Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)

Reader reviewed by HoopsGirl27

Reader reviewed by Nicki

Harry Potter lives with his neglectful Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia Dursley and their bully son, Dudley. His parents died in a car accident when he was just one year old, leaving him with a lightening bolt scar on his forhead. Odd things always seem to happen around Harry, like when his Aunt Petunia got so sick of his untidy hair, she decided to cut it herself, leaving him practically bald, but the next morning it was back to how it had been before the cut! One day while Harry collected the mail for his Uncle Vernon, he came across a letter for himself. His Uncle snatched it away before he had a chance to read it. The sender didn't give up, more and more of the letters he was forbidden to read poured into his Aumt and Uncles house over a few days, sending the Dursley's into hiding. Perched ontop of a boulder out in the sea, in a little hut, with the winding crashing the rain against a window, Harry counted down the seconds until his eleventh birthday. There was a loud rapping on the huts door, then crash, the door flew open and in came the largest man Harry had ever seen. Hagrid was the gamekeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sent to tell Harry that he was a wizard and it was time for him to begin his education...

Reader reviewed by Shelby

I really like this book because it's about a boy named Harry who is treated badly by his Aunt and Uncle. But eventually things get better when he finds out that he's a wizard. He meets a gentle giant named Hagrid who takes him to Hogwart's which is a wizard people for people like Harry. He makes two friends and there names are Ron and Heromine. Everything isn't perfect at Hogwarts theres another boy who goes to Hogwarts thats a jerk and his name is Malfoy. There's nothing I didn't like about this book, too me it's pretty much perfect. Theres nothing I wouldn't change in this book. That's why I gave it a 5. If you haven't read this book... I would go to your local library as soon as possible.

Reader reviewed by Shea Burnett

Great! This was one of my all around favorite books ever, it had tons of suprises and I couldn't put it down long enough to fall asleep I stayed up all night for two nights finishing it and still wanted more! This book is great and is about an orphaned boy staying with his aunt and uncle who torment him and treat him like a rat! Then one day a letter comes for him in the mail and before he can read it his cousin Dudley has it and gave it to his uncle who will not alow him to read it soon when the letters start pilling up moves to an island and when a huge man comes busting throw a door saying that he is a wizard he soon goes to the wichcraft and wizardry school Hogwarts he runs into the very person who killed his parents Voldemort! Who by the way wants him DEAD! Find  out who will win the battle and who will die, or if anyone will die at all in this amazing, heart pounding book!

Reader reviewed by emmynoodle

Harry potter and the Sorcerers Stone is a very well written fantasy novel. Eleven year old Harry is living with the only living family he has: his mean and cruel aunt and uncle. Harry makes his way to his real home Hogwarts and encounters many unexpected events happen in is first year that most people don't have happen in their lives. This book is the first in J.K Rowlings' seven book series of magic and mischief. It is a must read series!

Reader reviewed by Nicki

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is the first installment of J.K. Rowlings' wonderful series. Harry was raised by his aunt and uncle, the Durselys,  since he was one year old, believing his parents had died in a car accident. The Durselys hated anything unusual, which is why Harry assumed they always hated him, unusual things always seemed to happen around him. One summer when Harry was eleven years old, odd letters began appearing for Harry. His aunt and uncle thwarted him any time he tried to get a glimpse at one. Eventually the whole house was bursting with them, Harry's uncle gathered him and his family up and attmepted to flee from the letters. They found themselves perched on top of a small island, in a shabby hut in the middle of the ocean, a giant breaking down the door and informing Harry that he was a wizard, and so was his parents. That they had not died in a car accident but cursed at the hand of a dark wizard named Voldemort and that he, Harry, was the only one to ever survive the curse and brought the down-fall of the magical worlds most wanted dark lord. He was off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he was famous, and saves the Sorcerers stone from Voldemort who had all but disappared.

Reader reviewed by Laina

The first book in the Harry Potter series is a classic. It introduces us to Harry, the Dursleys, his friends and the world that Hogwarts is in, as well as has the first encounter with Voldermort (boo! hiss! boo!).

I received this as a gift when I was 11, and I've loved it ever since. It's one of my favourite books ever and my own copy is slightly worse for wear from many, many reads and from moving across the country with me, but it's still much loved. I'd recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it, but I really don't think that is many people!!

Reader reviewed by tiff

The novel begins with the wizarding world's celebration of the downfall of Lord Voldemort, an evil, powerful and cruel dark wizard. After he killed Lily and James Potter, Voldemort attempted to murder their one-year-old son, Harry. The magical curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort's body, leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead. Harry is placed in the care of his Muggle (non-wizard) relatives, the Dursley family.

The book skips the next ten years and resumes shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday. The Dursleys have kept Harry's heritage from him. However, the truth comes in the form of Rubeus Hagrid who tells Harry that he is a wizard and has been accepted at Hogwarts in the autumn. One month later, Harry takes the train to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at King's Cross Station. On the train, Harry sits with Ron Weasley. They are visited briefly by Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger who are in search of Neville's missing toad, Trevor. Later on in the journey, Draco Malfoy comes into Harry and Ron's compartment with his friends Crabbe and Goyle and introduces himself to Harry. After Ron laughs at Draco's name, Draco offers Harry friendship, but Harry declines.

Upon arrival, the Sorting Hat places Harry and Ron in Gryffindor House, one of the four houses at Hogwarts. After a broom-mounted game to save Neville's Remembrall, Harry joins Gryffindor's Quidditch team as their youngest Seeker player in over a century.

Shortly after they start school, they discover that someone had broken into a previously emptied vault at the Wizarding bank, Gringotts. The mystery deepens when they discover a monstrous three-headed dog, Fluffy, that guards a trapdoor in the forbidden third floor passageway. On Halloween, a troll enters the castle and traps Hermione in one of the girls' lavatories. Harry and Ron rescue her, but are caught by Professor McGonagall. Hermione defends the boys and takes the blame, which results in the three becoming best friends.

Harry's broom becomes jinxed during his first Quidditch match, nearly knocking him off. Hermione believes that Professor Snape has cursed the broom and distracts him by setting his robes on fire, allowing Harry to catch the Snitch to win the game for Gryffindor.

At Christmas, Harry receives his father's Invisibility Cloak from an unknown source. He also discovers the Mirror of Erised in an unused classroom, a strange mirror which shows not just Harry, but Harry surrounded by his entire family. Shortly thereafter, Harry gets to know that Nicolas Flamel is the maker of Philosopher's Stone, a stone that gives the owner eternal life.[3].

Harry sees Professor Snape interrogating Professor Quirrell about getting past Fluffy, which seemingly confirms Harry, Ron and Hermione's suspicion that Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power. The trio discover that Hagrid is incubating a dragon egg, which shortly thereafter hatches a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, Norbert. Since dragon breeding is illegal, they convince Hagrid to let Norbert go live with other dragons of his kind. Harry and Hermione are caught returning to their dormitories after sending Norbert off (Ron was in the hospital wing after suffering a bite from the dragon) and are forced to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn. Firenze, a centaur, tells Harry that the hooded figure is in fact Voldemort.

Hagrid, while intoxicated, tells Harry, Ron and Hermione how to get past Fluffy and they rush to tell Professor Dumbledore what they know, only to find that Dumbledore has been called away from the school. Positive that Dumbledore's summons was a red herring to take him away from Hogwarts while the Philosopher's Stone is stolen, the trio set out to reach the Stone first. They navigate a series of complex magical challenges set up by the school's faculty. At the end of these challenges, only one person can move forward and hence Harry enters the inner chamber alone only to find that it is the timid Professor Quirrell, not Snape, who is after the Stone. The final challenge protecting the Stone is the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell forces Harry to look in the mirror to discover where the Stone is. Harry successfully resists, and the Stone drops into his own pocket. Lord Voldemort now reveals himself; he has possessed Quirrell and appears as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head. He tries to attack Harry, but merely touching Harry proves to be agony for Quirrell. Dumbledore arrives back in time to save Harry, Voldemort flees and Quirrell dies.

As Harry recovers in the hospital ward, Dumbledore confirms to him that Lily died while protecting Harry as an infant. Her pure, loving sacrifice provides her son with an ancient magical protection against Voldemort's lethal spells. Dumbledore also explains that the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it. He then tells Harry that only those who wanted to find the Stone, but not use it would be able to retrieve it from the mirror, which is why Harry was able to retrieve it. When Harry asks Dumbledore why Voldemort attempted to kill him when he was an infant, Dumbledore promises to tell Harry when he is older.[4]

At the end-of-year feast, where Harry is welcomed as a hero, Dumbledore gives a few "last-minute additions", granting enough points to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville for Gryffindor to win the House Cup, ending Slytherin's six-year reign as house champions.

Characters

In the book, Rowling introduced an eclectic cast of characters. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard",[5] and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him.[1] During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him".[6] Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character[7] with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".[7]

Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. Headmaster of Hogwarts is powerful but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant; Rowling described him as "epitome of goodness".[8] His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, who according to the author "under that gruff exterior" is "a bit of an old softy"[9], the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister professor Severus Snape.[10] In the first book, teacher Professor Quirrell also appears.

Main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate[11] and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who has been disembodied when he tried to kill baby Harry: "According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, Voldemort was invented as a literary foil for Harry Potter, the main protagonist of the series, and that she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea & Harry & didn't know he was a wizard & and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was.& When he was one-year-old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry he tried to curse him.& Harry has to find out, before we find out. And so but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since."[12]

Reader reviewed by 3holidaybabies

I want to be Harry! I want to go to Hogwarts! I want to do magic! Wow this book as well as the series will be a classic! I want to read them to my kids...then later to my grandkids!
Harry is living a pitiful life, w/ his aunt, uncle, & cousin. There is no other way to put it he is being abused. Then his world is turned upside down when he is accepted to Hogwarts school for witches & wizards. Rowlings is a rare talent, I am so glad she was brave enough to share Harry with the world!

Reader reviewed by janina

The novel begins with the wizarding world's celebration of the downfall of Lord Voldemort, an evil, powerful and cruel dark wizard. After he killed Lily and James Potter, Voldemort attempted to murder their one-year-old son, Harry. The magical curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort's body, leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead. Harry is placed in the care of his Muggle (non-wizard) relatives, the Dursley family.

The book skips the next ten years and resumes shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday. The Dursleys have kept Harry's heritage from him. However, the truth comes in the form of Rubeus Hagrid who tells Harry that he is a wizard and has been accepted at Hogwarts in the fall. One month later, Harry takes the train to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at King's Cross Station. On the train, Harry sits with Ron Weasley. They are visited briefly by Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger who are in search of Neville's missing toad, Trevor. Later on in the journey, Draco Malfoy comes into Harry and Ron's compartment with his friends Crabbe and Goyle and introduces himself to Harry. After Ron laughs at Draco's name, Draco offers Harry friendship, but Harry declines.

Upon arrival, the Sorting Hat places Harry and Ron in Gryffindor House, one of the four houses at Hogwarts. After a broom-mounted game to save Neville's Remembrall, Harry joins Gryffindor's Quidditch team as their youngest Seeker player in over a century.

Shortly after they start school, they discover that someone had broken into a previously emptied vault at the Wizarding bank, Gringotts. The mystery deepens when they discover a monstrous three-headed dog, Fluffy, that guards a trapdoor in the forbidden third floor passageway. On Halloween, a troll enters the castle and traps Hermione in one of the girls' lavatories. Harry and Ron rescue her, but are caught by Professor McGonagall. Hermione defends the boys and takes the blame, which results in the three becoming best friends.

Harry's broom becomes jinxed during his first Quidditch match, nearly knocking him off. Hermione believes that Professor Snape has cursed the broom and distracts him by setting his robes on fire, allowing Harry to catch the Snitch to win the game for Gryffindor.

At Christmas, Harry receives his father's Invisibility Cloak from an unknown source. He also discovers the Mirror of Erised in an unused classroom, a strange mirror which shows not just Harry, but Harry surrounded by his entire family. Shortly thereafter, Harry gets to know that Nicolas Flamel is the maker of Philosopher's Stone, a stone that gives the owner eternal life.[3].

Harry sees Professor Snape interrogating Professor Quirrell about getting past Fluffy, which seemingly confirms Harry, Ron and Hermione's suspicion that Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power. The trio discover that Hagrid is incubating a dragon egg, which shortly thereafter hatches a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, Norbert. Since dragon breeding is illegal, they convince Hagrid to let Norbert go live with other dragons of his kind. Harry and Hermione are caught returning to their dormitories after sending Norbert off (Ron was in the hospital wing after suffering a bite from the dragon) and are forced to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn. Firenze, a centaur, tells Harry that the hooded figure is in fact Voldemort.

Hagrid, while intoxicated, tells Harry, Ron and Hermione how to get past Fluffy and they rush to tell Professor Dumbledore what they know, only to find that Dumbledore has been called away from the school. Positive that Dumbledore's summons was a red herring to take him away from Hogwarts while the Philosopher's Stone is stolen, the trio set out to reach the Stone first. They navigate a series of complex magical challenges set up by the school's faculty. At the end of these challenges, only one person can move forward and hence Harry enters the inner chamber alone only to find that it is the timid Professor Quirrell, not Snape, who is after the Stone. The final challenge protecting the Stone is the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell forces Harry to look in the mirror to discover where the Stone is. Harry successfully resists, and the Stone drops into his own pocket. Lord Voldemort now reveals himself; he has possessed Quirrell and appears as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head. He tries to attack Harry, but merely touching Harry proves to be agony for Quirrell. Dumbledore arrives back in time to save Harry, Voldemort flees and Quirrell dies.

As Harry recovers in the hospital ward, Dumbledore confirms to him that Lily died while protecting Harry as an infant. Her pure, loving sacrifice provides her son with an ancient magical protection against Voldemort's lethal spells. Dumbledore also explains that the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it. He then tells Harry that only those who wanted to find the Stone, but not use it would be able to retrieve it from the mirror, which is why Harry was able to retrieve it. When Harry asks Dumbledore why Voldemort attempted to kill him when he was an infant, Dumbledore promises to tell Harry when he is older.[4]

At the end-of-year feast, where Harry is welcomed as a hero, Dumbledore gives a few "last-minute additions", granting enough points to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville for Gryffindor to win the House Cup, ending Slytherin's six-year reign as house champions.