By Anish Mani 7th grade

 

The Harry Potter series is one of the most popular series of books that spawned its own movies. J.K Rowling herself is an inspiration all around the world. Aft
er J.K. Rowling finished the seventh book, "Deathly Hallows" fans were dying for a new book for almost a decade afterward. Finally, their hunger and thirst for a new book has been quenched, as the eighth book has finally come out.

    The Cursed Child takes off where the seventh book ended, Harry’s son, Albus, is going to Hogwarts. He encounters Draco Malfoy’s son, Scorpius Malfoy. Also, there is Hermione and Ron’s child, Rose Granger-Weasley. I didn’t like the style of the writing because of the way it needs to be read. Since this “book” is technically a script for a play, it would be easier to see pictures or re-enactments of the story. This script does not carry any pictures, making it harder to visualize.

Also, it is not very friendly to people who are new to the series. Certain elements from the previous stories are randomly reintroduced into the story and sometimes play a big role in the story, like the Time Turner. The Time Turner is something that played a big role in the third book in the series, “The Prisoner of Azkaban”. If you haven’t read the book, you won’t be able to understand this point in the story because it doesn't go in depth about how the device works, making it even harder to understand. In addition, this device is one of the main parts of the story, making the overall plot confusing.

On the other hand, certain scenes were not as bad as other parts of the story were. The scene where Rose and Albus talk about how they were going to be in the house of Gryffindor, is an enjoyable scene because the readers sees the type of friendship they  share with each other. Also, old characters are re-introduced such as Cedric Diggory and his father and the other people from the ministry of magic.

At the end of it all, the book “Harry Potter the Cursed Child” is a good read, but it could have accomplished much more. I’d give it a 7 or an 8 out of 10.

The Three Little Pigs
By: Praveen Vijayakumar  

Hi! I’m Mrs. Pig. I have three kids named Jeff, Bob, and Mike. I live on a farm. One day, I cried in the kitchen. My sons asked me why I was crying. I told them that I was sad because I didn’t want them to leave me and go out into the world alone to start their own families. I wanted to stay with them.

The three pigs said, “It’s okay mother. We’ll take of ourselves.”

I was satisfied by this because I knew they could take care of themselves. I told them to start packing their clothes. They were done in three hours. They set out after giving me hugs and kisses. After two days of their absence, I felt they needed me. I set out behind them because I wanted to know if they were okay. They walked together for one week; then they split up to build their homes.

I followed Bob first. He is very fat. I never told him that. He bought hay from a worker horse. He went down two blocks and started to build his home. Is he really this dumb? I thought. He finished in half an hour and went inside. He ate and slept.

I decided to follow Jeff. He is neither thin nor fat. He bought flowers from a worker cow. He set out for a little while longer, and then he built his house in a ditch. He’s dumber than Bob, I told myself. He, too, built his house in half and hour. He ate and slept.

Next, I decided to follow Mike. He was the youngest and thinnest of all. He was the smartest too. He came upon a worker cow.

“Those seem very heavy,” Mike told the cow.

“They sure are,” replied the cow.

“Would you mind if I borrowed some bricks for my house?” Mike asked.

“Why not?” replied the cow.

Mike took the bricks and found a nice, grassy spot that he could build his house in. He finished building his house in two hours. Mike was very tired after that, so he took a quick nap. He woke up and ate a hearty dinner. He is very smart I thought.

I decided to test their homes. I got into a wolf suit I had brought with me.

Meanwhile, in Jeff’s house, Bob was lying on the floor exhausted from running away from me: the wolf. He had come to Jeff’s house for cover. I called out to the pigs that I was going to blow their house down. I huffed and puffed until the house came tumbling down. I blew down Bob’s house down first. Bob and Jeff hurried off to Mike’s house. They were very tired when they got there. Bob opened the door and told them that they would be safe in his house. I went and tried to blow his house down. I could not blow the house down. I pulled off my wig, revealing who I really was.

“You are the smartest!” I told Mike.
“Now you realize?” he asked.