Monthly Archives: July 2011


Pottermore is Progressing

I am still not exactly sure what Pottermore is, but I cannot wait to be able to register. If you are 11 or under, and you had signed up for notifications from them, you must watch out for the magical quill.

What is the magical quill?

“The Magical Quill is located in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It detects the birth of a magical child and writes his or her name down in a large book. Every year, Professor McGonagall checks the book and sends owls to the children who are turning eleven, to inform them that they have a place at Hogwarts. The lucky few who locate The Magical Quill during the Magical Quill challenge (which will run from 31 July to 6 August 2011) will have the chance to register for Pottermore early and gain access to the site before it opens to all in October 2011.”

Are you one of the lucky few who found or hopes to find the magical quill?

What do I do once I find the magical quill?

“Once you have found The Magical Quill, you will be redirected to Pottermore.com. If the registration process is still open for that day, you will be able to submit your details to register to access Pottermore early. It is important to note that finding The Magical Quill does not guarantee you access to registration, as registration will only remain open while the early access places allocated for the relevant day, between 31 July and 6 August, are available.”

But what happens if I don’t find the magical quill?

“There will be plenty of opportunities to find The Magical Quill as we will be revealing a new clue each day from 31 July to 6 August. For those who miss out on early access to Pottermore, please note the site will be open to all from October and you will be able to register after The Magical Quill challenge has closed. Keep checking Pottermore to find out when registration is open to all.”

I must tell you now that you do not search for the magical quill. An email will be sent to you if you signed up for notifications earlier. Unfortunately it is too late to sign up for email notifications, so if you did not it is not the end of the world. On October 1st, registration will be open to the general public. You should check out Pottermore and have a look around at the Q&A and see what will be happening on the website. It looks like it will be very interesting and I cannot wait to be able to go on it.

I hope that you are as excited about this as me.


First Strike by Jack Higgins with Justin Richards

“[Readers] will be sucked in and taken on a roller-coaster ride…teens who are enjoying Anthony Horowitz’s and Ally Carter’s books will get a kick out of Jade and Rich as well.”

– School Library Journal for Death Run

Summary

In the latest installment of the series involving the British Chance twins and their secret-agent father, the family once again bonds as they duck bullets and fly through the book’s nonstop action. Two sets of villains (Chinese rebels and American right-wing fanatics) infiltrate the White House during a reception in an effort to steal a box containing nuclear launch codes. Fortunately, the Brits are on hand to save the day. Fans of the twins’ exploits will enjoy this thrill ride, which, like the series’ other titles, is an obvious read-alike to the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz. Grades 6-9. –Todd Morning

-Amazon.com

Review

I personally thought that this was a quite good book. Since I am a fan of Alex Rider, I immediately was drawn to the book. I also thought that the cover was kind of cool as well. So, this story was about these two kids who were trapped in the White House while it was under the control of terrorists. One of the kids was helping guard the president and the other one was trying to find a way to stop the people. The two children, Jade and Rich, are similar but different. Jade usually is the bait and gets the persons attention, and she likes to do stuff right. Rich, well Rich is more like Alex Rider. He likes to do stuff in the moment and figure out how to kick-ass.

This story kept you turning pages and wanting to read more. But I have to say this. I don’t know how and why people are comparing it to Alex Rider. Yes it is true, if you finished the Alex Rider series and you are thirsty for more, this is the book, but this is nothing like Alex Rider. First of all Alex Rider is better (in my opinion), second Alex is all alone, while in this book there are two kids. Also in this book the kids have their Dad helping from the outside. In Alex Rider, he really was alone, except in dire situations and usually he could get himself out of it. If this book was Alex Rider, Alex would have saved the day. In this book though kids, their dad, and SAS men, and a whole lot of explosives saved the day. Alex never had a gun. In my opinion, this was not as good as Alex Rider at all, but I still believe that it was a decent spy book. I believe the characters could also have been described a little more. But if you are one of those people who likes explosions, guns, and things like that, this is the book for you.

Also I believe that this is a series. This one is book #4 but I do not believe that it matters the order.

#1 Sure Fire
#2 Death Run
#3 Sharp Shot
#4 First Strike

Enjoy!