Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

I am waiting on pins and needles to start reading the Harry Potter series with my daughter.  She is only 6 now, so I have a year or so until we can start reading them together.  In anticipation, I have started reading the books again in my limited spare time.

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’

Publisher: Arthur A Levine Books (1997)

Prices: Hardcover-$16.85, Paperback-$7.48, ebook-$5.99

Reading level: Ages 9 to 12

Interest level: Middle and High Grades

Physical Characteristics: 5.2x7.8 inches, 320 pages 

Series: Harry Potter Series

ISBN: 9780590353427   

Genres: Fantasy 

Subjects:

Wizards-Juvenile Fiction

Witches-Juvenile Fiction

Harry Potter



Annotation:  A young boy being raised by a mean aunt and uncle discovers that he in fact is a wizard and goes on a life-changing journey to a wizarding school.

Summary:   Harry Potter is a young orphan living a hum drum life underneath the stairs in his aunt and uncles house.  At the age of eleven he discovers that he is a Wizard and he is invited to attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.  This first book in a series of seven introduces readers to the Houses at Hogwarts, the friends and enemies of Harry, the teachers and the magical world in which Harry lives.

Evaluation: There is not much that can be said about this book that has not already been said.  Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone was and is a remarkable and magical book.  So many universal themes are handled by Ms. Rowling with ease; loneliness, finding ones’ self, friendship, adventure, and acclimating to a new environment.  I love this book, and have since the first time I read it.  I will never forget finishing the first chapter while riding on the #6 train in New York.  I sat on the train crying as I read the line, “Harry Potter, the boy who lived”.



Similar Titles or Authors:

Any of the other books in the Harry Potter series are natural compliments to this book.

Websites:

http://www.jkrowling.com/en_US/



https://www.pottermore.com/en-us/



http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/book.asp?bookid=32



Awards & Recognition:

ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 1999
ALA/YALSA Best of the Best 100 (Selected from BBYA 1966-99)
ALA/YALSA Top Ten Books for Teens, 1999 (Ranked #1)
ALA Notable Children's Books, 1999
Book Links Lasting Connections, 1998
Booklist Editors' Choices, 1998
Booklist: Top Ten Fantasy Novels for Youth
CCBC Choices, 1998: Fiction for Children
Publishers Weekly Best Books 1998
School Library Journal: Best Books 1998
School Library Journal: One Hundred Books that Shaped the Century
Parenting magazine: Book of the Year, 1998
Voice of Youth Advocates: Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, 1998
Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize for Children's Literature
American Booksellers Association Book of the Year (ABBY)
International Reading Association: Children’s Choices, 1999
International Reading Association: Teacher’s Choices, 1999
New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
British Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year (NIBBY), 1997
Shortlisted for the 1997 Guardian Children's Award
New York Public Library’s 100 Best Children’s Books from the Last 100 Years



Professional Reviews:

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy



Kirkus



New York Times



Notes: In England this book was published under the title, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.



All images (c) Mary GrandPre’