Word: quidditch
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First of all, kids are reading them. And we all know what reading leads to...that's right, knowledge and an aptitude for the verbal section on standardized tests. Okay, maybe kids won't find the words poltergeist, Quidditch or transfiguration on the SATs anytime soon, but the Potter books have a larger vocabulary than most of the drivel that is published for children nowadays. Compare the Harry Potter series to the last fad in children's books, that formulaic series called Goosebumps, and you'll see what I mean...
...look just the same as they did last year. And why not? The school is more than 1,000 years old. The academic and athletic competitions among the four Hogwarts residence houses--Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw--remain as spirited as before. All the students are still mad about Quidditch, a hectic sport involving six goals, four moving balls and two seven-member teams careering 50 ft. or more above ground on flying broomsticks. Harry is the star player for the Gryffindor squad...
Since her characters grow a year older in each book, Rowling says that certain unavoidable changes are in store for them and the readers. A hint of what's ahead appears in The Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry notices Cho Chang, the only girl on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. "She was shorter than Harry by about a head, and Harry couldn't help noticing, nervous as he was, that she was extremely pretty. She smiled at Harry as the teams faced each other behind their captains, and he felt a slight lurch in the region of his stomach that...
...British boarding school except that Harry takes classes in potions, poltergeists patrol the halls, and Harry gets to show his true mettle. "I know far more than the reader will ever need to know," says Rowling, an elfin-looking 33-year-old. "I know the names of all the Quidditch teams." Quidditch, for the uninitiated, is sort of like soccer, but it is played in the air on broomsticks, and some of the balls attack the players...