General knowledge books to recommend for P3 avid reader

[schweppes]

ChiefKiasu:

ammonite:

Maybe I read too much into it ...oops, pun not intended


Have you read the entire series? Rowling drew on some of her own experiences with poverty, work at Amnesty International with political refugees, clinical depression (represented by the Dementors) and the death of her own mother to write the series.

Once you strip away the magic and humour in Harry Potter, it is actually very stark and realistic in some ways.
...

:yikes: And all I was wondering as I read those books was whether Harry is considered rich or poor in the real (read muggle) world based on his inheritance in wizarding money. That would very much depend on the exchange rate of galleons to pounds, which I don't recall was explained very much by Rowling. I also wondered if Dooby can be trained to cook curry fishhead if I had him as my elf-slave.

Very paiseh to have missed all the points you wrote :oops:

this post reminds me of that initial nick that u wanted to adopt... and the variations that we came up with!! :rotflmao:

[ChiefKiasu]

schweppes:

this post reminds me of that initial nick that u wanted to adopt... and the variations that we came up with!! :rotflmao:

Yes yes... and I also wondered if Nearly Headless Nick will be slapped with a insulting modesty charge if he carried his head face up in a bag when he goes up the escalator.

[tutormum]

FQW:

Harlequin:

BBC Knowledge and Reader Digest. My girls can't wait for them to appear in the letter box.

I am sure your boy would love it.

I bought one copy of RD for ds to read before, but that time he wasn't interested. That was last yr. Mabbe I should get another copy to test water again. Thanks Harlequin.

Don't give up. Although RD is too cheem for that age it is good to start her when young. She will reap the rewards years later.

To get my DS3 interested, I let him read the Laughter section and explained the jokes that he didn't understand. We would be sharing jokes and have a good time. After a few months, he managed to read the whole issue although he didn't understand the cheem words. Of course over time his vocab improved and his English became cheem not to mention his general knowledge is \"out of the school\" one. He is doing very well in his EL and Literature now, among the top in his cohort. :boogie: :boogie:

[Harlequin]

A friend just subscribed for 24 issues of RD at $90 through Groupon… fantastic deal!

[newuser]

I like to subscribe too? Where to find the lobang?

[iRabbit]

ammonite:

Once you strip away the magic and humour in Harry Potter, it is actually very stark and realistic in some ways.

For a nine year old, you can very simply discuss
1. style of leaderships and governance (Dumbledore versus Voldermort).
2. State, media and censorship (Ministry of Magic, Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter) Rita Skeeter is a caricature representative of the British tabloids.
3. War, resistance and readiness (Dumbledore, Snape and Order of Phoenix waited on edge all these years for signs of Voldermort's return.) Parallel with wars/resistance around the world now and in history.
4. The meaning of friendship, and how different friends bring different gifts to us. Friendship is also about forgiving, making up, and helping out. It is importantly, not defined by money or status or popularity. (Luna is an oddball, but a loyal friend)
5. Related to above, poverty and wealth (Harry is poor in the Muggle world, but rich in the wizarding world. In the Muggle world, he often had to go hungry and poorly dressed, and when he is in the wizarding world, he shares generously with Ron and appreciates Mrs Weasley gift of second-hand watch.) Money is nice and good to have, but not above love, friendship and sincerity.
6. The plight of refugees and the persecuted. Many of the descriptions are drawn from Rowling's work with Amnesty International.
7. Death and loss, and the fear of death. This theme is revisited in every book, with greater understanding by Harry each time until finally in Book 7, he \"conquers\" death when he sacrifices willingly but in the half-way point, chooses to return to meet Voldermort for a final battle. Rowling mentioned that among all Harry's friends, Luna is the one with the healthiest attitude towards death and she helps Harry come to terms with his parents' and Sirius' deaths.

(Of course Snape's unrequited love and mixed feelings towards Harry is something they will not appreciate until many years later, as with Dumbledore's backstory and remorse.)

You can bring it a bit of slavery and slave labour (the house-elves). Notice how Hermione's perception is very different from Ron who grew up with house-elves as a norm? Notice also the very different reactions that Dobby and Winkie have to freedom. Freedom can be both welcomed and feared.

etc.

Interesting analysis and interpretation there. I'll nvr see HP in the same light again. Keke.

I only noticed the part where Malfoy hestitated to kill Dumbledore when he was it his mercy (think that's end of Book 6). In the end, Snape did.

So was Malfoy as bad as he's made up to be? Or is there still some goodness in him. Also, with his parents at the mercy of Voldermort, did he have any chance of being 'good'? Or was his fate sealed? Interesting issues when one wants to think deeper.

[iRabbit]

tutormum:

Don't give up. Although RD is too cheem for that age it is good to start her when young. She will reap the rewards years later.

To get my DS3 interested, I let him read the Laughter section and explained the jokes that he didn't understand. We would be sharing jokes and have a good time. After a few months, he managed to read the whole issue although he didn't understand the cheem words. Of course over time his vocab improved and his English became cheem not to mention his general knowledge is \"out of the school\" one. He is doing very well in his EL and Literature now, among the top in his cohort. :boogie: :boogie:

Your story reminded me of Stephen Covey's Time Matrix - you were doing Q2 stuff (impt but not urgent) so now you're reaping the profit of what you did many years back. I'm trying to do that as well, not just focus on the immediate stuff. Congrats!

[iRabbit]

Harlequin:

A friend just subscribed for 24 issues of RD at $90 through Groupon... fantastic deal!

That's really cheap ... like 50% off list price. Great deal!

[Busymom]

FQW:

Harlequin:

A friend just subscribed for 24 issues of RD at $90 through Groupon... fantastic deal!

That's really cheap ... like 50% off list price. Great deal!

I think my DH showed me something like 12 issues at $48 with free ipad editions sometime last week?

But I still prefer to buy second hand at less than half prize.

[Busymom]

tutormum:

FQW:

[quote=\"Harlequin\"]BBC Knowledge and Reader Digest. My girls can't wait for them to appear in the letter box.

I am sure your boy would love it.

I bought one copy of RD for ds to read before, but that time he wasn't interested. That was last yr. Mabbe I should get another copy to test water again. Thanks Harlequin.

Don't give up. Although RD is too cheem for that age it is good to start her when young. She will reap the rewards years later.

To get my DS3 interested, I let him read the Laughter section and explained the jokes that he didn't understand. We would be sharing jokes and have a good time. After a few months, he managed to read the whole issue although he didn't understand the cheem words. Of course over time his vocab improved and his English became cheem not to mention his general knowledge is \"out of the school\" one. He is doing very well in his EL and Literature now, among the top in his cohort. :boogie: :boogie:[/quote]Guess I should be happy that DD had asked us to buy her loads of past issues...