Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Linus says: My mom just started telling me a random bedtime story and I had to guess it, and it turns out it was Harry Potter. I liked it and that’s how I got involved in the series.  Harry Potter is a wizard, and he’s just really good at magic. He goes to a really good school. His friends are Ron, Hermione, and Cedric Diggory. Harry goes to Hogwarts but he’s just trying to have a normal time but then Voldemort comes back alive and he’s really good at magic. It’s sort of funny.

I liked The Goblet of Fire because Harry Potter escapes Lord Voldemort and he doesn’t die but he was really close to dying. It was really cool and I like magic. This one is my favorite because it is really long. I just like the series, and it’s really surprising what happens. They make up really good characters. I like it because you can just hear the first book and say “Oh I like this book” and go into the whole series.

Mom says: We have been listening to the excellent audio books of the Harry Potter series for a few months now. We all enjoy listening to them, and they last a long time. (So long that we had to return this one to the library and put another hold on it so we could finish it.) We moved through the first three books pretty quickly but this one was much more involved. Linus seemed to like it though, especially the Tri-Wizard Tournament tasks.

I haven’t been letting him watch the movies until he’s at least listened to the books. He is trying to read the first book himself out loud, though right now it’s a bit of a challenge for him.

The Witches

Linus says: I liked it because this little boy got turned into a mouse and he escaped from the most powerful witch of them all. He’s so brave. He was brave enough to go into the kitchen and turn the witches into mouses. He had a potion that he stole from the most powerful witch of them all and he poured it in their soup. I liked it because it was long. I like long things because they’re interesting and they fit more stuff in them.

Mom says: Another audiobook from the library, one that we both enjoyed. I never read this book as a kid, but remembered loving the movie (the one with Anjelica Huston as the grand high witch). Like Linus says, this one was a bit longer (5 discs) and I was afraid he’d lose interest having it spread out over a few weeks, but he definitely got into the story. We listened to a long jag during a drive back from the coast, and even though it was late and he was tired, he stayed awake to listen to the conclusion. This is our second Roald Dahl audiobook and we liked them both a lot. They always lend themselves to fun voice caricatures.

Ghosthunters and the Muddy Monster of Doom

Linus says: I liked it because it’s scary and I like scary books. And because it’s about the king of all ghosts and the ghosthunters fight it and they are very brave. They have this ghost as a pet that doesn’t harm anybody, but it’s funny how it talks. I like him in this story a lot. This is my favorite Ghosthunter book and here are the others: I liked The Totally Moldy Baroness because a boy named Tom had to wear a dress and that was funny. The next one is The Gruesome Invincible Lightning Ghost. I like that one because it’s almost like burning down the hotel they’re staying in. The ghosthunters are fighting all the ghosts, but it’s ghost against ghost.

Mom says: It’s a fun series by itself, but the audio book performance really made these books for Linus. The ghost voices are silly and made Linus laugh quite a bit. I haven’t seen him this excited about book in awhile. He could hardly wait to get the rest of the audiobooks after hearing the first one. Luckily the library has most of them. I don’t know if I’d even try reading the actual paper version of these books to him (the ones the library doesn’t have on CD), because there is no way I can compete with the actor in the audio version. Both mom and Linus highly recommend these books!

This book series also seems to have started him on a scary/ghost story kick, though sometimes they give him nightmares.

Phantom Tollbooth

Linus says: [The Phantom Tollbooth] was awesome. It was a funny story. It’s about this boy who gets bored and decides to play a game and he gets lost. He gets gone for one hour but he doesn’t know it. He goes somewhere and then they tell him to go on a mission and then he comes back and it’s only been one hour. My favorite characters were the Humbug and Tock and Milo. My most favorite was Tock. He was the second friend (Milo) ever got. I didn’t know what a phantom was, but I did know what a tollbooth was when you told me.

Mom says: I gotta be honest and say that I remember not really liking this book when I was a kid. And as an adult, I can see how it was probably confusing and maybe a little fantasy-ish for me. But I can also really appreciate how clever and whimsical it is now. We listened to the audiobook we got from the library, narrated by David Hyde Pierce (you know, the guy from Frasier). It was excellent and fun to listen to on our daily commute to and from school. Linus even brought it inside and laid on his bed or floor listening by himself over the weekend. I thought it might be tough for him to follow the story but he seemed to get it!

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

Linus listened to the audiobook of The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, read by William Roberts, on a long car trip this summer. Linus listened to all 2 hours and 25 minutes of the book on headphones.

Linus says: I really liked it, even though it was a little tiny bit scary. It was scary when his uncle touched a pill that he wasn’t supposed to and he died. And Ralph got trapped but he got out. My favorite part was when Ralph fell into the basket and the little boy found him.

Mom says: Linus had headphones on and was not with me, so I haven’t listened to this one! He seems to be a fan though.