Story: Harry Potter, who is just about to celebrate his 11th birthday, lives a sad life with his nasty aunt, belligerent uncle and fat cousin on Privet Drive. But on that very fateful birthday, Harry learns that he’s a wizard and that he is now old enough to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry has no clue about what this means to his life, or how much it will change!
Review: There has been so much hype surrounding this book and the ones that have followed that there could be something lost in the mix. That something would be the fact that the Harry Potter series is some of the best children’s reading ever to see publication. Even though it is geared toward kids from about age 8 up, it is thoroughly entertaining reading for people of all ages.
Before all the hoopla about Harry Potter began, my daughter and I had already read this book. We were gripped from the beginning, following the adventures of a very badly mistreated orphan boy who discovers he’s actually a wizard – a quite famous one, at that. The imagination behind Harry’s story is rich and abundant, filled with characters who will endure throughout the annals of literary history. We were swept up immediately, carried into a world where amazing things happen to magical people while “Muggles” (regular humans) are entirely unaware of their existence. Having been an avid reader since I could lift a book, I can categorically state that Harry Potter and his adventures are some of the best children’s stories I have ever read. Put quite simply, these books are fantastical stories that draw a reader in and don’t let go until the final page.
The subsequent novels are: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. Harry and his best friends, Hermione and Ron, mature one year per book. At times it is somewhat frustrating that the author must reiterate pertinent facts from book to book, but by the fourth installment she gets past that and presumes the reader has read the previous novels. It is also a bit unnerving that the female characters in the series are so stereotypically nurturing and act as the universal voice of conscience, but it was quite easy for me to help her get past those perceptions when discussing them with my daughter. The Harry Potter series is filled with excellent storytelling and imaginative characters. It is also a very good chance to have some real fun reading with your kids!
Year: 1998
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 309