Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief!

Fans of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series of books will be happy to know that the first trailer for the upcoming film The Lightning Thief has been released! (The trailer's release was apparently set to coincide with the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which opens today!)

Need Some Halloween Ideas for Your Latin Classes?

In addition to last year's Halloween ideas for Latin classes, here are a few more...

You might consider exploring the Latin of Harry Potter. Ginny Lindzey shows the Classical connection in Just Charming: Tapping into the Latin Magic of Harry Potter.

Michael Myer, Magister Lingua Latinae at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, has some fun materials to share with you on his class website, including a list of the parts of the body (Partes Corporis) that can be used for playing Simon (or Caesar) Says, plus the lyrics to Illa Ossa (sung to the tune of 'Dem Bones').

For those of you who use Professor John Traupman's Latin Is Fun, Book 1 as a textbook or supplement, there is a scary Monstrum in Chapter 12 as well as a wonderful skit about the legendary Roman scientist Dr. Franciscus Frankenpetrus.

Dr. Melissa Schons Bishop has organized a Halloween activity kit which can be purchased at her new store, Creative Classical Curriculum. With up to three days of material for each class, "Horrible Haunted Halloween Horror" includes readings and activities for all four levels of Latin based upon authentic Latin texts: a haunted house story by Pliny for Latin I, the werewolf story from Petronius for Latin II, Lycaeon's metamorphosis into a wolf from Ovid for Latin III and Aeneas descent into the Underworld from the Aeneid for Latin IV. Each selection is accompanied by magic vocabulary lists and active learning followups. Dr. Bishop also includes two complete games Monster Bingus and the Underworld Game. The kit may be downloaded for $40 -- keep in mind that it can printed out and used for years. Also available and suitable for Halloween is "Gross Roman Facts."

Harry Potter on the Classics Blogs

Mark Keith, a Latin teacher who blogs on the rather cleverly named Marginalia, has written a rather insightful entry on Authors as Prophets, in which he reflects on a passage from the first Harry Potter book:

"in which Professor McGonagall claims, '[Harry Potter will] be famous -- a legend -- I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future -- there will be books written about Harry -- every child in the world will know his name!' When Rowling was writing this first book, surely she didn't believe that her books would be so wildly successful. She could certainly hope so, but hindsight now proves her prophetic statement to be amazingly correct!"

Mark goes on to refer to Latin authors who have made similar statements in their own works. It's an interesting reflection on the Classical connections in Rowling's work.

I'm sure that many people are going back to re-read the entire series. I've started re-reading it too.

Meanwhile, David Meadows at Rogue Classicism notes that J.K. Rowling's next project may have a direct classical link.

Harry Potters Knows -- or Knew -- Latin! (Spoiler Free Zone!)

Nota Bene: To find out whether or not Harry lives or dies, you're just going to have to read the book. I'm not telling.

I finished reading all 759 pages of the Deathly Hallows about 24 hours after I started. I'm not giving away any spoilers though! But I thought that you all might be interested in Harry Potter's Latin connections. Many of the spells Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the wizards use in the series have Latin derivations. J.K Rowling taught herself Latin and uses the language extensively in the series.

Here are a few resources for those of you who would like to find out more.

Wikipedia has a hyperlinked compendium of spells in Harry Potter.

Mugglenet maintains a comprehensive list of spells and charms as well as an index of name origins.

Veritaserum also has an online dictionary of spells and charms.

Children's BBC has a teacher's lesson plan based upon the Latin used in spells in the series.

No Harry Potter Spoilers Here

My copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived in the mail today! I've only read a few chapters so far. On the one hand, I want to take my time enjoying the final book in the series. I don't want to read it too fast, because it really is quite likely the final book. On the other hand, I would really like to finish it before people really start talking about it. I can't stand it when people spoil a good story!

Those of you who have taken note of J.K. Rowling's literary and word play allusions to the classics will be interested to know that one of the quotations that she has chosen to preface her book with is taken from The Libation Bearers by the Greek playwright Aeschylus (translated by Robert Fagles.) The other quote is from William Penn. That's all I'm saying for now.

Teaching Roman History

The Romans is an outstanding free online resource based upon Antony Kamm's book, Introduction to the Romans, originally published by Routledge. Andrew Wilson, who also maintains the superb Classics Pages, did the work of transcribing and hyperlinking the pages. You may also recognize Andrew Wilson as the person who translated Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone into Ancient Greek!

The Romans website includes not only the text of the Kamm's book, but also photographs, original illustrations, timelines, and best of all, interactive activities and quizzes!

Harry Potter 24 Days and Counting!

In less than a month, The Harry Potter saga will finally be concluded. Latin teachers are gearing up for a new round of students coming to ask them for translations of incantations based on clever word play influenced by the classical languages!

Speaking of Latin teachers, have you seen the HogwartsProfessor.com website? If you're a Potter fan, be sure to have plenty of time because there's lots to read and think about here!

John Granger, the full-time Latin and English teacher who blogs on the HogwartsProfessor site is the author of Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader, Looking for God in Harry Potter, The Hidden Key to Harry Potter and a contributor to Who Killed Albus Dumbledore: What Really Happened in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince? Having taken a look at his blog, I'm putting these books on my reading list to tide me over until that seventh book comes out!

P.S. I know I've mentioned this site before, but here's a great article on incorporating Harry Potter into the Latin classroom. It's also written by 2 Latin teachers, Ginny Lindzey and Clint Hagen.

Harry Potter Kai He Tou Philosophou Litho

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has been translated into over 60 languages, including Ancient Greek and Classical Latin. (When it was translated into American English, the publishers even decided to change the title!)

To find out more about the Ancient Greek translation, you can visit Andrew Wilson's Classics Pages, where you will also find some vocabulary and notes to accompany your reading. If you want to know just why Andrew decided to translate Rowling's work, you should read this article from the Opinion Journal.