After hearing from my friends on Harry Potter I decided to go and buy the book and be a book worm instead of an internet worm. I had heard so much about Harry Potter and as I didn’t get anything for Mothers day, I treated myself to two books. This review is about ’’Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’’ but I will probably be doing one about ’’ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’’. There are 4 in the series of Harry Potter, and I think I will end up reading them all!
Harry Potter in present time lives with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and their spoilt son, Dudley. The Dursleys don’t like Harry, don’t even want him there so why is Harry there? Come closer and I’ll whisper a secret..... Harry is a wizard... yes he is.. but he doesn’t know it yet. Aunt and Uncle Dursley know that Petunia’s sister was a witch and a very good one too. Petunia hated what her sister became and vowed that she and her family would never have any contact with her. You see the Dursleys hated anything abnormal, anything remotely magical, there are just narrow minded people. So why have they got Harry?
Well, the story of Harry Potter begins like this. When he was just a babe, his Mum and Dad were killed. Not by a car accident, or plane.. but by something truly evil. A high Wizard called Voldermort or ’’He-who-must-not-be-named’’ as most Wizard folk call him, wanted Harry dead. Harry was a threat to him, as Harry was going to be a very great person one day. Not because of his power as a Wizard, but what is in his heart. Voldermort had become greedy and dark with his power and magic. He tried to rule the Wizards but only one baby got in the way. After he killed Harry’s Mum and Dad who were protecting Harry, he tried to kill Harry to. But, for some miracle, Voldermort couldn’t to it and vanished without a trace. Harry was unharmed, but had a scar on his head in a strange shape. Its this scar that would carry him into fame. Harry had no other family apart from the Dursleys, and soon after Voldermort vanished, Harry was taken to the Dursleys doorstep and left by a great Wizard, Dumbledore. The great Wizards, didn’t want to leave Harry with a Muggle family. Muggles are the folk who don’t have any magical powers in their blood. But they all agreed that it was for the best. But was it? Harry was one when the Dursleys found him on their doorstep, and from that time onwards, Harry was treated as if he didn’t exist. He was shut up from the world in a cupboard under the stairs, and only let out to go to school. School wasn’t that great for Harry either. Dudley and his friends always picked on Harry at school. Harry had to wear Dudley’s old clothes, which were way too big. Dudley was a very big child indeed, whereas Harry was skinny.
One day, just after his 11th birthday, he got a surprise. Harry never received post... never, until this day. The letter was addressed to Harry Potter, Cupboard under the stairs. How did anyone know that thought Harry, and started to open the letter. Vernon, his uncle knew what it was and snatched it of off Harry. Over a period of time after this, Harry received thousands of letters, and he wasn’t allowed to read them. Finally, after being dragged to a boat and set to sea, they had a rather peculiar visitor. This visitor was a giant man called Rubeus Hagrid, and had been sending all those letters to Harry. Hagrid, as he was known by was a gentle giant. Large, but with a heart of gold.
He was here to tell Harry about this invitation to a special school. Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to be exact. Of course Harry was in shock as he didn’t know a thing. His aunt and Uncle had kept it from him for all these years. Harry was overwhelmed with questions which Hagrid did his best to answer. Hagrid told Harry that they had to go to London to get his books, wand and cloak for his schooling. Uncle Vernon gave a weak objection, but after Hagrid raised his voice slightly, he thought better of than to interfere. This is where Harry Potter’s adventure begins, and it doesn’t end till the last page in the book either.
Harry makes some wonderful friends like Ron, a red haired young lad who he meets on the train to Hogwarts, as well as his older brothers. He also makes a few enemies on the way to like Malfoy, a spoilt wizard who thinks that he is better than everyone else. Harry also encounters a rather annoying, but helpful young witch called Hermione, who studies and knows a lot about witchcraft. A very sinister Wizard teacher called Snape has it in for Harry from the moment he enters Hogwarts but is Snape friend or foe? What is the Philosophers stone? What does Harry find in Hogwarts which turns this story into a magical mystery like Enid Bytons ’’Famous five’’ While Harry is trying to solve a mystery, he gets very involved in Quidditch. Quidditch is a sport played by Witches and Wizards. Its a little like Basket ball but played in the air on broomsticks. Object of the Game: To score as many points as possible by getting the Quaffle through one of the opposing goals while flying on a broomstick. Players try to avoid the pummeling Bludgers to prevent injury and, if they are thrown from their broomstick completely, they are removed from the game. Game ends when the Golden Snitch is caught by a Seeker. Sounds complicated?? Maybe..but this gives Harry something to focus on other then his studies in Wizardary, and the growing mystery of the Philosophers stone.
All will be revealed in this magical tale of adventure that will certainly keep you rooted to the spot until you finished the book. It took me 3 evenings to read this book (223 pages) and it was a real struggle to put it down. J. K Rowling has really done herself proud in writing this book. Its written for children over the age of 8 years of age, but even my 3 year old daughter enjoyed me reading it to her, with no nightmares as yet. The detail which has gone to the characters, situations which happen in the book, are very detailed, but leave you to imagine what Harry is going through. At the beginning when Vernon drives to work and sees lots of people dresses in weird cloaks and hats, I visualised my home town. I could picture this man driving, seeing shops, people I knew and even name of the streets! There are some really good twists in the book and the villian isn’t who you think it would be...but you are going to have to find that out for yourself.
I just want to make a point that apparently in some states in America Harry Potter has been banned, mainly because it is felt that a book which has a adolecent practising witchcraft is both immoral, and shouldn’t be read to or by a child. I really can’t get my head around this... why is it so morally wrong. I think that because of the bad image witchcraft has got over the years, but there is no harm reading a story about it. After all thats all it is..a story. That is the purpose of a story, to do things that are wonderous and have fun. Harry doesnt use the magic for bad so what the problem. If these people think that Harry Potter is unsuitable for children, perhaps they should look more closely at ’’Alice In Wonderland’’ by Lewis Carroll . There is plenty of magic within that book with potions to make Alice smaller and cakes that make her bigger. Not to mention the violent temper the Queen of Hearts shouting, ’’OFF WITH THEIR HEADS’’ everytime someone displeases her! I liked reading this book a lot.