Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (sound recording)
by J.K. Rowling; performed by Jim Dale
Listening Library, 2000

Genre: Fantasy, Book-on-CD

Honors:

• ALA Notable Children's Books 2001
• School Library Journal 09/01/00

Review: J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is wonderful to read, even better to hear. Jim Dale lends his talent to this 20-hour, 17-disc audio book adaptation, providing unique voice characterizations and smooth narration to guide his listeners through the world of Harry Potter. In Goblet of Fire, the fourth chapter of the Harry Potter saga, the students at Hogwarts' are whispering about a secret event being organized by the Ministry of Magic. When it is revealed that several magic academies are participating in an international contest, to be hosted by Hogwarts', Harry's friends are excited and many of them want to compete; Harry, however, is distracted. His scar has recently been bothering him, and sometimes his dreams take him to nightmarish places, where he sees Voldemort and Wormtail, and he hears things he doesn't understand. Then the unexpected happens: despite a rigid rule forbidding students under seventeen from putting their name into the Goblet of Fire (the medium for entering the contest), somehow Harry's name ends up in the Goblet and is accepted as valid. What this turn of events will lead to, only time will reveal.

Opinion: Jim Dale is a very talented storyteller and performer. When I put the first disc in, I expected to hear a straightforward narrative with not a lot of variation. However, Dale does a remarkable job switching from voice to voice, from girls and boys at Hogwarts to men and women at the Ministry, to elves. And his dynamic voice is easy to follow. I listened to a lot of the book while doing other things, and I could follow along without much effort. I'm going to say that the same readers of the series would enjoy the audio book, but beyond that, readers who aren't into the series, or who may not like the books but who like the movie series, may appreciate hearing the book read aloud instead as it is an entirely different experience.

Ideas: You know how you hear music when you walk through a supermarket or department store? Why not audio books? I wonder about playing a book over speakers in a certain area of the library, or during library time at school--how would that go? Maybe older children would enjoy hearing a narrative in the background as they browse for books or other materials--especially one that is narrated by Jim Dale.