Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 

by J. K. Rowling

Summary:

YOU-KNOW-WHO? NO, Harry doesn’t know, actually. After his parents died in a car accident, Harry’s lived with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and his cousin Dudley Dursely. They all hate him, and when Harry receives a mysterious letter [which his uncle immediately rips into pieces] they’re positively terrified-and Harry has no idea why. He soon finds out from a half-giant who comes to deliver the letter [because they've been continuously destroyed by Uncle Vernon]-it’s because Harry Potter is a wizard.

Hagrid [Reubius Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where Harry has been invited to attend] explains the Potter’s mysterious deaths. Unlike what the Dursely’s have been saying, they didn’t die from a car crash at all. Hagrid tells Harry of a wizard who was obsessed with the Dark Arts and started to gather followers. His name was Voldemort, but he was [and continues to be] referred to as “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” because people are still scared. Hagrid then goes on to tell Harry about his parent’s death, a great mystery in the wizarding world:

“You-Know-Who killed ‘em. An’ then-an’ this is the real myst’ry of the thing- he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin’ by then. But he couldn’t do it. Never wonder how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That’s what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh-took care of yer mum an’ dad an’ yer house, even- but it didn’t work on you, an’ that’s why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill ‘em, no one except you, an’ he’d killed some o’ the best witches an’ wizards of the age -the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts- an’ you was only a baby an’ you lived.”

From there, Harry is introduced to a hidden world -his world- that he never knew existed, full of witches, wizards, goblins, vampires, hags, unicorns, dragons, ghosts, and even more than his wildest dreams could have invented. Upon arriving at Hogwarts, he, along with the other first year students, is sorted into one of the school houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Each is named after one of the founders of the school, and Harry is chosen to be in Gryffindor. Along the way he meets the Weasley family and Ron Weasley who soon becomes his best friend, and Hermione Granger whose [after the rescue her from a twelve foot mountain troll they accidentally locked in the bathroom with her] friendship and homework help is tremendously helpful, as is her wide knowledge of spells. In such a large school, one can only imagine the kinds of secrets the walls could hold. Harry and his friends uncover interesting and dangerous information, not to be viewed by students. Of course after uncovering this, life isn’t all fun and games [like Quidditch, the ever-popular wizarding sport], and Lord Voldemort finds Harry-or rather, Harry with help from his friends, finds him.

Review:

As I’ve just finished volunteering for a WRock for Darfur [Wizard Rock, a new type of music based on Harry Potter] I have some new perspectives on this. But before I get into it, let me voice one of my most interesting and crazy friend CeCe’s opinion: she HATES it. Cese is all for Greek mythology, and complains that J. K. Rowling steals ideas [like Harry's invisibility cloak, the three-headed dog in the castle, Argus Filtch's name, etc. -not mentioned in summary- ] from said myths. I totally agree that she got ideas there, but I still like the books.

Now obviously anyone at a Harry Potter music based fundraiser must like the books [one woman even named her dog Griff, short for Griffindor one of the houses in the book, whom she calls "Griffindog." He was almost named Quaffle, too.] And, of course, they love the books. I met Andrew Slack, the HP Alliance founder [www.thehpalliance.org] who used the ideas of acceptance and love to create this website and following to draw parallels with the world today and how the message of peace and love found in this series can be applied to life now and fixing problems with the world. This in itself is amazing, and I totally promote this, and it just goes to show you that books can change the world.

Okay, now for me. I like this book, but not overly so. It’s interesting in its own way, but I’m with CeCe, Rowling really uses a lot of ideas from Greek Myths [and possibly from the film "The Worst Witch"]. I’d give this an 8/10 because though interesting and with an original storyline, it does use a lot of ideas from various places, which I think is okay in moderation, but not in copious amounts. Recommended for ages 10+

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