Book Club Pick: July 2018
Book Details:
Title: Harry Book and the Philosopher’s Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling
Series: Book 1 – Harry Potter series
Country: Great Britain
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
First Published: 1997
Pages: 223
Publisher Description:
Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy – until he is rescued by an owl, taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!
Review:
Last month, June 26th, was the 21st anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – the first book in the seven book series.
I don’t remember the first time reading the Philosopher’s Stone. I remember reading Chamber of Secrets (book 2) in one day while on a school French trip to Nouméa, New Caledonia. I haven’t picked up the Philosopher’s Stone since I first read it, so it was interesting to go back and read it again.
As an adult I enjoyed all the foreshadowing and tiny details that come to fruition in some way later in the series.
Harry Potter books on a bookshelf in my parent’s house
Slightly worn copy from my childhood
Harry Potter is a orphaned boy who lives with the Dursleys, his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley. He is not treated well by the Dursleys. He lives in a cupboard under the stairs despite there being a second bedroom upstairs, wears Dudley’s old clothes and is bullied mercilessly by Dudley.
On his eleventh birthday Harry learns that the Dursleys have been hiding the truth about his past. He is of wizard heritage. His parents, who were wizards, did not die in a car crash like he was told but were killed by an evil and powerful wizard, Lord Voldemort.
Harry survived Voldemort’s murderous attack and was left with a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Following the attack Voldemort’s powers were weakened and he went into hiding making Harry, ‘the boy who lived’, a celebrity in the wizarding world.
At age eleven Harry is accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It is at Hogwarts that students learn Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Herbology and broomstick flying lessons. Harry is a natural on a broomstick and is invited to join his house’s Quidditch team.
There is a mysterious object that is being hidden on the third floor at Hogwarts that students’ are forbidden from entering. Harry believes that someone is trying to steal this object and it involves Lord Voldemort. So with the help of his new friends, fellow first years, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he sets out the solve the mystery of the philosopher’s stone.
Links:
Source: I own a copy of this book.
