So I've been meaning to read this book for a ba-jillion years and finally got around to it, my family would be so proud. I tried reading it to Mallory and Trevor a few years ago but they were too young. Trevor would wake up in the middle of the night screaming about having nightmares about owls. So we put the brakes on it temporarily.
I finished reading it with Mallory tonight. She is now a Harry Potter fanatic and can't wait to get started on book #2. She didn't like Hermione much at first but was very happy that she became friends with the boys. She also didn't think Snape was a bad guy for a long time but finally got tricked into it. She was certain that Snape was trying to help Harry during the Quidditch match and was excited when she found out that she was right. As for me, I liked it of course. The characters were fun and there was the expected enjoyable hijinks. The last few chapters were great and the Voldemort twist was a nice touch. Also, Mallory was stoked that Gryffindor won the house cup at the end. But I felt bad for Slytherin to have their victory so abruptly taken away from them at the last second. Poor Malfoy.
Here are some quotes aka Dumbledore wisdom:
"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
"Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."
"While you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time - and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."
"To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever."
