child abuse
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The first of July is here; it’s time to kick off the Novel Ideas Harry Potter Extravaganza. We open, of course, with the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. In this episode we discuss child abuse, friendship, and standard juvenile/YA themes. We also cover untagonists, wizard racism, and possible benefits of having sly people on your side. Fan geeking is relatively low this week, though we do delve into reasons why Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff probably should be more competitive for the house cup and Ben’s irritation with the rule of quidditch.
The music bump is “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from A Very Potter Musical. The music and lyrics are by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Recommendations:
Read it! If you’ve managed to somehow avoid it this long, check it out. It will read a little kid-ish, but it’s fun and easy to read.
Matilda
It’s time for some precocious children who love books! Unless 29 and 24 year old people can no longer be considered “precocious” or “children,” in which case there is only one child. And that child is Matilda Wormwood. And that may be the first time I’ve seen her full name. It’s weirding me out, maybe that’s why Roald Dahl only refers to his title character as “Matilda.” She’s probably well known enough to have first name only status at this point. Anyhoo, join us as we discuss characters and their lack of character, where Matilda falls on the Jedi spectrum, and whether four year old children should be able to read Steinbeck. And child abuse. Lots of child abuse.
This week’s music bump is “Read a Book” by Bomani Armah, for reasons which are both clear and present. Or something like that.
Novel Ideas 