in character, have a costume contest, encourage library staff to dress up too (could go well with Halloween)

Go all out and decorate the Teen Area or Programming Room. Create Hogwarts House banners for each wall with house colors. Commandeer a display case, gather a collection of baby food and mason jars (and any other cool looking containers), fill them with random items and name them weird things like: lizards’ tails, dragon’s blood, frog eyes, etc.

Harry Potter Crafts: create a snitch, wand or licorice wands (edible), create slime, make/decorate a broom, etc.

Writing – Have participants: write alternate endings to the series, add details on to the story, create a short story set in the Harry Potter world, or create themed poetry (can use this as an opportunity to talk about Fan Lit)

Start a Harry Potter teen book club and discussion group

Food – Use your imagination to create and serve: Cauldron Cakes (cupcakes with neon green icing, molten lava cake with neon colored filling, etc.), Pumpkin Juice (Tang), Butter Beer (Apple Cider or Root Beer), etc.

Passive Program Ideas: Create handouts for teens to complete, award cheap silly prizes or candy bars for teens who participate. Handouts can be – Harry Potter Trivia Questions, Matching (like which characters go with what house or characters with their animals, etc.), what different spells do, etc.

These are just a few ideas. The Harry Potter series may not be endless, but your options for celebrating it are!

Post written by Angela Germany

HP HBP

Okay, everyone, it's time to post your thoughts about the new Harry Potter movie! I saw it over the weekend and really enjoyed it. They did expect you to know a lot going in (for example, you're supposed to know who Lavender is... I completely forgot about her and they didn't even SAY her name until just before she and Ron broke up...), but even if you haven't read the books, you can follow along okay. The other thing that threw me was how they handled all the romances. Everything did happen quickly, so perhaps that is part of it.

So, what did you think? Did you reread before going to see it (I didn't--on purpose)? How did you handle the rearrangement of a few of the scenes? How many times are you going to see it?

Discuss.