Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
   J.K. Rowling
  1998 Scholastic Press, New York, USA
   ISBN: 0590353403


Harry Potter is a skinny orphan living with his disapproving uncle and aunt and spoiled cousin. He has no friends and no bedroom. Just before his eleventh birthday he begins to get a lot of mail and; then the giant Hagrid finds him and tells him he's ready for Hogwarts, the best boarding school for wizards.

When the story begins, Harry Potter is a lonely boy with a lot to wish for. He is unloved and unappreciated by the family he lives with: his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and his spoiled, bullying cousin Dudley. Harry has been living with them for as long as he can remember because his mother and father, James and Lily Potter, died when he was only one year old. The only thing that seems special about Harry is a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

Harry does not expect any more from life than being ignored, picked-on and having a battered and tiny closet at the foot of the stairs for a bedroom. Not long before his eleventh birthday he starts receiving mysterious letters which Uncle Vernon snatches away. Harry wonders who could be trying to contact him since, thanks to Dudley, he has no friends. Uncle Vernon, determined to escape from whoever is sending the letters, drags his family and nephew to a small cabin at the foot of a desolate cliff where Uncle Vernon thinks they are safe. Harry hopes more letters will come.

The minute Harry turns eleven, a fierce-looking gigantic man called Hagrid bursts into the cabin and tells Harry the most surprising news of his life. Harry's parents were wizards and did not die in a car accident as Harry had been told. They were murdered by an evil dark wizard: Lord Voldemort, a name that must not be spoken out loud. In fact, Harry is a wizard himself, and has the honor of being the only wizard ever to survive an attack from this evil being and his lightning-bolt scar marks him so. Hagrid also explains that Harry is now ready for Hogwarts, the best boarding school for wizards.

On the journey there via a magical train Harry makes his first ever friends, Ron and Hermoine. A new world opens for Harry; full of magic, adventure, danger and Quidditch, a wild sport played on airborn broomsticks.

But Harry soon finds that someone is after the Sorcerer's Stone, kept in a secret chamber deep in the maze of passages at Hogwarts and guarded by terrifying creatures. This Stone can make gold, and if boiled into a potion, an elixir that grants immortal life. Determined to stop the Stone's theft, Harry, Ron and Hermoine try to get there first to protect it, because whoever wants the Sorcerer's Stone must be a servant of the unmentionable Lord Voldemort!

I loved this book and so do many fans all over the world. You're seriously missing out if you don't read this book! It's exciting, funny, scary and full of adventure. I'm so glad J. K. Rowling as written more.

(10/29/00)

More from J.K. Rowling:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Karrie G.
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Student Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
Karrie G. lives in The Netherlands. She is 15 years old, attends a Dutch Language School & is originally from Wisconsin, USA

Her favorite colors are: light blue, sea green, lavender & black!
Favorite sports are: swimming & soccer.
Favorite school subjects are: languages & creative writing class.
Favorite things to do are: playing the piano, reading, writing short stories & poetry, drawing & going to the movie theater.
The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Most people call the Netherlands Holland & it is about the size of Connecticut, but with a lot more people, sixteen million. You may think of tulips, chocolate, windmills & wooden shoes when you think of Holland. Although there are still lots of tulips & chocolate, & there are still some windmills, you wouldn't see many people wearing clogs today.