Harry Potter Lego Sets - Unplug the Kids With This Classic Toy

A great gift for kids and adult enthusiasts alike, Harry Potter Lego Sets combine the best of both worlds. If you are tired of all the trendy toys out there, this is a classic you can't go wrong with.

Legos are a well known, traditional toy. I grew up playing with them, and now I have the pleasure of watching my children play with them. The great thing is that they continue to stay current, always coming out with new themes.

There are several different Harry Potter Lego sets on the market right now, and if your kids are a fan of the books or movies, they will be thrilled with the realism and detail they have. In addition to mini figures of all of the characters from the different Harry Potter books, each set also has lots of accessories relevant to the particular movie it's based on.

For example, one set has fun details like a desk that has a hidden compartment; another has a fireplace where you can see the face of Sirius Black. There are other interior design elements such as working windows and doors. The discovery of the many small details is what makes this series so special.

One great benefit to this type of toy is that it is practical as well as fun. Legos are great for helping kids develop their fine motor skills. But they are so much fun that they don't realize they are playing with an educational toy. It is also something that you can do together, which is always a plus. The larger sets have so many pieces, you're sure to spend at least a few hours putting it together.

My son loves his video games (like every other kid, right?), and this is one of those toys that can get and keep him interested. The actual pieces are really durable, and easy to disinfect if you need to. They can also be rebuilt in different ways if you wanted to. Though once it's constructed you may not actually want to take it apart, because it is like a 3 dimensional piece of art once it is finished.

Because of the small parts contained in these lego sets, they are not suitable for kids under three years old. So if you have toddlers or younger, this is something that it is important to be aware of. For grade school and older, this is a play set they will enjoy for a long time.

The quality, durability, and detail really make this toy an excellent gift.

How Jim Dale Performs The Harry Potter Audio Books

Lots of folks talk about the level of detail put into creating the Harry Potter books and films, but only a handful know the story behind Jim Dale's performance of the 7 Harry Potter audio books.

Were you aware that when Jim performed the audio books, he...

1. Did not read the whole book before he began. Jim would generally get a manuscript for a book just 2 or 3 days before being scheduled to start his performance. Meaning that when he began reading a new Harry Potter audio book, he wouldn't know how the story was going to end. In fact, Jim says that he'd generally only read ~100 pages in front of where he's recording. That's pretty cool since it means that when you're listening to the audio books, you can be fairly sure that Jim isn't subconsciously leading you in a certain plot direction with the intonation of his voice.

2. Developed more than 200 voices for all the different characters over the 7 book series. He even holds a Guiness World Record for the most voices in an audio book - 146 different voices in book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

3. Applies his knowledge of hundreds of accents taken from the entire United Kingdom. Several characters voices are even based on specific friends or relatives of Jim's (e.g., an old Aunt-in law is the inspiration for Professor McGonagall's voice and a giant uncle of his who had a small farm in Devonshire is the inspiration for Hagrid).

4. Would be sent a list of every new word or character's name and its exact pronunciation. Evidently the producers wanted an extremely strict interpretation of the text and Jim would often have to record new words (which had been accidentally left off this list) in every intonation imaginable.

5. Would spend 2-3 weeks narrating each book. He'd typically go from about 10am to 5pm over the course of this period, totaling about 100 hours of recording time per audio book.

Pretty crazy stuff huh? Hope you enjoyed the interesting facts on Jim Dale's recording of the Harry Potter audio books!

How to Make Money Writing Fiction - A Classic Option Having Unlimited Revenue!

Have you heard of J.K Rowling any time before in your life, that is, until Harry Potter happened? Some years ago, this clerical employee from the United Kingdom was a relatively unknown person. Look at what she did with her series of fiction books, which went on to get recognized as Harry Potter books! And now, she is a multi-million dollar conglomerate counting on the revenues of the sales of these books. How to make money writing fiction thus is no longer a silly question, as was the situation some years ago.

You may still not be able to match what J.K Rowling did. But come to think of it - How to make money writing fiction definitely is one question you must think seriously at all times. If this thought has hit your mind already, you must start working on the concept of the book. Once the concept of the book or books is identified, you should work around the characters.

Though it is fiction, a powerful storyline has to be present. It is this storyline that would carry the book on its shoulders. J.K Rowling could have made almost anything out of her book due to her strong storyline. She captivated the imagination of her readers with powerful depiction of the tussle between Harry and Voldemort. With a good support cast like Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Dumbledore, she was able to achieve record sales with her books.

Identify the Dumbledores and Hermiones for your book, and write a 200-page fiction book. If the sales are encouraging enough, go for it with some sequels to the book. Aren't you already on your way to make some serious money by now?

Harry Potter Is Now An A Level Classic

British examination standards have reached an all time low following confirmation that the book Harry Potter, by J K Rowling is to be included in the A-Level examination syllabus from next year.

Groan. Harry Potter is undeniably an imaginative piece of work; so imaginative it borders on gobbledygook. J K Rowling has managed to corner the children´s literature market admirably with her tales of the boy wizard and his adventures in the land of wherever. Not so admirably, I might add, as her PR machine has managed to corner the product support market, with such items as Harry Potter school bags, dolls, souvenir diaries and so on. It is this marketing machine that is responsible to the greater degree for the incredible success of the book series, not Ms Rowling´s dealthless talent as a writer.

The books were hailed as cult 'must-have's' from their first inception, making J K Rowling deservedly a millionairess overnight, with movie offers coming out of the woodwork. That does not, however, make her books appropriate curriculum material for students striving for university entrance. For some of us, it still did not make her books interesting enough to get past page fifty. In my case, I believe the books good enough to borrow but not to buy; a definite case of one man´s meat, methinks...

Such decisions taken by our boards of examiners might lead one to believe that we are fast running out of contemporary material for A Level study. Certainly we are going down a slippery slope if we are to accept that the standard now aspired to within the terms of literary success may be described at best as entering the realms of fantasy.