Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Author(s) Name(s): J. K. Rowling
Published in: June, 1997
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- popular, best-selling fiction,
- children’s fantasy,
- rich world-building,
- magic, witchcraft, and wizardry,
- funny, enjoyable, and exciting magic spells and actions,
- plot twists and mysteries.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- loss of a parent,
- bullying in schools, or
- children’s horror.
Recommended for Children? Yes.
Among those who speak English, who hasn’t heard of the name “Harry Potter”? Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is a fantasy novel that is enjoyed by children and adults alike. I won’t be surprised if someone said that for most fantasy readers and fantasy authors of today, their fantasy journey began with the Harry Potter series. Rowling took children’s fantasy books to new heights with this series, as she won the hearts of young kids and adults across the world. Impressing people of all ages from around the world with a whole new magical world is no easy task. It is kind of upsetting sometimes to hear that there are people of different age groups who chose to watch the movies but not read these novels. That is not to undermine the quality of the Harry Potter movies in any way, but the hope is that this review will encourage readers to pick this book and give it a read – after which they will most likely get hooked! 🙂
Harry Potter lives with his uncle, aunt, and thier son Dudley, the Dursleys. He grew up with them from his childhood days, and has no memory of his parents. They told him that his parents had died in a car crash. The poor little boy has a difficult life with his uncle and aunt treating their mean son like he is the best thing that could have happened to them and treating Harry like he is nothing but a pain for them. Dudley often bullies Harry, and Harry sincerely misses his parents, but he is grateful to his uncle and aunt, despite how they raise him. On his eleventh birthday, though he gets a surprise, something completely out of the ordinary: a letter from a famous school of magic called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is not a “muggle”, people who don’t do magic, but a wizard! His uncle and aunt try desperately to stop him, but when they are confronted by a powerful magician who visits their home and demands that this business be taken seriously, they give in. Harry is pleasantly surprised and excited much, but he has this question: if his uncle and aunt won’t pay for his education at Hogwarts, how will he be able to afford that? He is further surprised to learn that his mother and father were some of the best magicians of their time and they have left a lot of their hard-earned magic-world money for him. Thus begins Harry Potter’s journey at Hogwarts!
Harry is shy and not very confident, but as soon as he steps into the magic world, he realizes that almost everyone there has heard of him, and many consider it a great pleasure to meet him and talk to him. He gets even more excited when he gets his wizard’s broom and magical wand among other accessories that all students must have. While all this is new to him, he is stunned by the magical world, still unable to believe that he is indeed a wizard. He is not a boring little guy but a popular wizard with great powers.
There are four houses for students to be a part of: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Harry makes friends with a bunch of people, his fellow students Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and many adults, like the Weasley’s family and Rubeus Hagrid. Ron is as shy as Harry is and Hermione is a bright and brilliant young girl. Thankfully, this trio end up as Griffindors, the house his parents also belonged to. But life is not easy for any child, muggle or wizard or witch, right? Harry also finds out that there are a few people who dislike or even hate him for no reason. He comes face to face with Draco Malfoy, who is a fellow student of the same year as Harry and his friends are, a spolied child from a rich family. Malfoy’s friends and Malfoy bully Harry and this boy is way meaner than Dudley would be.
There are also many different teachers at Hogwarts, assigned to teach different subjects, all magical subjects, nothing what we ordinary “muggles” learn. Professor Minerva McGonagall teaches Transfiguration, Professor Severus Snape teaches Potions, Professor Quirinus Quirrell teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Pomona Sprout teaches Herbology, Professor Filius Flitwick teaches Charms, and so on, and the Headmaster of Hogwarts is Professor Albus Dumbledore, an extremely powerful wizard, who is also feared by many. Professor McGonagall is too strict, Dumbledore is kind, and for reasons Harry can’t figure out, Snape hates him.
Soon, the excitement brings more adventures and plot twists. Harry is no ordinary wizard but he is supposedly one of the best. He excels at Quidditch, a popular sport common among wizards and witches, as though he is a natural. The trio also start snooping around slowly and find out mysterious things. There are questions Harry wants answers for, and he learns that there is an evil but very powerful wizard who might come back again: a wizard so powerful that most people, even most professors wouldn’t even dare say his name. Several challenges arise, and Harry should fight.
Even if the first few chapters might feel a bit boring or slow, the book quickly picks up pace. At every step, the book makes the reader wonder what happens next. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is a page-turner, a must-read for anyone interested in reading fiction or writing fiction. The world-building is brilliant, as the author gives convincing descriptions of the many aspects of life in the magical world. Almost every kid who read this desperately wanted to be a magician, waiting for an invitation from Hogwarts. Any reader I’ve known would happily give this a 5-star rating. Rowling wraps many different themes like courage, finding oneself, creativity, power, mystery, coming to terms with reality, curiousity, friendship, fear, and fun in one book. Most of this novel is all about fun and enjoyment of kids in a magic school, but there are some parts of it that can be dark, like Harry badly missing his parents or when the story gets dark as the powerful, evil wizard might come back soon, but on the whole, it is a very light-read, a fast-paced book. Children can finish reading this book in a few days, and might immediately want you to buy the next one. This is also one of those books that you can read several times and still not get bored.
