Well, everybody knows Harry Potter. Everybody also knows J.K. Rowling, the plot and the characters. What is there left to tell about this book? Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is the first book in the Harry Potter series, followed by six others. It was published in 1997, and immediately became a bestseller.
Harry Potters are traditional fantasy books for children and pre-teens. They are filled with witches, wizards, magic and mythical creatures such as unicorns and hippogriffs. The books are written skillfully, and every detail is carefully thought. I think this is the key to their huge success.
The main character is, -of course, Harry Potter. He’s an eleven-year-old boy living with the Dursleys, the family of his mother’s sister. His parents are dead, and the Dursleys seem to dislike him more than anything. Harry’s journey begins when he gets a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (delivered by a giant called Hagrid). At Hogwarts Harry becomes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron’s whole family are wizards, whereas Hermione’s parents are muggles like the Dursleys, meaning that they cannot use magic. The principal of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore is portrayed as a stereotypical wizard; wise, old, tall man with a long, grey hair and beard, the leader of the good ones. All proper stories need a bad guy, too. Lord Voldemort is the most powerful dark wizard of all times, and Harry is the only known survivor of his attacks. Voldemort killed Harry’s parents when he was just a baby, but wasn’t able to kill him. Voldemort disappeared, leaving Harry alive and called ”the boy who lived”. The omniscient narrator also introduces the reader to many other characters, like students and teachers from Hogwarts.
The language in the Philosopher’s Stone is easy to read and understand. The style is kind of ”old-fashioned” and sophisticated, using constructions and vocabulary that don’t occur in the places where I usually read English (schoolbooks, social media and magazines). Although I know the book is written by J.K. Rowling, in my mind the narrator is a British man in his late sixties, sitting in an armchair by the fireplace and sipping a cup of tea with his little finger up.