This is going to be the greatest book in the series!

[stheller]

I've just finished reading the third excerpt, and I have only one thing to say as a devoted fan of the whole series: If DD can fulfill the promise of this book (as I'm pretty sure she can), WAW is going to make the other books look like Saturday morning cartoons!

[Lamarquise]

Oh boy...totally scary intervention, becoming acting Seniors, dealing with a totally wierd Carmella and secret information even the adult wizards are supposed to know and now RONAN? Brought in by Kit? How many tinderboxes can we add to the situation?

Please, no kissing or such in this one. It's easy to forget how young our heroes are here; they don't act at all their age. But it's sick that a seventeen-year-old would have any interest in a FOURTEEN-year old. Please!

[PK]

Er.

I don't think Nita is planning to kiss Ronan again, if that's what you mean, given that Carmela's obvious interest in it was cause not for distress but for a little teasing. But do bear in mind that the age difference would (obviously) have been proportionately greater than now the time they did kiss.

Now, I realize that a difference of a very few years can make a major difference in maturity during adolescence; on the other hand, so can individual variation. I don't think that feeling attraction to an emotionally and physically mature fourteen-year-old is "sick" at age seventeen. Acting on attraction to a prepubescent would be; going much beyond kissing as a teenager in a society where teenagers are neither preparationally nor legally able to take on the responsibilities associated with the possible consequences strikes me as... well, stupid no matter what one might think of it morally.

I acknowledge possible bias resulting from the fact that my mother was fourteen when she started dating my dad (who was sixteen at the time), and I know they kissed. :-P

Getting back on topic: I think Kit's having invited Ronan makes the situation less of a tinderbox. Not that they appeared to have much trouble working together before, but if anybody were going to be resentful about Ronan's presence, it might have been expected to be Kit, just because of the previous comments about his not being sure what to think about Ronan. (And it would probably be easier to get resentful with the weird effects of the expansion.) Also, now Kit has nobody but himself to blame if Ronan and Carmela.... *runs!*

I'm a little confused, though. "A totally weird Carmela"? Is she really any stranger than usual? Or did you just mean having to deal with her being more directly involved?

[nitafan211]

I agree, this has to be the greatest book, so far. Nita isn't 14, is she. I thought she was about 15 now.
THERE IS NO POSSIABLE WAY FOR RONAN AND CARAMELA!!!! *shivers* That would be just weird!

[semiramis]

re: nita's age: okay, the first book was sometime in the autumn, from what I understand, and the second and fourth were in the summer, so the third would either presumably be in the summer as well, or the fourth would be a year after the third. The sixth book is set in autumn or winter, and the seventh in spring... which means the series, so far, has spanned at least a year, possibly two (though I'm leaning towards one). So Nita is now fifteen or sixteen... unless someone's spotted an error?


...and I thought Ronan was sixteen, for some reason. huh. odd.

[nitafan211]

They never said the exact age of Ronan. Nit, I thought, was at least 15.

[Birdhead]

Well, Ronan was about sixteen- I thought- in Abroad. Nita was probably around fourteen- again, my guess only- in Abroad. Now, either she's still fourteen & basically the same age the whole time, or alternatively she's fifteen (or sixteen, or seventeen... though I think that's maybe a little old) and he's seventeen. I'm pretty sure that there's not much mroe of an age difference than that, though it's imposible to really get a grip of relative ages. Nita was what, 12 or 13 in SYWTBAW? And it's... well, going directly I'd say at least two years later, but three seems... better. Um, can't remember what time of year SYWTBAW is, but DW is that summer. I think. No, pretty sure. Then HW, which I think must be a year after that- it's a summer as well, or at least it's very hot, but also Dairine must be a bit older, surely. Then Abroad, which... *scratches head* Well, that's definitely a summer. So either it's the summer after HW- I think that's likely, but who really knows?- or HW was in an unusually hot spring. Then Dilemma, which is in autumn, IIRC- anyway, Alone is definitely winter, about January. That spring is Holiday, and then we're up to War. So.. *counts* At least two years, maybe three depending where you put HW, plus a bit. *shrugs*

okay, the first book was sometime in the autumn, from what I understand, and the second and fourth were in the summer...

We-el... I'd lean towards two to three, simply because I don't think you can cram DW, HW and Abroad into one summer. DW and HW, okay, but all three? No. besides, I thought it was just the beginning of summer in Abroad, yeah? Plus, in some of the books Nita thinks (and I don't have quotes, sorry...) that it's been "a couple of years" since they started working together...

And... what else. oh, yeah, we have to fit in BoNwM in before Dilemma somewhere, but you can out that where you want. Oh, no, it has to be after HW- probably just after HW.

*sighs* I wish DD would just tell us. *looks about imploringly* go on, you know you want to...

[Peter Murray]

Originally posted by semiramis:
re: nita's age: okay, the first book was sometime in the autumn, from what I understand, and the second and fourth were in the summer...

I started thinking about doing a timeline for the books a while ago. Has anyone already done this? DD, for instance ?

If not, I'll continue slowly doing it, but it'll probably take a while to get anywhere.

[Fox]

PM don't you think it would be hard for Us english DD fans to compile a timeline, I don't know about you but I have not got a clue how there school system is run and thats the only way I could think of compliling a timeline for these books!! But I would like a timeline so I would like to know the answer to PM question
Fox

[Kathy Li]

PM, if it gets too tiring, you can always ditch it and throw it at the concordance e-mail. I have a feeling, though that she's working out definitions of terminology and the like, rather than doing overarching things like a timeline.

[Peter Murray]

Originally posted by Fox:
PM don't you think it would be hard for Us english DD fans to compile a timeline, I don't know about you but I have not got a clue how there school system is run and thats the only way I could think of compliling a timeline for these books!!

Possibly. One thing I did in chat was ask how the US school system works, with their junior high or middle schools, and so on. Apparently it depends where you live!

I didn't even try getting into the question of when school starts and breaks up, but I suppose I could always list dates relative to "Start of spring break" and then ask people here what that means. (Just an example - I haven't got that far yet.)

Kathy: I wondered more if she already had a timeline for the books so that, for instance, there aren't any mistakes like Dairine being 11 in book 1 and 10 in book 4.

Oh, right. Never mind .

[Kathy Li]

Yeah, everything's district-determined, but generally, school starts in the Fall, around September, with a two week break over Xmas/New Years, and a week's Spring break somewhere close to Easter, but not necessarily. School lets out for the summer in May or June, and there's a three month summer vacation.

Kindergarten started for me at age 5 (again, calendar year can mean an age range of 5-6), then the numbered grades start. Junior high/middle school is roughly from grades 6-8, and high school is 9-12 (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior years), but again the years can vary. I myself went through two middle school graduations in a row having moved from LA to San Diego, because in LA, it was a four-year high school, and in San Diego, it was a three-year high school. Grade 12, which is roughly age 17/18 is the end of state-mandated education and you are now free to go off and do whatever you want.

The junior year, is, of course, the crunch year, with SAT testing and college application beginning. The PSAT (preliminary SAT) is taken in the Sophomore year, but doesn't really count for anything. The SAT is in two parts: verbal and math, each with a possible 800 points, making a perfect score 1600. Another form of testing are the APs: Advanced Placement. These are entirely optional, and good scores can earn units of college classes. They're scored from 1-5, with 3 being a pass. APs are subject-specific. I guess the APs might be considered a rough analog to A-Levels, except that college entrance relies on the SAT score, and the SAT is kind of like the O-Level, only you don't get to pass out of more schooling and completing your senior year doesn't rely on passing it.

Not really analogs at all, really, when you stop to think about it.

Colleges will go either on a quarterly system (one per season, with the non-summer quarters being the normal school year), or a semester system. Undergraduate studies are usually four years, depending on the degree you're studying for. (usually a Bachelor's degree, either a BA for ARts, BS for Science, etc.) Graduate studies usually take about two years if you're attending full-time and not working, and you're usually getting a master's degree (again, MA, MS, MBA, etc.) Doctorates, well, y'know. Whatever goes.

[Peter Murray]

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About US Schools*

(* But Never Dared To Ask)

Ah, so Wizard's Holiday is possibly, but not necessarily, set around Easter. Got you.

the SAT is kind of like the O-Level, only you don't get to pass out of more schooling and completing your senior year doesn't rely on passing it.

I've never quite understood the idea of graduating without passing. I think you know that people here don't have anything called graduation until university. (Or if they're graphic artists, but that's irrelevant.)
[Censors out Chico Marx joke.]

I won't worry too much about college for now; do you think the YW books will continue until Nita gets to college? Do you think she will live that long?

Oh, and I copied your explanations into my timeline.html file. All I need now is to work out more of the timeline, to make it worth uploading to my webspace.

[Kathy Li]

Well, you have to have passing grades to graduate. But yeah, no specific exit-exam.

And I dunno about Nita reaching college age. Maybe, if DD feels like going there. I wouldn't rule it out. But I agree that it seems less likely than DD picking up with a different adult wizard character (oh, say, that reporter wizard she told me about yonks ago) for a different series, ala the cat wizard books.

[Melissa]

Gosh anyone want to send me money for book 7?? I haven't read it lack of money..But if I don't read that then I can't read this..And most of all I have book 6 but havn't finished 5 I droped it after Nita's mom died Well So I should finish 5 then 6 but still need the money for 7 then 8...*puts hands out* Money PLEASE!?!?!?!