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Prisoner of Azkaban Discussion: Real-World Connections and Themes Galore

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 Today in our meeting for Harry Potter Book Club, we had a very productive discussion over Book 3:  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  We discussed character changes throughout the books and different ways that the characters grew to overcome challenges, and we also discussed what was added to or taken away from the books for the movie adaptations. We noticed that many themes in  Harry Potter  connect to real world issues. For example, we saw that the character Sirius Black's storyline connects deeply to issues of criminal justice, the Ministry of Magic leaders demonstrate how leaders often make decisions out of fear, and Hermione, as a muggle-born and a woman, shows that people from certain groups with certain stereotypes have to work harder to prove themselves. For the next meeting, we plan to have book 3 finished and possibly get started on book 4 so that we can continue our discussion on themes and explore important plot points. We also hope to start discussi
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Genius Showcase and the Road Ahead

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Today was a very important day for Harry Potter Book Club because today was the Genius Showcase! Today, we presented what our club has been working on for the last semester to Assistant Principal Keys. We told her all about our goals and what we have discussed so far in the club. Our plan for the next semester is that once we finish the books, we will choose one of the real-world issues we discussed that connected to Harry Potter and come up with our own ideas on how we can tackle that issue. So far, we've discussed a wide variety of issues, from bullying to child abuse to criminal justice to racism to refugees. We also feel like we gained a much deeper understanding of the themes, characters, and symbolism in the Harry Potter books. After our presentation, we celebrated a great first half of the year by doing a Harry Potter-themed escape room! Luckily, we've been building a strong team throughout the semester and we were able to work together to solve the puzzles a
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Harry Potter Club's December Meeting: Wizarding Jeopardy!

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 Today in Harry Potter Book Club, we did a Jeopardy-style book discussion on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets! We discussed defining character traits, overarching themes, and quotes that showed character development. We also tried our hand at some tricky trivia questions and debated our opinions about the books. As always, we ended our meeting with a discussion on the themes from the book that relate to the real world. We talked about how Voldemort could be compared to dictators, how the prejudice against Muggle-born witches and wizards is similar to racism, and how Wizards have to hide their true identities. We had a very productive discussion and can't wait to get started on the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!
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Harry Potter Club's Third Meeting: Character Development, Themes, and Fun!

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  Today in Harry Potter Book Club, we delved deep into our discussion of Book 1, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We talked about different characters' motivations and themes throughout the book. We also prepared our presentation for the Genius Showcase. We are about to start reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and can't wait to discuss it next time!
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Owl Post

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We had our first meeting today, and we had a wonderful time. We discussed which characters were our favorites, set up some ground rules for how we will handle controversial discussions, discussed potential reading goals, and discussed to which Harry Potter house each of us belongs. We are excited for the upcoming year!
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