“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has action, suspense, and mystery. It’s not every day that you get to read a book that is really a script. But while it was fun, I would have preferred the regular form of the originals.

This book was written by J.K. Rowling, who is famous for the seven original Harry Potter books. Her fans love her ability to capture a lot of excitement and flair in her writing. Fans find J.K. Rowling very inspirational. As the woman herself has said, “We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.”

The book was interesting and great for all of those wonderful Harry Potter lovers who stayed up until midnight to get a hold of it. In honor of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling released the book on his 36th birthday, July 31, 2016, at midnight.

Elana Atlas
In Westport, the two main places that were doing the Harry Potter countdown were Barnes and Noble’s and the Westport Public Library. Many people participated at both locations, and did many fun activities such as watching the movies, making their own wands, playing virtual reality games, listening to readings from the books, doing scavenger hunts, and more. At the Westport Public Library, there was birthday cake and ice cream for Harry, and when it was time, a countdown and a scramble for the book.

The “Cursed Child” was one of the most anticipated books to come out in many years. So far, it is the fourth best selling book of all time, and two million copies were sold in the first two days. In total, it has sold four million copies in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Because the style of the book is so different, it might attract new readers.

The book starts off with Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter, getting sorted into the Slytherin House, one of the student dorms at Hogwarts School. Because no other member of his family had ever been a member of this house, he felt terrible about himself, thinking that because of this he was automatically thought of as a bad person. So, to prove that he is just as courageous as his father, he goes on a mission to the past to save Cedric Diggory, an old classmate of his father’s, from dying, one of the things his father wasn’t able to do. During the journey, he makes a few friends, some enemies, and learns a lot about himself.

Different students had different reactions to the book. Sixth grader Daniela Garcia, the first to get the book at the Westport Public Library, said, “It was pretty good. I was just disappointed that it was in script form. The story itself was perfect.” I agree with Daniela. The fact that it was in the script form was a bit of a change from the originals, and made it a little bit harder to follow the story. But it was worth reading and still very fun.

Another reader of the book, 8th grader Poppy Livingstone said, “I loved it so much. It wasn’t as good as the originals, but that was expected. I burst into tears the second I opened it. There were tears in my eyes the whole time. I loved it so much, and I’m gonna read it again.” I have to say, I agree with Poppy, too.
Sam Paris, said, “The book was great, but it was a little disappointing because it was so largely anticipated. It was a lot less descriptive than the originals.” I think that she also has a good point. While I think I may be a bigger fan of the book than Sam, I agree that it was less descriptive than the other books.

There are many different aspects to this book, and almost always, a sequel is not as good as the original. While I believe this is true in this case as well, I still think it’s a great book and would recommend it to anyone.