HP4GU Contest #13

[Joy M]

No: HPFGUIDX 25193

The current contest (#13) is still on!  I am, as usual, extending the 
contest deadline for another week because I dont have a new contest 
ready.  Send in your entries by Weds, Sept. 4, and I will have 
another exciting contest for you on Friday Sept. 6, an acrostic 
(double cross) puzzle, in fact.

Here is contest #13, which is especially for L.O.O.N.s:

If you are on webview, you have undoubtedly seen the ads for the 
Literary Guild, one of those book clubs which offers you a 
introductory bunch of books for less than a dollar each (plus 
undisclosed shipping and handling fees which in my experience turn 
out to be exorbitant) and then sends you a crummy, overpriced 
bestseller each month for years.  They are offering all four HP books 
as part of their introductory promotion, and their website has an 
impressively bad description of each.  Apparently, the Literary Guild 
is not profitable enough to pay real editors or proofreaders, so the 
CEO's illiterate nephew is writing their promotional materials.  As a 
result, their descriptions of each book are a nitpicker's paradise.  
(Although they are not quite as poorly written as the HP character 
descriptions on the Warner Brothers website, which I can't even bring 
myself to finish reading.)

Hence, this week's contest, which was suggested by alert nitpicker 
Julia (jstein103 at aol.com).   How many mistakes can you find in the 
Literary Guild's book descriptions?  Any kind of error is fair game – 
spelling, punctuation, grammar, writing style, or factual.  Unless 
the error is painfully obvious, please explain why you think it is 
wrong.  All contestants finding more than 25 acceptable errors 
receive automatic L.O.O.N. membership (except for David Frankis).  
Email your response (or any questions) to me at HP4GUCon at aol.com, and 
then email it again if you don't receive an acknowledgment that I've 
received it.

Here are the Literary Guild's descriptions of the four books:

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
Headline: Harry Potter is back! The wildly popular phenomenon 
continues The excitement and anticipation for the next Harry Potter 
adventure is growing in leaps and bounds. What wild and wonderful 
escapades await the little wizard? The fourth in the phenomenally 
popular Harry Potter series begins with the young wizard turning 14, 
but rumor has it that one of his friends may not make it through to 
see his birthday celebration. You'll have to read to find out the 
juicy details!

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Harry Potter returns with his friends for their third year at 
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And boy, are their hands 
full! As with all third years of study, there is much more work to do 
and the pressure is on. As if that wasn't bad enough, Harry finds out 
that an evil wizard has escaped from Azkaban prison and is after him! 
Combine that with having to live with his horrid aunt, uncle and 
annoying cousin Dudly and it's enough to make the head on Harry's 
flying broom spin. Can Harry outsmart the evil wizard and save his 
friend's beloved pet from a death sentence?

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
There has never been, in the history of U.S. publishing, a children's 
book phenomena like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's 
Stone. Her debut novel has already spent six months on The New York 
Times bestseller list! With new torments and horrors and a little 
magic "floor" powder, Harry and his chums return once again, casting 
a spell ovr children and adults alike.

Harry's about to start his second year at Hogwarts School of 
Witchcraft ad Wizardry. But from day one, it seems he's going to have 
his hands full. There's a stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart; 
a more determined Draco Malfoy; a spirit named Morning Myrtle who 
haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron 
Weasley's younger sister, Giny. But that's nothing--the real problem 
arises when Hogwart students begin turning into stone! Who could be 
so evil? May it's Hagrid the Gamekeeper? Or maybe even Harry himself?

J.K. Rowling has become as famous for her monsters and wizards as she 
has for the way her first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's 
Stone, was conceived. Scribbling on scraps of paper, Towling wrote 
most of the manuscript sitting in a cafe while her infant daughter 
napped beside her!

The magic is back!

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
Remember that magical feeling you got the first time you read Roald 
Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I never expected to feel 
that way about a book again--until I 'met' 11-year-old orphan, Harry 
Potter. Originally, I brought the book home for my finicky 10-year-
old nephew, David. But it wasn't long before I found myself sneaking 
off to read it myself. J.K. Rowling swept me away to a mystical world 
of powerful wizards, deadly plants, potent potions, gentle giants and 
beautiful unicorns.

Already a huge hit overseas, Harry is poised to take America by 
storm. Here's your chance to say that you and your family read Harry 
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before it became a classic. Harry's 
is an adventure that is not to be missed!