HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 223 Published in: June 1997 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Voldemort, Hagrid, Snape and Dumbledore.

Synopsis: Harry Potter lives with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and horrible, overly-spoilt cousin Dudley (The Dursleys) in number 4, Privet Drive. However, Harry is a person that can do many extraordinary things, but he has no idea he can do this. The Dursleys are jealous of his supernatural abilities so they decide to treat Harry as a slave, and give him the smallest room possible: in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry is 11 years old and wears old, broken glasses as Mr and Mrs Dursley don’t pay much attention to their nephew’s clothes and only give Harry the scruffy old clothes of his cousin. Petunia and Vernon convince Harry that his parents died in a car crash, but is that true? One ordinary day, as Dudley had found another way to torment Harry, a mysterious letter slipped through their mailbox. Harry went to fetch the letter from the doormat, and to his astonishment, it was addressed to him! As he began to tear the letter open, Dudley spots him and rushed to tell Uncle Vernon. Vernon snatches the letter from Harry, glares at him and then shrieks with terror. He makes Dudley and Harry wait outside the living room door while he had a word with Aunt Petunia. Later that week, more letters addressed to Harry make their way through the Dursley’s post box, and Uncle Vernon is so angry, that he sleeps under the mailbox so that no more letters could come! The letters had still found a way to get to Harry, so the whole family moves to a little home under the lake and Uncle Vernon thinks that no letters could find their way to Harry. Instead, a huge giant comes, named Hagrid. He explains to Harry that he is a wizard and he has been invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He also explains to Harry that his parents had not died in a car accident, but had been murdered by the dark lord, Lord Voldemort. Harry looked baffled. This was all new information to him! On the first day of his new school, Harry was informed by Hagrid that he must go to platform 9 ¾, but there was no such platform! He soon meets a boy named Ron Weasley, and they both find the secret entrance to the platform. They were on their way to brand-new lives as wizards! They meet another friend named Hermione Granger and they were all placed in Gryffindor house by the sorting hat (the other houses are Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff). As the year went ahead, Harry notices that the potion master, Snape, does not like him. He keeps taking points off Gryffindor and keeps scolding him. Hagrid assures Harry that Snape has no reason to dislike him, but Harry isn’t so sure about that… Later that day, Draco Malfoy (the bully in Slytherin House) challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel at midnight. Malfoy doesn’t show up at the appointed place, and Harry almost gets in trouble. While trying to hide, he accidentally discovers a fierce three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor in the forbidden third-floor corridor. On Christmas, Harry receives an invisibility cloak, and he decides to explore the whole school at night. Hermione, Ron and Harry slowly unravel the secret about the three-headed dog. It was guarding a very special stone called the Philosopher’s stone, and that it gives eternal life and unlimited wealth to its owner. Harry and his friends have a strong feeling that Snape had tried to take the stone… One night, Harry and his two friends were caught walking around the school, so they had to face detention the next day and that involved going to the woods with Hagrid to find out who had been killing the unicorns recently. Whilst doing this, Harry spots a hooded figure drinking unicorn blood. This person tries to attack Harry, but he is saved. Hagrid warns him that this person was really Voldemort and he had been trying to take the Philosopher’s stone! Harry must get the stone before Voldemort. Getting to the stone involved facing many challenges: including facing Voldemort for the first time… Will Harry be able to get the stone on time? Open up this magical tale by J.K Rowling to unravel the truth!

Why I like this book:  This book is impossible to put down! I love this book and it is great to read if you love magic and fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movies and the books are awesome too! This book is action-packed and it is exciting and funny to read. Anyone would enjoy reading this book and I think you should give it a go.  The next book in this series is called: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Make sure to look out for my next book review as this will be the next one!