Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by J K Rowling
published by Scholastic Press 1997
Reading Level: 4-6 (and everyone else!)
309 Pages
Genre: Fantasy

Summary:
Harry is left on the door step of his aunt and uncles house when he was an infant. They tried to take care of him in the least interactive way as possible. His aunt always hated his mother so she made it very hard on Harry. However when his eleventh birthday rolls around he learns he is a wizard and begins attending Hogwarts. The school of Witch Craft and Wizardry. Harry finally feels like he fits in. Soon enough he learns that his parents and he are famous. His parents were killed by the most powerful dark wizard there was in existence. But Harry lived through it. The wizard Voldemort had not been seen since. Some believed him to be dead. As Harry goes through school he learns all kinds of things about himself and his family. He learns all about the new world of wizard he had never even heard of. At one point he learn about a magic item called the sorcerer's stone which can keep anyone who uses it youthful and healthy for as long as the posses it. Mean while he is noticing that one of his professors acts very strangely around him and he doesn't know why. One day while he and his friend Ron and Hermionie are lost in the castle the stumble upon a corridor which is forbidden. However they get trapped inside when one of the castles tattletale creatures comes round the corner. They find themselves in a maze of traps where they nearly don't make it. However, Harry is alone when he reaches the end. He finds that his professor is there and soon after that Voldemort is using his body to come back to power. Voldemort thinks if he can get the Sorcerer's stone he will be restored, but when Harry touches him the professor is killed and
Voldemort flees. The maze being what was protecting the stone is given to his headmaster for safe keeping and Harry goes home for the summer to return next year.

My Reaction:
I have always loved the Harry Potter Series and I was glad to get to read it again for a class. I have always believed it has such wonderful writing and wonderful detail that relapses in each book. I will always love the character building in the book and I learn something new about each character every time I read these books over.

Potential Problems:
This book does have magic and some parents are not okay with that. Also it has some murder and some language in the text.

Recommendations:
I think this is a series that could hook just about any hesitant reader. It has all the good pieces of a strong plot that the reader feeds on. I think this doesn't need to be in the schools because it is already so wide spread we don't need it to be required, but it could still be useful.