Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you all today? Yesterday I finished “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and I’m really happy to say that I absolutely LOVED it! When I was a child I read books 2, 3 and part of 4 of the “Harry Potter” series and I liked them up until three quarters of the way through “Goblet of Fire” and then I got bored. I can actually remember sitting in my year 6 classroom thinking “Why am I reading this?” Although I can’t remember the part I stopped at. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I believe I’ll love the series now, as an adult MUCH more than I did as a child.
I’m going to try to read a Potter book every month in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Sept, Oct and Nov. The Order of the Phoenix might take me two months as it’s the longest book so that’s why there are eight months written. If I have to go into Dec, that’s okay too. This way 2020 will be the “Year Of Potter” for me!
5 Stars!!!!!!!
I read “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” for LOTS of various readathons/reading challenges. They were:
* The Cardcaptor-a-thon - The Shield - Reread a favourite book or read a book that you think will be a new favourite - “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” is a new favourite book! - https://www.facebook.com/cardcaptorathon/?modal=admin_todo_tour (Link to the facebook group for Cardcaptor-a-thon. There’s no time limit. Just do it when you want or whenever a book you’re reading fits a prompt (#17)
* Reading Rivalry - A Book About Friendship - One of the main plot points in the friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione.
* Winter Magical Readathon - From mundane to magical - Read an urban fantasy (usually a fantasy world that exist in secret from the muggle world). - Harry Potter was PERFECT for this challenge as the readathon is centred around Harry Potter too!
* Popsugar 2020 Reading Challenge - A Bildungsroman - I didn’t know what this was so I had to look it up on Google. Under the definition, Google actually says “Is Harry Potter a Bildungsroman?” and the answer was yes because “Hagrid tries to explain to Harry who he is, what he is, and what “our world” is...Rowling's magical Bildungsroman invites us to join in Harry's novel of formation or education,” so I’m taking that in case I don’t read anything else that counts as a Bildungsroman!
* Little Inklings Design 2020 Reading Challenge - A Debut Novel - Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone was JK Rowling’s first published work.
* Rainbow Reading Challenge (Little Inklings Design challenge) - Read a book with a cover with every colour of the rainbow - the edition I read of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the Bloomsbury hardcover, which is mainly purple.
* On The Cover Challenge (Little Inklings Design challenge) - There are several things to find on the cover of books - my edition of “Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone” has stars on the cover, so I’m counting it for Moon or Stars.
I’d say that “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was middle grade. That’s how I’ve seen it listed on Goodreads, and in bookshops it’s always with the younger children’s books. It can be read by ANYONE though. NO ONE should tell you what you can/can’t read. If YOU think it’s appropriate and it’s interesting to YOU then that’s all that matters.
Spoilers Below
“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.”
This is the first couple of sentances of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” In it we learn that the Dursley’s are rather pompous people who like to think of themselves as aristocrats when they’re anything but. For example Harry’s uncle, Vernon Weasley thinks he’s better than Harry’s parents because he thinks they’re weirdos, as seen in “as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world’s better off without them in my opinion.” We see from this that Vernon is a judgemental old fool. He goes on to say about how he expected that them getting mixed up with “wizarding types” would always lead to a “sticky end” for Harry’s parents. Aunt Petunia, Vernon’s wife is the same. It’s Aunt Petunia’s sister that’s related to Harry. Her sister, Lily was his mother. If those two are like that then we all can work out how their son is, I think, even if you somehow haven’t already read the books/watched the movies. He’s just as bad, if not worse! Of course he gets away with being very mean to Harry in the first part of the book.
Up until chapter 4 - The Keeper Of The Keys, we only see Harry and the Dursley’s. In the movie this moves a little quicker. It’s in this chapter we meet lovable Hagrid.
“Ah, shut up Dursley, yeh great prune,” said the giant. He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon’s hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.”
Hagrid is basically telling Harry to not believe a word that Vernon, or Dursley, as Hagrid calls him, says. Harry doesn’t know Hagrid’s name yet so that’s why he’s referred to as “the giant,” because of his size. I loved Hagrid, although it was hard to read almost all of his parts because the spellings were off, as Hagrid doesn’t speak very good English. He’s not the most proper speaking of characters, that’s for sure. After Hagrid comes into the plot, though one of my favourite parts of the book and film appear, Diagon Alley. I love this chapter because it’s where Harry is really introduced to all things wizarding and magic. IF I ever go to “Harry Potter World” in Florida, or the English equivalent I can’t wait to go to this part of the park! Here, Harry buys all of his Hogwarts supplies. The part I remembered most from the film was when Harry goes to Olivanders Wand Shop. I can remember Olivander, the late, great John Hurt in the movie saying, “The wand chooses the wizard, remember ... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter,” as well as reading it in the book. I think it reflects that what we choose in life is important but that not all choices are ours to make, which is especially true of Harry, although, he’s of course, fictional.
“Not to worry,” she said. “All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don’t stop and don’t be scared you’ll crash into it, that’s very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you’re nervous. Go on, go now before Ron.”
“Er — OK,” said Harry.”
This is Mrs Weasley, Ron’s mum helping Harry get on the right platform, nine and three quarters. We don’t meet Ron yet in the book, although he’s mentioned at the end of that quote, but we understand why he’s the way he is when we meet his mum. I think Rupert Grint played him really well in the movies, with just enough humour and seriousness at times too. In fact, all of the actors from the movie captured their characters brilliantly.
Ron comes across as a jovial, free spirit when we do meet him. “Do they? What, they don’t move at all?” Ron sounded amazed. “Weird.”
This is him discussing the cards on the chocolate frogs with Harry. Ron says that Harry can have the one he got on the Hogwarts Express to start his collection. Quite the opposite to Ron, the next character we meet is Hermione Granger.
“The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.”
Here, Hermione is already dressed for Hogwarts and they’re not even half way through their journey there on the train. Hermione is very to the point about everything. I loved Hermione, I think because I was like her as a little girl. She wants everything done right and if anything is out of place or wrong it has to be done again. For example, later when the main three characters are studying for their exams, Hermione is very much the worrier. We see this in, “What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They’re very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don’t know what’s got into me ...” She needs to be in control and if she’s not don’t all the other characters know about it. I really loved seeing her spats at Ron. They were really funny to read. I loved the friendship formed between Harry, Ron and Hermione. It seemed very real.
Other characters aren’t as significant to the overall plot of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” Some of them certainly become more significant as the books go on, I believe but in book one of this great series they’re only introduced. For example Voldermort, our main villain isn’t really focused on too much. Professor Quirrell and Professor Snape are focused on a great amount. They’re teachers at Hogwarts. Quirrell, “Defence Against The Dark Arts” professor and Snape, “Potions” professor. Harry meets Professor Quirrell in Diagon Alley. He thinks he’s just a professor when he first meets him, with Hagrid. However there’s more to him that I don’t want to spoil here. We might learn more in future books too. I can only remember one specific thing from each of the other books I’ve read that I’ll reveal in the coming months when I reread the books as an adult. Professor Snape, also is a character we’re meant to be unsure of throughout “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” The three wizarding amigos, Harry, Ron and Hermione only learn of Snape’s true intentions at the end of book 1, something I’m again not going to spoil here. I’m sure most of the world has either read the books or seen the movies or both but I believe it’s better to still read the original text as there are a few things that aren’t in the movies that were in the book or at least they’re not shown in as much detail in the movies.
For example, the only ghost I can remember from the films is Nearly Headless Nick. There are others such as the Bloody Baron and Peeves in the book, that don’t feature in the films, I don’t think. Harry and Draco, an antagonist have a Wizarding Duel that I can’t remember in the first film, either. I could be wrong but I don’t seem to recall it.
“Think of the points you’ll lost Gryffindor if you’re caught, and you’re bound to be. It’s really very selfish of you.”
“And it’s really none of your business,” said Harry.
“Goodbye,” said Ron.”
This is Hermione, scared that Harry will lose precious House Points for taking Malfoy on in a forbidden Wizard’s Duel. Of course, Harry just wants to prove he’s as game as Malfoy is. Hermione is very worried about Gryffindor losing their chance at winning the House Cup because she’s again, the worrier of the group. Harry and Ron think that beating Malfoy is more important. I’m inclined to agree with them.
Lastly, maybe the most important part of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the philosopher’s Stone. In the book the word stone is capitalised, almost as if the Stone is a character in and of itself. I’m not going to go in depth but this is where Harry, Ron and Hermione learn about it and know they want to know more...
“But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn’t have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.”
Overall then, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was a FANTASTIC book and a fab start to a series that I’m sure I’ll love when I come to read each book in the specific month. It’ll be my first time reading books 5-7, as it was reading this one. I watched the movie first so I knew what happened to go into the second book but I’m VERY glad that I’ve now read the book, in the pretty Bloomsbury hardcover that I bought with some Christmas money!
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