Facts:

The book was first published in Great Britain in 1997. In 2000, it was published by Bloomsbury. The author of this book is J.K Rowling. This was the first book she ever wrote.

 

Followers of the book are ”Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets”, “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban” ,  “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. Over a quarter of a billion books are sold, the books have been translated into 61 languages and distributed in over 200 countries. All five books have appeared on bestseller lists in the United States, Britain, and around the world.

 

Author:

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1966 in a town in England called Chipping Sodbury. At present, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her daughter Jessica, now age seven. Jessica is half Portuguese.

 

J.K. Rowling has won the Hugo Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Whitbread Award for Best Children's Book, a special commendation for the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize, and a special certificate for being a three-year winner of the Smarties Prize, as well as many other honours. She has been a popular guest on "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," and "Larry King Live."

 

Summary:

In the beginning of the story, Harrys parents gets killed by Voldemort (they mostly say “you-know-who” when they speak of him), the evil person in the novel. He didn’t manage to kill Harry. Instead, Voldemort gets much weaker and Harry gets a scar in his forehead. That day, all the wizards celebrate Harry because he lived.

 

The nearest family Harry has is uncle Vernon, aunt Petunia and his cheeky and not very nice cousin Dudley Dursley, who lives in Privet Drive.  Hagrid, the keeper of keys and the guard of Hogwarts (the wizard school) takes Harry to them; even he knows what horrible muggles (not-magic people) they are. Harry lives there until he is eleven years old. The dursleys don’t treat him very good and he has to sleep in a locker. Now that Harry has grown, Hogwarts sends an owl with a letter to Harry. But the dursleys won’t let him read it. The wizards only send more and more letters and the dursleys get so angry that they move to a lighthouse out on the sea. But this won’t stop the wizards to get to Harry. They send Hagrid to get him.

 

This is the beginning of a new life for Harry. He gets to know Ron Weasly and Hermione Granger, and gets to live in the Gryffindor house. The “headmaster” on the school is Professor Albus Dumbledore. Other teachers are professor McGonagall, Madame Hooch, the stuttering Mr Fich, professor Quirrel and professor Snape. Harry is selected to the seeker on Gryffindor's Quiddich team. He is the youngest seeker in a century. Quiddich is a game where there are seven players on each team; they fly around and have different “tasks”.

 

However, strange things happen on the school. By an accident the three friends Harry, Ron and Hermione find a “dog” with three heads (Fluffy) and it’s guarding something. And someone is trying to steel it. Fluffy is Hygrids dog. Hygrid is not very smart when it comes to keeping secrets, and he accidentally tells them how to get Fluffy to sleep. Harry, Ron and Hermione find out what Fluffy is guarding. It’s the philosopher stone, a legendary stone. It can transform any metal into pure gold, and produce the Elixir of life, which will make the drinker immortal.

 

One night, when Harry, his friends, Hygrid and Draco Malfoy is out in the dark forest, to look for hurted unicorns, Harry sees Voldemort. He almost gets killed, but a unicorn-man named Firenze saves Harry. Harry has to prevent that anyone steels the philosopher stone and give it to Voldemort. Ron and Hermione come too. When they sneak in to Fluffy, she is asleep and they can see that someone has been there, and put a spell on a harp so it’s playing to keep Fluffy asleep. In the first room they have to pass, they get trapped by a plant called Devils Snare. Luckily, they manage to escape. Afterwards, they come to a room full of flying keys. Harry has to catch one of them, and he do. But then they enter a chessboard. They have to play wizard chess, and Ron sacrifices him selves. Harry has to move on, and he comes into a room with a mirror in it. He meets professor Quirrel there, and on the back of his head is Voldemort. But in the end Harry gets the stone and Dumbledore destroys it.

 

Theme:

I think J.K Rowling wrote this book because she wanted something different and far away from the reality. It takes the reader on a very exiting journey. Its magic, fantasy and rare names are genius! This book will wake many children’ fantasy up and make them philosophise.

 

The language:

The language is not very difficult. It’s easy and simple because it is a children novel. Although I had to look close a couple of times on some words.

 

My opinion:

I think Harry Potter is one of the world’s greatest books! Rowling takes you in to a fantasy world full of surprises, excitement and many genius names. I don’t think I'm the only one who thinks that. The book is worlds famous. I would recommend reading it even to adults!