#63 - HappyPottermas Part 1: A Conversation Across the Pond

Intro

Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they will love for a lifetime.

I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two tweens, a 5th grade teacher, a Ravenclaw, and celebrating all things Harry Potter this month!

I believe in the power of stories to give us the language and situations to help us identify and make sense of what is wonderful in our world. And give us the words and the way to fight against the injustices we see.

And few books do that better than Harry Potter. Across generations parents and educators who grew up inspired by Rowling’s stories are sharing the books with the children in their lives.

In today’s episode you’ll hear some short clips from a variety of librarians, and parents, and educators, and authors about how much the series has meant to them.  And the special moments in their lives that were made a little more magical by Harry Potter.

And then I’ll share with you a lenghtier conversation from across the pond where I chat with two of the founders of #HappyPottermas - Annaliese Avery from Suffolk in the UK and Lorie Barber from Chicago in the U.S.

Defintely check out #HappyPottermas on Twitter and all the Monday night #MGBookChat topics throughout December will be all about Harry Potter! And I really would love to hear YOUR thoughts about Harry Potter as well So, if you are interested in being featured on this podcast later in December, just check out the link posted in the show notes, which includes very quick and easy instructions on to submit an audio clip to me. And I can’t wait to hear from you!

#HappyPottermas - Audio Submissions

Jen Jowett (@JenJowett), educator of 7th and 8th Graders Daphne Benedis Grab (@JenJowett) -  author of The Angel Tree and Clementine for Christmas Ann Braden (@DaphneBG) - author of The Benefits of Being an Octopus K.A. Reynolds (@KrisRey19) - author of The Land of Yesterday and The Spinner of Dreams Lindsay Currie (@lindsayncurrie) - author of The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street Allison Stout (@rtslitech) - librarian at K-8 school Josh Funk (@joshfunkbooks) - author of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast and Lost in the Library Jill Diamond (@jillinboots) - author of Lou Lou & Pea and the Mural Mystery

Annaliese Avery & Lorie Barber - Interview Outline

Our special guests this week are Annaliese Avery and Lorie Barber - two of the founders of #HappyPottermas!  We talk about Harry Potter inspired advocacy, the challenges of friendship trios, and the our thoughts about the new Fantastic Beast movies.

Take a listen…

Topics we chatted about

Introductions How Harry Potter first came into our lives The origins of #HappyPottermas Harry Potter ushering in a golden age of children’s books Harry Potter fueled activism Flawed characters & friendship trios Teaching Harry Potter Complicated characters in Harry Potter The Crimes of Grindlewold / The Fantastic Beast movies The Harry Potter books vs. the movies The Cursed Child Sorting in Schools Harry Potter in the UK vs. Harry Potter in the U.S Looking at Harry Potter through a critical lens

Links:

Annaliese Avery on Twitter - @AnnalieseAvery

Lorie Barber on Twitter - @BarberChicago

Jess Lifshitz on Twitter - @Jess5th

The Harry Potter Alliance

A Monster Calls

The Harry Potter books

The Cursed Child

Pottermore website

Closing

Okay, that wraps up our show this week!  Remember to check out #HappyPottermas throughout December for some magical fun and remember to send in your own audio submission for a future episode.

If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.

Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com

Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.

Thanks and see you soon!  Bye!