Dark, Darker, Darkest: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

By Jonathan Berohn

If there’s one thing that will get kids excited about reading, it’s a new Harry Potter book.  The release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was certainly no exception to this axiom.

True to form, JK Rowling has spun another intricate and exciting tale of everyone’s favorite teenage wizard.  Like with her previous two installments, though, this sixth book in the Harry Potter series ups the darkness quotient yet again.  This makes for great suspense for older readers, but the younger fans might need either a little creative editing or certainly some discussion along with the reading to come to terms with the action.

The Premise

You have probably heard by now that Rowling kills off a major character in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Don’t worry—I’m not going to spoil it for you by giving it away.  Rest assured, though, that if you’re over 10 that you’ll pick up Rowling’s non-too-subtle foreshadowing early on.  As usual, Rowling’s strength as a storyteller rather than a writer shows quite obviously in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the tale.

Essentially, we’ve got the usual formula.  Harry is back at school trying to foil some evil scheme while attempting to both keep up with his studies and win a few Quidditch matches all the while trying to avoid detention from the enigmatic Professor Snape.  This time the evil scheme seems to revolve around Draco Malfoy, but Harry can’t, of course, convince anyone else he’s on to something.  In any case, the usual cast of characters comes into play, and the action conveniently builds to a climax toward the end of the school year (Out of curiosity, why don’t any bad guys plan things for, say, October? They’d really catch people by surprise it would seem).

Some Cautions

Obviously, with a major character dying off, this book will be a little troubling for young Harry Potter fans.  Rowling does a pretty good job with the death and aftermath, so I would suggest preparing your kids in advance and talking things over with them after you read the final chapters.  I would also take note of the extensive dating and kissing scenes.  These aren’t so much of an issue for the youngest fans (unless you mind a lot of excess snickering, that is) but more for the pre adolescents.  Again, I’d think strongly of discussing this with my kids.

All in all, though, Rowling has definitely hit the mark again with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  She even mercifully reversed her recent trend and wrote a shorter book this time.