Chaos Walking: No ‘Monsters of Men’ Predictions

September 27, 2010 by 4 Comments

Well, here is a busted play.

I was all pumped for discussion and predictions of the first two books in the Chaos Walking trilogy before the finale is published tomorrow — but there was no hold on the release of the third book, Monsters of Men, and it has been thoroughly reviewed with most plot points that would have been subject to speculation now part of the public record. And why not? The book has been available in hardcover and paperback in the UK since 3 May of this year.

Which status quo calls for a HogwartsProfessor Book Club change of plans! Here are the changes: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Chaos Walking, HogPro Book Club

H. E. Todd’s ‘Bobby Brewster:’ Harry Potter, Sr.?

September 26, 2010 by 3 Comments

I’m often asked what I would ask Ms. Rowling if I ever met here. Today I think I would ask if H. E. Todd had visited her primary school and read a ‘Bobby Brewster’ story to her.

I learned in September that there was a very popular UK children’s book series published in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s about a boy named Bobby Brewster in which everyday objects talked to the main character much as, say, mirrors and portraits talk in the Wizarding World. One of the short story collections in this series, Bobby Brewster, Detective, has a title in it, ‘Follow that Spider,’ which reminded me of Hagrid’s clue for Chamber of Secrets‘ two boy detectives, spoken as he is hauled off to Azkaban, about following spiders. I ordered the out-of-print title from a UK bookseller.

The author, H. E. Todd, and Bobby Brewster are not in Phil Nel’s book on Harry Potter and children’s literature and Library Lisa at Accio Quotes assures me it isn’t in Rowling interview canon. Reading this remarkable set of recollections of the influence this inspiring author and story-teller had via his visiting schools and reading his stories to children made me wonder if the young Miss Rowling didn’t have such an experience. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes

Deathly Hallows Movie Trailer for Part One

September 25, 2010 by 3 Comments

It’s been pretty heady and heavy around here this week. How about a break from ideas cerebral to images-sensational? Here is the latest trailer from Warner Brothers for the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, due in your neighborhood theaters this November.

Please share your thoughts on what you experienced here, especially if that experience was markedly different than the one you had via either your imagination on first reading (and re-readings) or on reflection after studying the book with The Deathly Hallows Lectures.

Filed Under: Movie Thoughts

Hot New Parable Novel? Firelight by Sophie Jordan

September 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

One of my younger boys’ favorite book series is Warriors by Erin Hunter, actually several series now of novels about feral cats. They enjoy it so much that they have written stories along Warrior lines just one step short of fan fiction and written to the author. Last Saturday the author wrote back.

To say the letter left them a little confused, albeit still delighted to have received any response, is to put it mildly. It turns out the author isn’t really the author but one of four authors, that the idea wasn’t hers but a publishing house’s idea that they shopped to several writers, and that the name ‘Erin Hunter’ is a pseudonym that was chosen so the Warrior books would be shelved in bookstores in close proximity to Brian Jacques’ Redwall books (all of which my boys and I have read and loved). Did the form letter have to be that informative?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Parable Novels

Reading Ideas For Ness’ The Act and the Answer Five Days Until Chaos Walking Trilogy Finale

September 23, 2010 by 3 Comments

The first book we will be reading in the Hogwarts Professor Book Club is Patrick Ness’ Monsters of Men, which will be published on 28 September. The thing is that Monsters is not a stand alone work; it’s the final novel in Mr. Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy. If you haven’t read the first two Chaos books, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and The Answer, then you have a bunch of great reading to do in the next five days. No joke, get to it! In terms of the “parable fiction” I described earlier this week as the fruit of the Harry Potter tree, Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking is an allegorical challenge while being a great read.

Last week I wrote out five “reading ideas” for Knife of Never Letting Go. My job today is to provide the same sort of  questions and thoughts for your reflection on your first or second trip through the second book, The Ask and the Answer, ideas that will simultaneously encourage you to make return trips to the book while not spoiling firsttimers’ experience of the story. In the next few days before Monsters of Men‘s publication, I’ll put up some speculative notes about the last book that will assume you’ve read Knife and The Ask.

Here are my first five ideas to spur your thinking: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Chaos Walking, HogPro Book Club