Harry Potter's Percy Weasley Visits Scholastic
During a recent visit to the Scholastic store, Scholastic Student Reporter Lindsay Guastafeste and Chris Rankin stand next to a suit of armor, similiar to the ones used in the Harry Potter movies. (Photo: Rachel Laskow)
Chris Rankin stopped by Scholastic's world headquarters in New York City recently to talk about his role as Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. I was lucky enough to meet him and interview him for Scholastic News Online. Chris Rankin is a very kind and funny person. As we were on our way to a tour of the Scholastic store, I offered to let him walk down the stairs in front of me. He insisted that I go first. He is funny because when we were visiting the Scholastic store, he clinked the suit of armor and said, "Oh, it's metal!" I guess he thought it was going to be made of plastic or cardboard.
One of the questions I asked Chris was: Did you read the Harry Potter books before you applied for the movie? "Yeah. That's the only reason I applied to do it in the first place," he told me. He was a fan of the books to start with.
I asked Chris what he and Percy have in common.
"Not that much actually," he said. "I'm an only child, so I don't have six other brothers and sisters [like Percy does], thank goodness. However, I was a prefect at school and I've got ginger hair, and at the time the film came out I was the age Percy was in the first book." Chris also hopes he is not quite as boring as Percy.
 Scholastic Student Reporter Lindsay Guastafeste interviews Chris Rankin at Scholastic's world headquarters. (Photo: Rachel Laskow) |
The fourth Harry Potter movie begins filming in April. It will be released in 2005. While Chris will be busy with that, he has also just started his own theatre company in England.
I asked Chris if he would like to work on the stage in the United States.
"Yes! Are you offering me a job?" he said. (I told you he was funny.) He would love to work on Broadway, he said. Chris is a big fan of musicals and musical theatre.
So what if Harry Potter was written into a play?
"A play? That would be interesting. But how would you do Quidditch matches on stage?" he said. "It could get messy." He also thought that a Harry Potter musical would be fun.
As far as Harry Potter on Broadway, Chris says he would probably stick to the Percy character, although Tom Riddle is his other favorite.
 Chris Rankin picks up a toy mouse, like the one from the Harry Potter movies. (Photo: Rachel Laskow) |
I also wondered if Chris was interested in writing his own books. He said he was interested in writing when he was younger and used to write little stories. He described them as "really dreadful, very silly things like pirate attacks on islands—very 'boy' things." He also said he wouldn't mind trying again, or "give it a go," as they say in England. "I think I'd write plays more than books," he said. Theatre is what he likes doing best, he explained. So, maybe he'll write the Harry Potter play!
Chris said he met one of the world's richest writers, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, three or four times while filming the movies. He describes her as lovely and very intelligent.
My meeting with Chris Rankin was terrific, and I wish him well in Harry Potter three and Harry Potter four. I know we will see more exciting things from Chris Rankin in the future.
Lindsay Guastafeste, age 10, is a Scholastic Student Reporter.
- Scholastic Store
-
Sunrise Over Fallujah
The Scholastic Store 
Sunrise Over Fallujah
by Walter Dean Myers
Scholastic Summer Challenge Book Pick.
Operation Iraqi Freedom, that's the code name. But the young men and women in the military's Civil Affairs Battalion have a simpler name for it: WAR.In this new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at a contemporary war with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam war of his classic, "Fallen Angels". He creates memorable characters like the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club; and a whole unit of other young men and women and drops them incountry in Iraq, where they are supposed to help secure and stabilize Iraq and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. The young civil affairs soldiers soon find their definition of "winning" ever more elusive and their good intentions being replaced by terms like "survival" and "despair. "
Caught in the crossfire, Myers' richly rendered characters are just beginning to understand the meaning of war in this powerful, realistic novel of our times.
$17.99
Learn more about Walter Dean Myers.
books;hardcover books;hardcovers | Ages 12 and Up
Ages 12 and Up $17.99
- Scholastic Store
-
Cyberia
The Scholastic Store 
Cyberia
by Chris Lynch
$16.99
Scholastic Summer Challenge Book Pick.
The premise: It's the future. Zane lives in a completely wired world, with completely wired parents. Technology has progressed so that every pet has a microchip in it that allows the pet to talk. Zane's happy about that. Until one day a strictly contraband wild animal -- a mole -- comes into his life. He smuggles it into his apartment -- and learns that the pets aren't actually saying what the chip is translating. In fact, they aren't happy that all animals have been domesticated. So they enlist Zane to help them fight back and ensure their freedom.
books;hardcover books;hardcovers | Ages 9-12
Ages 9-12 $16.99
ONLINE ACTIVITY
