My First Day at Osgood

Everyone had friends. Everyone but me. I felt so alone, I wanted to cry. Watching those kids with the best friends, holding hands and doing handshakes. I wanted to flip my whole life back around and be able to go back to my old school. I wanted to go back more than anything. This new school was nothing like my old one. It was only two floors, and the playground was way smaller than the one at my old school. And it had an elevator. Why would anybody need an elevator? And you didn’t have a charge card to buy lunch with; just regular old money. People were staring at me. They didn’t know who the heck I was or why the heck I was there. But they acted like I was a moldy piece of cheese that no one dared to go near. That’s how I felt too. They just didn’t get that I was the new girl. Running those words around in my head filled my eyes with tears. I was never the new girl at my old school. Never the one everyone stares at in the middle of math, the perfectly normal girl with fifty-bajillion friends that she had to give up for this. That’s what I was. That, and a girl with a heart as heavy as an anvil. I sat with a bunch of boys who were seemingly obsessed with pigs. They all new each other, and didn’t bother with me, which I was surprisingly okay with. I don’t think I wanted my new best friends to be pig-obsessed boys. But when I asked them their names to make myself seem nice, they all looked at me like I had twelve million heads and turned away. One of said to me in the most hurtful voice anyone could ever hear: “You don’t belong here. Just go crawl back under your dirt pile back where you used to be and leave us all alone,” he said. A tear rolled down my cheek. Everyone laughed. Our teacher snapped her head around and made me go out in the hall while she yelled at the rest of the class. “Come on back in,” she said a few minutes later. “Can I just stay out here for the rest of the year?” I asked, my face stilled caked with dry tears. “I know what it’s like. It’s tough, leaving everything behind for a place and people that are brand new for you. But you’ll manage. You’re a good kid,” she said. I wanted to believe that I could manage, but I just couldn’t. I wanted my best friend Chloe back and the gym teacher who let us pick the games, the good lunch food, going to school with my friend Chi-Chi everyday. I wanted it all back, but I knew I would never, ever see any of it again. I was stuck, and I wanted to go back.

After lunch, I had one friend. Well, sort of. She was the only one who was nice to me. Maybe she only felt bad for me, but we’re still close friends to this day. It still pains me to talk about Chloe in front of people, but talking about Chloe in front of Emily, the friend, felt comfortable, and whenever I feel lonely, I can talk to her about anything-but mostly when I feel lonely I wish for Chloe to be at my side, so I talk to Emily about Chloe. We sat at the lunch table sitting further away from the other people. Everybody but Emily was pretending I was invisible. “Why does everyone hate me?” I asked. “They don’t hate you, they just…don’t know you is all,” she replied. I want to go home, I thought. I just want this to be over. The girls were twirling their fingers through each others hair. I wasn’t hungry anymore. Watching those girls made me think of Chloe, the way she was always playing with her hair. I tossed my sandiwch in the trash can from my seat and watched it go in. “Nice throw!” one of the boys in my class called. “Thanks!”  I replied. Two people talking to me was a good start.

We had gym after recess. I think someone was pretending to be a baseball player and spit on the ground or they threw up a little. Then, one of the boys dared another boy to lick it and he did. The girls gagged at that, but I just thought the were being plain old stupid. I noticed a lot of boys were like that. I hated people who did stupid, pointless things. I had never jumped rope before, and I was the only one who couldn’t do it. I could feel 42 eyeballs staring at me as the rope flailed around my head as I desperately attempted to jump over it. Now I thought I was the one being stupid. I heard snickers coming from behind me. I snapped my head around and gave some boys the evil eye. I wanted to scream at them for laughing at me, for ruining my day, for being the reason I hate it here, for having no friends. I wanted to blow up at them and tell them how stupid they were being and how they were only embarrassing themselves. But I couldn’t do it. They stopped, but when I turned back around, half satisfied, they started laughing again. “It’s okay, you’ve never done it before,” Emily said. She was the only one not laughing, but the ones who were just only made me feel worse.

I waited for the bell to ring hiding my face in an I SPY book. I pretended I was reading it, but I was really avoiding everyone’s eyes. One friend, I thought. That made me feel better. Every once and a while I’d look at the clock. After what seemed like an hour, they called dismissal. I waved goodbye to Emily and walked down the stairs-alone-thinking to myself, I’ve got one friend. That’s good enough for me.

The books are battling out! Only one out of sixteen will win! To view the round winners and to view the brackets, click on this link.

Do you like Harry Potter? Well check out this website for the largest archive of J.K. Rowling quotes!

If you’ve read the Harry Potter series you might want to check out some Harry Potter essays on book seven! Click here for essay one, here for essay two, here for essay three, here for essay four, and here for essay number five.

To learn how to make your own Harry Potter house scarf, click here. And to make your own Harry Potter picture frame, click here.

For a totally sick video on the making of a book cover, click right about…there!↓

                                                                                                                                                              Hi! Click me for the video!

Check back soon for more cool websites and stuffs!

Oh, gosh how do I do this? There’s not a lot I can talk about without spoiling the book for those of you who haven’t read it yet. This is difficult. Let me just start with this.

We now enter the conclusion of the epic tale of Harry Potter.

The Harry Potter books have become increasingly darker as it goes on in the series, and book seven is no exception. I can’t exactly say why, because that would ruin it for a lot of people. But J.K. Rowling writes every little thing so carefully it all comes into play. Everything is connected throughout the series. You might not notice it now, but there are brief mentions in the earlier books of things that are more involved in the story in the later books, and every single thing comes together in the final book. Harry has already lost his parents and can’t afford to lose anybody else now, and Voldemort will kill and kill to get to Harry. Voldemort has been targeting Harry ever since Harry defeated him as a baby, but Voldemort wants him now more than ever. Harry is trying desperately to avoid Voldemorts path, but again is worried that he might be after his family. This book is spell-binding, and is a must-read for everyone.

We dig deeper and deeper into the characters and realize that there are much more to them then we think. We are made to see that kindly Dumbledore, sinister Severus Snape and perhaps even the awful Muggle cousin Dudley Dursley may be more complicated than they initially seem, that all of them, like Harry, have hidden aspects to their personalities. When you finish the seventh book, the characters in this series have seemed like your best friend from the start, and when you turn the final page of book seven, it’s like your best friends have just all died away. You know everything there is to know about them, and you feel close to them and then Avada Kedavra! They’re gone, and it’s never the same. Reading about these characters and their struggles and their strengths and their messy noses and their torn shirts and their pet iguanas that none of them have make you somehow feel closer to your friends and want them to be as close to you as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore and Dobby and Malfoy and Neville and Ginny and Hagrid and Fred and George were to you. That’s what makes the characters in this book special. They feel real.

Finishing Harry Potter is like having your pet run away. You’ll never read anything else like it. Just like if your pet runs away, it’s like you’ll never hook his leash onto his collar and take him outside to his business ever again. That is, if you like doing that, which I’m not sure a lot of people do. Anyways, my reaction to closing the final book for the final time and closing the final page for the final time and reading the words Harry Potter and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley and Hagrid and Dumbledore and Snape and Voldemort just give me pain. I read the last page over and over until I had memorized it by heart. I couldn’t read another book for about two weeks. I needed the fact that Harry Potter was over for me to sink into my brain-and my heart. You wish Harry and Ron and Hermione were real, and you had been best friends and you were at Hogwarts and you battled Voldemort at Harry’s side, and that’s what it feels like reading these books. I just can’t believe it’s over.

I don’t want to get to much into the American cover, because for some reason I just don’t like it. If I were the cover designer, I would’ve done something that reminded me of all the books, like little snippets of every cover surrounding Harry or something. Then when I would open it, I would reminded of all the books.

And the British cover has something on the front that’s a really important event in the story, so it sort of spoils, but it doesn’t if you don’t know what it is.

Betsy Bird made this book #24 on her list of the Top 100 Children’s Novels of all time, and I definitely agree with this choice. It should totally be on the list.

If you haven’t read the series finale of Harry Potter, do so now. And trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

Ever heard of Frances O’Roark Dowell? No? Wow, you need to read some more. Oh, you have? Brilliant. Have you read Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell? Excellent. Let’s talk.

Jamie Dexter is twelve years old (okay, almost thirteen) and her brother, TJ is being sent off to war. Nothing to worry about, right? Absolutely not. Jamie at first thinks war is exciting, and wants to join herself if she could, but when TJ’s so called letters arrive, Jamie sees that war is not fun at all. People are being wounded and even killed. Jamie can’t help but wonder if that will ever happen to TJ, and hope it doesn’t. There are always pictures pictures of the moon, too. A picture for each phase as the moon cycle goes around and around. Waxing crescent, half, waxing gibbous, full, waning gibbous, half moon, waning crescent and new moon, and then the cycle repeats. Jamie shows the pictures to her neighbor, Cindy, who takes interest in the moon pictures, and Jamie gives them to Cindy. All thirty-six. TJ;s pictures are changing Jamie’s perspective on war, and hopes her brother makes it out alive.

There are lots of army generals, colonels and privates in this story. Jamie even refers to her father as “the Colonel”. Some of Jamie’s friends are even privates, like Private Hollister, who works the rec center when Jamie works there. All the characters are different, like the Colonel (Jamie’s father) He’s very serious, and doesn’t waste any time on anything he thinks is unnecessary. Jamie is all over the place. For one thing, she definitely believes in herself, and tries anything she wants. Then there’s the Jamie that is good at standing up to people if she doesn’t want to do something, or someone’s doing something she doesn’t want them to do. Frances O’Roark Dowell does a great job with characters and their personalities.

I like the cover. I think it’s cool how everything is all black and white and then Jamie’s pants pop out in blue, and how she’s holding one of TJ’s moon pictures. And the back cover is nice too. It has all the phases of the moon in a line in different shades of gray.

If you haven’t read this, you’re missing out. Go read it and don’t stop till you’ve finished it.

Now.

You stopped reading Harry Potter at the fourth book? Why did you do that? Go finish that book  and don’t come back until you have. Oh, so you’ve finished the fourth? Go read the fifth. Now. I’m waiting for you. I’ve got all the time in the world.

Man these people have no idea what they’re doing. They are missing out on one of the best books of all time. Yes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I don’t care if you’ve seen the movie. I don’t care if you’ve read the back of the book and have a basic idea of what it’s about. If you’ve read it, go grab it and get back here, and do it quickly. I can’t wait for just you forever.

Good, you’re back. Didn’t you love it? This book is captivating, and it grabs you in the gut from the minute you start.

The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing; the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flower bed outside number four.

Brilliant, and that’s only the first paragraph. If that wasn’t beautiful writing to you, you obviously need to read that again until you realize how amazing this writing is. Who is this teenage boy you ask? Superman? Nope. The ball boy for the Boston Celtics? Not even a smidge close (where do you get ball boy from lying in a flower bed?). Harry Potter? Thank you. Someone is good at guessing. Now let’s get to the book.

 Harry Potter’s fifth year at Hogwarts is approaching, and there’s a lot on his mind. Well, I don’t blame him. He’s got his O.W.L. tests (Ordinary Wizarding Level) that he has to study for, but how can he do that with a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who’s like eating a toads insides?! There’s also a surprise on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but I don’t want to spoil ANYTHING about that. But most importantly, You-Know-Who is getting stronger and stronger, and for Harry, that means he’s in more danger than anybody else.

Then there’s the dream. The haunting, silent dream. The door. The door at the end of the silent hall. The door that’s haunting Harry. Will he ever figure out what that door is, or what it means? Why is he dreaming about this door? I mean, sure it could be any regular door that could be hiding a juggling bear for Harry’s birthday, but do you really think that’s what it is? A juggling bear, possibly in a bow tie? I don’t think so either. And no, it’s not a juggling elephant. Anyways, you should pay attention to this dream, it’s very important to the climax of this story. 

Every single character is three-dimensional. Even minor characters, like Aunt Petunia, isn’t just there. She has a personality. It’s perfectly clear that Aunt Petunia doesn’t like Harry at all. Harry is probably the character who changes the most. There are points in this book where Harry is blowing up at someone (“YOU’VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN’T YOU? YOU’VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I’VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSELY’S FOR A MONTH! AND I’VE HANDLEDMORE THAN YOU TWO’VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT!” p. 65) and then there are some points where he’s very calm and trying to make everything right (“Look, let’s not talk about that right now…Let’s talk about something else…” p.561). That’s one of the things I like about Harry-he’s not perfect. In usual stories, the main character usually does nothing wrong and is some goody-two-shoes student who aces every single test and has never gotten in trouble and always does everything perfectly. Harry, on the other hand, has gotten in trouble more than several times and does almost nothing perfectly. Another character I think is unique is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in this book. I can’t get to in-depth about her without spoiling, so let me put her to you this way-she’s terrible, mean and awful squashed together in her own special way. And just when you think she can’t get any more horrible, she does. That’s what I love about the characters. And no, there are no juggling animals in Harry Potter. I’m sorry to disappoint you.

The writing in this book (like I’ve said in the introduction) is breathtaking. My absolute favorite Harry Potter book. I mean, read this: The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke that thickened and coiled in the air…A serpents head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide (p. 470). Can’t you picture that perfectly? The writing is obviously so carefully done. There is nothing in this book that isn’t important to either the story or Harry’s life. There are multiple covers to this book, and I like them all. Below is the American cover.

Of course, there are some other ones, like my favorite the one below.

That bird is a phoenix. Order of the Phoenix. I like that cover the best because I think it’s beautiful. The phoenix on the front matches up so well with the flames behind it, and I like the pink-ish clouds behind it. There are also cool illustrations at the top of the page. My favorite is a drawing of Dobby the house elf wearing multiple hats upon his head (p. 374). It makes me laugh.

The ending. Oh the ending. How can I do this? Let me just say, wow. It was almost satisfying, but I can’t exactly tell you why, because it would spoil, and that;s the last thing I want to do is SPOIL. Once you read the ending of this-I’m just going to stop there. I’m afraid to do this. You don’t want me spoiling, do you? I didn’t think so. So let me leave it at that and move on.

This book is for EVERYBODY. And I mean everybody. Girls, boys, old people, young people, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, moms , dads, sisters, brothers and YOU, mister I’m-not-going-to-read-Harry-Potter-five! Go read this book. I mean it.

To read a review from Betsy Bird on this remarkably brilliant story, click here. This book was featured in her list of the Top 100 Children’s Books of all time at number 38, and it’s predecessor, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is at number 35. Just a little sidenote.

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-This is one my favorite movie because it absolutely amazed me. There was not one moment in this movie that bored me. From the first minute to the last, I never took my eyes away from the screen. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, go watch it. Now.

2. Annie (1982)-I loved this movie because it felt real. When Annie was sad, I felt sad. When she was happy, I felt happy. And when she was hanging off the edge of a bridge, that’s how I felt. I loved every minute of it, especially the songs, which brought even more emotion to this already brilliant movie.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone-The second Harry Potter movie on my list, and I did this confidently. The first installment in the series was absolutely spell-binding (no joke intended). Absolutely thrilling from the first second. Everything seemed real. No cheesy special effects or anything. You really think that casting spells is real, and that centuars and owl messengers really exist.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-Alright, I put another Harry Potter on the list. But if you’ve seen this movie, you’ll know what I’m saying. You know how when you see something that is supposed to be real, but looks totally fake? Again, it’s not the case. From the jets of light that fly out of the wands to the magical creatures, nothing is better.

5.Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-One of the reasons I love this movie, is because of the humor one of the characters adds. Dobby. From hitting himself in the head with Harry’s lamp to standing up to his master, he makes me laugh. Another reason I love this movie is because of the action. Whoever directed this movie is a genius with keeping people on the edge of their seats. I loved it.

If you haven’t seen these movies, you should watch them soon, because I think they’re really, really, REALLY good.

Author of the amazingly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has released a new website, Wimp Yourself, where you can make yourself look like a character from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. There is myself Wimpy-fied, in my soccer outfit.

To Wimpy-fy yourself, click here.Enjoy!

Get this stupid tape off me! It’s so sticky and annoying and they do it before every game. And they whack me against the sideboards instead of clapping like they’re supposed to! I hate it. Now they’re putting another layer of tape on my stupid handle and my stupid head. I don’t know why they call it my head when it’s really the end of me, and I’m not sure it’s the correct name, because it doesn’t fit at all. Some people call it my head, some the end. Man, does this locker room smell. I can’t stand the smell of sweaty jerseys and socks and pads. I guess I’m lucky they don’t put those things they wear on their feet when the play- what are those called, skotes? I can barely breathe, and I’m feeling a little claustrophobic. And I hate the color of mustard, which is the color of this stupid, dumb locker. Oh, great, now they’re coming to get me and take me out to where they play this stupid dumb  sport, where I can sit and freeze while they are skoting around, having the time of their lives, and staying warm. You know, I wanna go to Florida, where I can just sit on the beach all day and swim in the warm pool and not worry about getting split in two with the blade of their skotes or my head getting split when they hit the…the…frock? I wish they could throw me away, where I wouldn’t have to worry about skotes or frocks, or being cold. I could stay warm buried beneath the rotting garbage. Anyways, I gotta go. Did I mention I hate my life?

Are you a Harry Potter fan? If you are, you should be sure to read the companion books that go along with the series, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages. These books are unique in many different ways. Fantastic Beasts is based on Harry’s textbook from Hogwarts, with all sorts of doodles and drawings on the pages, and comments written by him and Ron. My favorite is a picture of a troll that says “My name is Gregory Goyle and I smell” above. I can’t help but laugh at that one! It is full of information about every beast known to witch and wizard. Did you know a beast called a crup is similar to a Jack Russell Terrier, but it has a forked tail? The tail is eventually removed as to not attract attention to Muggles.  Quidditch Through the Ages is made very clear that it is a Hogwarts library book, with a seal on the front that says so, and a list of all the students who checked it out, including Harry, Hermione, Fred Weasley, Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood and Chasers Angleina Johnson and Katie Bell, and a note from Irma Pince, the librarian including what you cannot do to this book, and the punishment for doing those things. If you’re interested in the history of Quidditch, this book is for you. Did you know that before the Golden Snitch was used in the sport of Quidditch, they used a bird called a Golden Snidget? They were eventually banned from use when the birds were eventually hunted down until there were very few left, and the Golden Snitch was invented. I can’t really tell you what Beedle the Bard is, because it goes along with Harry Potter seven, and you should not read it unless you have read all the books. Check them out!

I recently read First Light by Rebecca Stead (author of Newbury Award winning When You Reach Me). Peter and Thea live in completely different worlds, Peter above the ice and Thea below it. Peter is thrilled to join his parents and one of his dad’s students, Jonas, on a trip to Greenland. But while he’s there, Peter doesn’t quite understand these visions that he sees that both frighten and entice him. Meanwhile, Thea has never had a glimpse of anything above the ice-the sun, the moon, the stars or anything we see. She is living amongst her very few people under the ice in her secret world. Thea’s dream is to thrive above the surface, while Peter’s search for answers drives him closer to her hidden world beneath the thick ice of Greenland.

To read another review of this breathtaking book, click here.