July 2014 – Page 2 – Sonderbooks

Jul 18, 2014

Review of Kilmeny of the Orchard, by L. M. Montgomery

Classics, Historical, Old Favorites, Romance, Teen Fiction Review 0

Kilmeny of the Orchard

by L. M. Montgomery

Bantam Books, New York, 1989. First published in 1910. 134 pages.

I turned 50 last month. As a way of celebrating, later in the year during the few weeks when all three of us are 50 years old, two childhood friends and I are hoping to visit Prince Edward Island. In preparation for that trip, and as part of my celebration, I thought I’d reread L. M. Montgomery’s books. Update: The trip’s not going to work out after all this year, but we’re going to try to go before we turn 55. And it’s still a good excuse to reread the books!

Kilmeny of the Orchard is actually the first novel Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote, though she didn’t get it published until after her classic Anne of Green Gables was published and was immediately wildly popular. To be honest, as a writer it encouraged me greatly to learn this. If L. M. Montgomery’s first effort was a masterpiece, well, then, who was I to think I could ever write anything?

Let’s just say that after reading Kilmeny of the Orchard, I was not surprised to learn it was the author’s first effort. A lovely first effort, yes, but not a masterpiece like her first published novel.

Kilmeny of the Orchard, like all but one of L. M. Montgomery’s books, takes place on beautiful Prince Edward Island. It’s a romance, simple and sweet. There is lots of flowery description and the young lovers are good and true and the story will make you happy.

Yes, the plot is highly unlikely. L. M. Montgomery used to find surprising stories in the news and then put them in your fiction — not realizing that fiction needs to be less surprising than truth in order to be believed. Worse, there’s a villainous character who is clearly villainous because he’s from “Italian peasant stock.” And our heroine is essentially the most beautiful woman in the world, and innocent and sweet (even though she’s lived away from people except her aunt and uncle and the villain all her life). The hero is handsome and smart and rich, but working as a schoolteacher to help a friend.

However, you still can see the seeds of L. M. Montgomery’s greatness. She may overdo the description in this book, but she has a gift for it. And you can already see the quirky characters appearing whom she is so good at bringing to life.

All the same, this is the book that reassures me that L. M. Montgomery was human, too. She, too, had to work at her craft.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/kilmeny_of_the_orchard.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy, purchased years ago.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Jul 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Comments Glitch

General 0

I just figured out that my blog hasn’t been taking comments for months. I’m so sorry! When I type in a comment myself, it simply disappears. It’s *not* that I haven’t been approving comments — they just don’t work.

I’m going to *try* to fix this. Yahoo Web Hosting was no help at all. It used to work, and I don’t think I changed anything… But I will try some different things to try to get them going again.

Jul 16, 2014

Review of How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk, by John Van Epp, PhD

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

How to Avoid Falling in Love with a Jerk

The Foolproof Way to Follow Your Heart Without Losing Your Mind

by John Van Epp, PhD

McGraw Hill, New York, 2007. 326 pages.
Original title: How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk.
Starred Review

Nine years after my husband left me, I’ve finally started dating again. And I’m finding it’s not for the faint of heart! I’m also finding that I’m so starved for male affection, it’s easy to let my feelings run away with me.

My sister is a Marriage and Family Counselor. For my 50th birthday, to celebrate that I’ve joined some online dating sites, she gave me a copy of this book, which she recommends to clients. Mind you, I haven’t had a date since I read the book, but the ideas make a lot of sense to me, and I’m hoping to get chances to put them into practice.

His promise is that he can help you keep your head when following your heart. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? The basic tool he teaches people to use is the Relationship Attachment Model. Here’s where he describes it (with a helpful diagram):

The five fundamental dynamics are the depth to which you know, trust, rely on, have a commitment to, and have sexual involvement with another person….

Picture a sound system’s equalizer with five up-and-down sliders evenly placed across the face of the board. The slider on the far left represents the extent to which you really know a person. As you move the bar on this slider up over time, you signify a richer, fuller, and more personal knowledge of the other. The next slider represents the range of trust you have for that person. This bar rises to denote a deeper, more positive, confident trust in your partner. The third slider represents the extent to which you rely on this person. Moving this bar up indicates the greater ways you depend on this person to meet your most significant needs. The fourth slider represents the range of commitment you have established with this person. The slider for this dynamic rises to signify greater levels of commitment expressed within your relationship. The final slider, on the far right, represents the degree of sexual touch and chemistry that exists between you and your partner. Elevating this slider signifies increases in the passionate chemistry and sexual contact with your partner….

Not only do these dynamics stand on their own as channels of bonding in your relationships, but they also interact with each other to produce a mix of the overall attachment in a relationship. As soon as you imagine some of the sliders up and some down, you immediately gain a sense of the mixed nature of love and attachment. In the same way that the controls on your equalizer affect the different tones of the overall sound of your music, the blend of the different levels of these five bonding relationship dynamics produces the “sound” of your attachment.

When all five are at the top level, the feelings of attachment are strongest. But when even one is low, attachment is weakened and your feelings of closeness become mixed. You are easily confused, hurt, and doubtful. The balance of all five bonding dynamics determines the healthiness of your relationship and the clarity of your perspective on your partner.

Here lies one of the most important keys to building a healthy relationship: keep a balance among the five relationship dynamics. Whenever the relationship dynamics shift out of balance with each other, you will feel unsafe, experiencing feelings of hurt, betrayal, confusion, mistrust, unfairness, anger, loneliness, or any combination of these. But when you keep these five dynamics in balance with each other so that you are not moving further ahead in one area than in any of the others, then you are securely planted in the safe zone.

There is one basic rule for guarding the safe zone: never go further in one bonding area than you have gone in the previous. This rule is based on the view that the five bonding dynamics have a specific order and logic to them: what you know about a person determines the degree you should trust him or her; this trust directs you in choosing what personal needs you can rely on him or her to meet; you should become committed only to the extent that you know, trust, and depend on that person; and finally, any degree of sexual involvement is safest when it matches the context of the overall intimacy reflected in the levels of the other four dynamics.

Slipping out of the safe zone explains the most common mistake people make in relationships: when the levels of the five dynamics are out of balance, then the emotional bond becomes unhealthy, and you tend to overlook crucial characteristics of the other person that should be exposed and explored. Thus, your love becomes truly blind. Or without knowing why, you wind up rationalizing characteristics and experiences that create a vague sense of unease.

This is by no means all that’s in the book. In fact, there’s almost too much detail. I felt like the author went on and on about what you need to know. But he continued with each of the relationship dynamics, explaining ways to strengthen that area, and providing plenty of examples and counterexamples. And the nice thing is that the big picture message is clear and easy to visualize.

And lest you think this model won’t work or is impossible to carry out, the author refers to multiple studies that back up his views on how to build a healthy and happy relationship.

Definitely food for thought. I hope I will get to try it out!

johnvanepp.com
mhprofessional.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/how_to_avoid_falling_in_love_with_a_jerk.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy given to me by my sister on my 50th birthday.

Jul 15, 2014

Review of Eye to Eye, by Steve Jenkins

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Eye to Eye

How Animals See the World

by Steve Jenkins

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Steve Jenkins does it again! He’s the one who can make incredibly detailed animal art using cut paper collage. His art looks like photographs and has amazing levels of detail. When coupled with fascinating facts about animals, his books are exceptional.

Eye to Eye looks at four kinds of animal eyes: eyespots, a simple cluster of light-sensitive cells; pinhole eyes, which can form dim but detailed images; compound eyes with hundreds or thousands of individual facets; and camera eyes, found in all birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, emplying a lens to focus light on the sensitive surface of a retina.

Then he’s got examples of the different types of eyes and all sorts of strange and unusual eyes. We’ve got the biggest eyes in the world (on a colossal squid), eyes bigger than the animal’s brain (on a tarsier), the most highly developed eyes (on a mantis shrimp), eyes that look in two directions (on the brownsnout spookfish), an animal with a third eye on the top of its head (the tuatara), and a creature with as many as 111 eyeballs (the Atlantic bay scallop), among others.

I found some of the creatures a bit disgusting, but I’m guessing that will make certain kids enjoy the book all the more. I learned a lot about eyes reading this book. Another treasure trove of information paired with mind-boggling artwork from Steve Jenkins.

hmhbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/eye_to_eye.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Jul 13, 2014July 13, 2014

Sonderling Sunday – Hooray for the World Cup!

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday, that time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books. Think of it as a handy-dandy phrasebook of phrases as *actually used* to tell a story.

Today, in honor of Germany winning the World Cup (Woo-hoo!!!!), I’m going to look at the scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where they witness the Quidditch World Cup. Because what phrases could be more appropriate?

Last time, we covered the Pregame Show. The actual Quidditch World Cup begins on page 106 in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Seite 113 in Harry Potter und die Feuerkelch.

The first sentence is an appropriate way to begin:
“‘Theeeeeeeey’re OFF!’ screamed Bagman.”
= »Looooooos geht’s!«, schrie Bagman.

They have a name for this:
“bridge of his nose” = Nasenwurzel (“Nose root”)

“slow motion” = Zeitlupe (“Time magnifier”)

“the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums”
= das Toben der Menge gegen seine Trommelfelle pochte
(“The roar of the multitude against his drumskins pounded”)

“Hawkshead Attacking Formation” = Falkenkopf-Angriff

“zoom closely together” = dicht nebeneinander dahinschwebten
(“close near-one-another there-in-floated”)

“ploy” = Täuschung

“who was dancing up and down, waving her arms in the air”
= mit schlackernden Armen umhertanzte

“lap of honor” = Ehrenrunde

“sulkily” = schmollend

“seamless” = nahtlos

“causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters”
= was bei den grün gekleideten Fans eine wahre Springflut aus Jubelschreien und Händeklatschen auslöste

“scatter” = zerstreuen

“goal” = Tor

“gasped” = stöhnten

“parachutes” = Fallschirme (“Fall-umbrellas”)

“descent” = Sturzflug (“drop-flight”)

“huge groan” = markerschütterndes Stöhnen

“time-out” = Auszeit

“Firebolt” = Feuerblitz

“new heart” = frischen Mut

“scream of rage” = Wutschrei

“takes to task” = knüpft

“cobbing” = Schrammens (“scarring”)

“penalty” = Freiwurf

“referee” = Schiedsrichter

“looking mutinous” = rebellisch gestikulierten

“cruel-beaked bird heads” = Vogelköpfen mit grausamen Schnäbeln

“scaly” = schuppige

“deafening” = ohrenbetäubendes

“broom tail” = Besenschweif

“most exciting” = aufregendste

“had no idea” = war schleierhaft (“was veiled”)

“roared” = polterte

“tremendous force” = enormer Wucht

“horde” = Meute

“scoreboard” = Anzeigetafel

“brave” = tapfer

“surlier” = verdrießlicher

“team members” = Mannschaftskamaraden

“blared” = dudelte

“shrinking” = schrumpften

“forlorn” = elend

“shrugging” = achselzuckend (“armpit-twitching”)

“Quidditch World Cup itself” = Quidditch-Weltmeisterschaftspokal

“appreciatively” = anerkennend

“black eyes” = Veilchen

“bloody face” = blutunterlaufenen Gesicht (“blood-under-accumulated face”)

“slightly duck-footed” = watschelte ein wenig (“waddled a bit”)

“ear-splitting” = ohrenzerfetzendes

“hoarsely” = heiser

“twist” = Wendung

And that’s it for Chapter Eight: Irland gewinnt!

So, with these words you can relive the Fußball Weltmeisterschaft. You can talk about the Springflut aus Jubelschreien when Deutschland gewinnt. You can even discuss the memorable blutunterlaufenen Gesicht and the Tor in Overtime.

Jul 12, 2014

Review of The Inimitable Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse

Audiobooks, Fiction Review, Humorous, Starred Review 0

The Inimitable Jeeves

by P. G. Wodehouse

narrated by Jonathan Cecil

AudioGO, 2009. First published in 1923. 6 hours, 18 minutes on 6 compact discs.
Starred Review

Since I was having such fun listening to Jeeves and Wooster stories, and since the library seems to have new copies of several of the books, I decided to try to listen to them more or less in order. NoveList tells me that The Inimitable Jeeves is the third book, coming after The Man with Two Left Feet, and Other Stories, which only has one Jeeves and Wooster story, and My Man Jeeves, which the library only has in a print edition.

I do know I’ve read The Inimitable Jeeves before, sometime or other, and the events related here were also reproduced in the brilliant BBC miniseries which I have on DVD. But that didn’t keep me from enjoying Jonathan Cecil’s performance tremendously. And I enjoyed the characters and situations all the more, because I know how they will continue to haunt Bertie’s life.

Indeed, this is the volume where Bertie first gets engaged to Honoria Glossop. It happens because, while having a disagreement with Jeeves, Bertie thought he could get his pal Bingo Little (who was then in love with Honoria) out of a scrape using his own brain power. How foolish, Bertie! I found myself trying to warn him the whole time, and shaking my head with great delight as his scheme went wrong.

Of course, Jonathan Cecil adds so much. This one involves several romantic trials which only Jeeves can solve, including one involving Jeeves himself (which I hadn’t remembered). I listened to this while driving my son back to Williamsburg after Spring Break, and there’s nothing better at making the road seem short than hearty laughter, don’t you know.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/inimitable_jeeves.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Jul 11, 2014July 11, 2014

Review of Sawdust in His Shoes, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Old Favorites, Starred Review 0

Sawdust in His Shoes

by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Coward-McCann, New York, 1950. 246 pages.
Starred Review

I’m on a roll getting Interlibrary loans of books I loved in childhood which are no longer in print. And what a shame this one is not in print! Some other books by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (which I have never read) are in print, but not this one that I checked out over and over again and loved so much!

I actually was reminded of this book about a year ago when I was looking at a site that had craft projects (I think purses) made out of old books. I was scandalized when I saw that this wonderful book had been used in such a way! I looked for it on Amazon, but the only availability was hugely expensive. So then when we were asked to try out the new Interlibrary loan system at our library, I realized this was my opportunity to revisit this childhood favorite.

And I’m happy to report that Sawdust in his Shoes is every bit as wonderful as I remember it being! Yes, there are some old-fashioned bits – most of the families are farmers, and they have a party phone line – but the core of the story about a boy who’s lost everyone he loves and then finds a home, learns about acceptance, learns to trust, and achieves excellence – that story will touch hearts forever.

Joe Lang was born in a circus wagon. His father’s a lion tamer and his mother was a tightrope artist. But after his mother’s death, his father remarried a gillie, a non-circus person, and Joe and his stepmother never did get along. For years, Joe has lived in the wagon of his best friend, Mo Shapely, a clown who trained Joe as an equestrian trick rider.

Joe is on the verge of starring in his own act when tragedy occurs. Mo tries to convince the court that he’s an appropriate guardian for a fifteen-year-old boy, but the wheels of justice turn slowly. Joe is sent to the Pineville Industrial School for Boys. It’s a horrible place, and no one has ever escaped. But Joe tries to reach the circus before they head out to the other side of the country. He ends up injuring himself when trying to jump over a barbed wire fence.

But that injury lands him in the home of a farm family unlike any people he’s ever met before. Joe won’t tell them his last name, since he doesn’t want to get sent back to Pineville, but Pop Dawson takes him on as a farm hand.

The story from there is delightful. All the family members are well-drawn. A lot of the action is shown through the perspective of Henry, three years younger than Joe and lacking in self-confidence. Henry’s sister Ann is talkative and enthusiastic and confident. And then Shelley, the little one, wins Joe’s heart by simply trusting him.

There are some old-fashioned parts of this book. Besides the party line, Pop Dawson smokes a pipe even after heart trouble. Joe gets in a fist fight in Henry’s defense, and all the men of the community cheer him on. For that matter, I’m sure there aren’t so many family farms in Oregon these days.

But the core of the book is timeless. Joe finds a family and learns to trust, but also works to rise to his proper place in the world, doing what he was born to do.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/sawdust_in_his_shoes.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an interlibrary loan borrowed via Fairfax County Public Library.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Jul 8, 2014

Review of The Pigeon Needs a Bath, by Mo Willems

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

The Pigeon Needs a Bath!

by Mo Willems

Hyperion Books for Children, New York, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Another pigeon book! Hooray!

This one follows the pattern of the other books, with its own little twists. Once again, the child reader gets a taste of parental responsibility.

The book starts where the bus driver, dressed in a robe and hairnet, and with a towel over his arm, says, “Hi! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Pigeon is filthy. So, I could use your help, because: The Pigeon Needs a Bath!”

The pigeon is indeed filthy, as any child will readily agree. But he has plenty of arguments as to why he really doesn’t need a bath. And when even the flies think he smells too bad to be near, he has lots of complaints about water temperature and depth and amount of toys.

When he finally splashes into the tub, oh the joy! The final spread has a full page with TEN HOURS LATER, and then the Pigeon saying, “Can I stay in the tub forever?”

Yes, Mo Willems knows kids!

I had the privilege of reading this book to a 5-year-old girl who has Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! memorized. She was delighted. Another hit from Mo.

pigeonpresents.com
hyperionbooksforchildren.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/pigeon_needs_a_bath.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Jul 7, 2014

Review of Dare the Wind, by Tracey Fern

Adventure, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Dare the Wind

The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud

by Tracey Fern
pictures by Emily Arnold McCully

Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 2014. 36 pages.
Starred Review

How wonderful! A nineteenth century young woman navigated clipper ships for her sea captain husband and actually broke speed records because of her daring and mathematical prowess! Who knew? Now this is a true story I’m eager for little girls to know about!

The book starts with Ellen Prentiss as a child, loving the sea. Her father teaches her how to navigate. The illustration shows her using a sextant outside their house, by the sea, under her father’s observation. “Ellen worked for hours by the kitchen fire, learning the complicated calculations needed to navigate a ship.”

Ellen eventually marries a sea captain, Perkins Creesy. He becomes captain of a new clipper ship, built for speed.

If Ellen and Perkins could make the trip faster than any ship ever had, they would receive a bonus – and bragging rights as the best sailors in the world. It was the adventure Ellen had always dreamed of catching!

The author goes on to dramatize Ellen and Perkins’ record-breaking journey, using information from the log. There was plenty of adventure on the voyage, including a broken mast, and time spent in the Doldrums, with Ellen taking a daring new route to escape them.

In the end, on August 31, 1851, they reached their destination and brought passengers and cargo to the California Gold Rush faster than any other ship ever had.

An Author’s Note at the back gives more details of the journey, along with sources of more information for the curious reader.

This is a wonderful picture book about a woman who used her brains to become the best in the world!

traceyfern.com
emilyarnoldmccully.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/dare_the_wind.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Jul 6, 2014July 6, 2014

Sonderling Sunday – Get Ready for the Quidditch World Cup!

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books.

Today, in honor of Germany advancing to the Semifinals in the World Cup (something they have done for consecutive World Cups since I lived in Germany), I thought it would be fun to look at the passage in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that covers the Quidditch World Cup. In fact, in hopes that Germany will advance to the Finals, happening next Sunday, I’m going to tackle the beginning of Chapter 8 this week, leading up to the World Cup, and cover the World Cup itself next week. Perhaps we’ll learn some words I heard when I watched World Cup soccer in Germany.

We’ll be looking at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 8, “The Quidditch World Cup,” which is Harry Potter und die Feuerkelch, “Die Quidditch-Weltmeisterschaft”.

I like beginning with the first sentence:
“Clutching their purchases, Mr. Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail.”
= Ihre neu erworbenen Schätze an sich geklammert folgten sie Mr Weasley den laternenbeschienenen Weg entlang in den Wald.
(“Their newly acquired treasures clinging to themselves followed they Mr. Weasley on the lantern-shined path along in the forest.”)

“The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious.”
= Die fiebrige Erregung war höchst ansteckend.

“talking and joking loudly” = laut redend und scherzend

“Muggle repelling charms” = Muggelabwehrzauber

“appointments” = Verabredungen

“dash away” = schleunigst fort

“Top box!” = Ehrenloge! (“Honor box”)

“goalposts” = Torstangen

“goal hoops” = Torringe

“blackboard” = schwarze Tafel

“scrawling” = krakeln

“advertisements” = Werbesprüche

“Anti-Burglar Buzzer” = Diebstahlschutz-Summer

“Mrs. Skower’s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain!”
= Mrs Skowers Magischer Allzweckreiniger: Kein Fleck, kein Schreck!

“tea towel” = Geschirrtuch

“draped” = geschlungen

“shaking her head” = kopfschüttelnd

“taken aback” = bestürzt

“Freedom is going to Dobby’s head.” = Die Freiheit steigt Dobby zu Kopf. (“The freedom climbs Dobby to the head.”)

“blankly” = verdutzt (“puzzled”)

“muffled squeak” = ersticktem Piepsen

“gulped” = würgte

“frowning” = stirnrunzelnd (“forehead wrinkled”)

“replay knob” = Wiederholungsknopf

“velvet-covered, tasseled program” = samtgebundenes, mit Troddeln geschmücktes Programmheft

“team mascots” = Mannschaftsmaskottchen

“wand” = Zauberstab

“gabbling loudly and excitedly” = unter lautem Geschnatter (“under loud cackling”)

“blighters” = Mistkerle

“slim” = schlank

“nasty smell” = üblen Geruch

“It was a tense moment.” = Einen Moment lang herrschte äußerste Spannung.
(“A moment long was there extreme tension.”)

“had a fight” = geprügelt

“swept over” = schweiften über

“purebloods” = Reinblüter

“slimy gits” = Schleimiges Pack

“every corner of the stands” = jede Ritze der Tribünen

A 32-letter word! It’s a number word, so it’s almost not fair, but I have to include it!
“four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup”
= vierhundertundzweiundzwanzigsten Quidditch-Weltmeisterschaft

“The spectators screamed and clapped.” = Die Zuschauer kreischten und klatschten.

“racket” = Trubel

“Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans — A Risk With Every Mouthful!”
= Bertie Botts’ Bohnen aller Geschmacksrichtungen — Russisch Roulette für Ihre Zunge!
(“Bertie Botts’ Beans of all flavor-directions — Russian Roulette for your tongue!”)

“ado” = Brimborium

“absent-mindedly shredding the shamrocks on his hat” = zerpfriemelte geistesabwesend die Kleeblätter auf seinem Hut

“vests” = Schürzen

“tumultuous applause” = tosenden Beifall

“so fast it was blurred” = so schnell flog, dass sie nur verschwommen zu sehen war

“bird of prey” = Raubvogel

“referee” = Schiedsrichter

“Chairwizard” = Vorstandszauberer

“skinny” = hagerer

“completely bald” = vollkommen kahlköpfig

“speed dial” = Geschwindigkeitsknopf

“the scarlet Quaffle” = die scharlachrote Quaffel

“the two black Bludgers” = die beiden schwarzen Klatscher

“the minuscule, winged Golden Snitch” = den winzigen, geflügelten Goldenen Schnatz

And that’s it for the pregame show! When I have lived in Germany during the World Cup, it is true that die fiebrige Erregung war höchst ansteckend.

Next week, if all goes well, I will cover the finals of the Quidditch World Cup! Here’s hoping Germany will be competing in the Fussball Weltmeisterschaft the same day!