Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: J.K. Rowling’s First Book in the Hogwarts Saga
The first book in J.K. Rowling’s famous series tells the story of Harry Potter, an orphan who lives with his unbearable aunt and uncle and his awful cousin Dudley. Harry is not an ordinary boy, and his life is turned upside down when he receives his letter of admission to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Author: J.K. Rowling (born 1965)
Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)
Format: English paperback (Bloomsbury Children’s Books), 352 pages
Series: Book 1 of 7
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/1408855658 (ASIN 1408855658)
A Name Everyone Knows
At Hogwarts Harry discovers something of his forgotten past, and learns details that will involve him in many adventures. So begins a series of fantasy books that tell the adventures and experiences of this boy. In this first story Rowling creates a fictional world where many other wizards live, and where Harry must face his destiny.
From the moment he arrives in this new world, he finds that his name is already known, which puzzles him at first. Little by little, aspects of the past that concern him are revealed, and he discovers that in this special world, as well as new friends, there are also enemies.
The Philosopher’s Stone
The search for the Philosopher’s Stone, the source of the Elixir of Life, is carried out by three young apprentice wizards, and so we meet the three heroes of the whole series: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
A Modest Beginning
Rowling has said that the idea for Harry came to her in 1990 on a delayed train from Manchester to London. After years of writing, several rejections and a period as a single mother in Edinburgh, she saw the book published by Bloomsbury in June 1997 in a first hardback run of just 500 copies. Word of mouth did the rest. In the United States, Scholastic retitled it Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Chris Columbus’s film followed in 2001.
Doors Into a Hidden World
Much of the book’s magic lies in its sequence of discoveries, each a threshold into the wizarding world: Hagrid breaking down the door of a hut on a rock to tell Harry he is a wizard; the brick wall that opens into Diagon Alley, with its goblin bank and wand shop; Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King’s Cross; the Sorting Hat; the moving staircases of Hogwarts. Rowling describes them through the eyes of a boy who has never been allowed anything, which makes the reader’s delight and Harry’s the same.
Clues in Plain Sight
Under the adventure is a well-constructed mystery. A package taken from a vault at Gringotts, a three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor, a teacher who seems to be cursing Harry’s broom during a Quidditch match: Rowling plants clues and red herrings as carefully as any detective writer. The Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer’s deepest desire, gives the book its most moving scene, and Dumbledore’s warning that it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live is advice that suits readers of any age.
Real Alchemy
The philosopher’s stone of the title comes from the real history of alchemy, the legendary substance that could turn base metals into gold and make an elixir of life. Nicolas Flamel, whom the book names as its maker, was a real fourteenth-century Parisian scribe whose reputation as an alchemist grew after his death.
The Trio
By the final chapters, as Harry, Ron and Hermione pass a series of obstacles under the trapdoor, each one using a different talent, Rowling has established the friendship that carries the whole series.
Why Read It
The first book awakens the reader’s imagination and carries them into the peculiar world its author has created in every detail. If you are learning English, the Harry Potter books are also an excellent way to practise: the language of the first volumes is clear and the story pulls you along.
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