Episode 403: Hermione’s Birthday!

Hello and welcome to Reading With Libraries! Thank you so much for being here! We’re so glad you’re able to join our podcast book group.

And we’re especially excited this week because we’re discussing a very popular and well-loved topic: Harry Potter! Maybe you listened to our teaser episode back on July 31st and are just as excited as we are to jump into things!

Why are we doing this today? Easy! It’s Hermione’s Birthday!!! (The real hero of the series!)

So the format of today’s episode is going to be a little different than usual, but our goal is the same: to chat about books and share information for our library community doing Reader’s Advisory work. 

We are so excited to be joined by multiple Guest Hosts this week, all eager to talk Harry Potter. This week we have Angie, Lydia, Kate, and Ariel all sharing in the discussion!

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. 

We’d love for you to be enjoying a butterbeer, flaming or frozen, but if you don’t have a Three Broomsticks in your neighborhood, fetch yourself a nice cup of tea and join us!

All of us are enjoying a different drink from the Wizarding World and we’ll link in our shownotes to the recipes so you can try them out, too!

Bourbon Butterbeer

  • ½ cup butterscotch sauce, 4 cups apple cider, ½ cup bourbon, 1 cup ginger beer (or ginger ale), 2 tablespoons vanilla, 2 tablespoons butter, whipped cream on top.
  • Combine the butterscotch sauce, apple cider and bourbon in a large pot and cook over medium heat until steaming, about five minutes.
  • Stir in the ginger beer and cook another 1-2 minutes or until warmed through. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Ladle into mugs.
  • Serve with whipped cream and cinnamon.
  • To make this kid-friendly, simply omit the bourbon and sub ginger ale for the ginger beer.
  • To make a pumpkin version, add 1/3 cup pumpkin puree to the mix.

Unicorn Blood Cocktail

  • Raspberry puree: 7 oz raspberries, powered sugar to taste.
  • Shimmery liqueur: Gold Dust and peach vodka
  • Puree the raspberry (add a little water if necessary) completely. Pass it through a fine sieve to remove seeds. Mix in icing sugar, 1 tbsp at a time to sweeten it to your taste. Chill in the fridge.
  • Pour the shimmery vodka into chilled martini glasses (about 2/3 of the way up). Pour approximately 2-3 tbsp of raspberry puree into the drink (from about 1-2 inches above the surface of the drink).

Hufflepuff  (can be alcoholic or non)

  • 1 oz pineapple juice, 1 oz orange juice, (optional 1 oz rum and ¾ oz banana schnapps), 1 oz ginger ale
  • Garnish with cherry and lemon slice 

Gurdyroot Infusion

  • 2 oz orange juice, 3 oz sparkling red grape juice, 1 oz ginger ale, 
  • Garnish with a fresh slice of ginger 

Genre Discussion:

From the time Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone came out in 1997 until now, when we are in the middle of the movie versions of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Harry Potter has made a giant impact on the world. From being considered “cornerstones of modern young adult literature” to being the subject of controversies, literary criticism, fanfiction, and theme parks, these books have definitely made their mark. 

Something I personally enjoy about the series is that there are so many ways to participate in the Harry Potter universe. There’s a huge spectrum of fans, from people who have just seen the movies to people who dress up to play Quidditch, get tattoos, or decorate their baby’s nursery in Gryffindor colors (yes, I’m guilty of the latter two).

Something else interesting about the series is the following: 

“Surveys of over 1,000 college students in the United States show that those who read the books were significantly different from those who had not. Readers of the series were found to be more tolerant, more opposed to violence and torture, less authoritarian, and less cynical. Although it is not known if this is a cause-and-effect relationship, there is a clear correlation, and it seems that Harry Potter’s cultural impact may be stronger than just a fandom bond.[100]”

Suggested Reading Resources:

Our Book Discussion

Now we are nice and cozy with our themed beverages and Chocolate Frogs, let’s get into the discussion!

I’m going to begin by saying this episode is not spoiler-free, so if you don’t want to know specifics regarding deaths, romantic relationships, or the fate of He Who Must Not Be Named, this is your cue to switch the episode off and come back after you’ve done some reading 🙂 

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us for this wonderful Harry Potter discussion, releasing on Hermione’s birthday! We aren’t saying you HAVE to visit a library today in her honor, but it probably wouldn’t hurt!

Thank you so much to our guests for joining us: Lydia, Kate, and Ariel, we are so happy you could spend some time with us today!

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss.

Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries – which is always interesting! – subscribe to our podcast Linking Our Libraries.

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!