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Summary: Where it all began!
Review: I'd been hearing the name Harry Potter bandied about for a little while when I finally happened upon a copy of this first book. I was curious enough to take it to work and read it (it was an extremely slow day) from cover to cover. When I finished it, I was smiling from ear to ear -- and I went back to the beginning and started reading it again! J.K. Rowling really has a firm grasp on how it feels to be a kid who isn't sure about fitting in or finding new friends. Her knack for inventing clever words and names (c'mon, you didn't smile the first time you heard of a street called Diagon Alley?), her attention to just the right amount of detail, and her obvious appreciation of the weird, absurd, and just plain silly all lend themselves to creating a work of fantasy genius. The best thing about this book is that, as good as it is by itself, you get to put it down knowing that you've only just begun your journey on the Hogwarts Express -- and that it only gets better from here!
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Summary: FANTASTIC!! OUTA SITE!! TOATLY RADICAL!!
Review: I'd give this book 100,000,000 stars if I could!! Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone is the BEST book in the world!!It kept me on the edge of my seat until the end!!I STRONGLY RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: This book is the BEST
Review: I'd have to definately say that this book is the best I've ever read. It is my favorite... (aside from The Secret Garden) but thats beside the point. This book is excellent from ages 9+ because it gives so much detail and its the greatest adventures! It's fun to read and I couldn't put it down at camp! I read and read until my eyes hurt! Hope you read it!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for children *and* adults
Review: I'd heard about the furor over whether the Harry Potter books were suitable for children, and so I welcomed the opportunity to read it when the lady sitting next to me on an airplane let me borrow it for the flight. (Fortunately it's light reading and I'm a fast reader.) Our conclusions were the same: it certainly *is* suitable for children, and adults as well. It's fun, light, and describes the activities of a schoolboy trying to be good (probably harder than most real schoolboys). Personally, I saw no hint of any of the darker aspects I've heard ascribed to it; I rather suspect the ascribers hadn't read it, but were jerking their knees over 'hot-button' words like 'magic' and 'sorcery.' I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to *anyone*, of any age.
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Summary: I really loved this book!
Review: I'd heard so much about Harry Potter that I decided to give this book a chance. And I loved it! I've seldom enjoyed a book so much! Although I'm 32 years old, it was such fun reading about poor Harry being mistreated by those mean relations and then being recognised as the defeater of Voldermort and offered a place at Hogwarts. His adventures there were also worth reading about. I finished the book in one day (including 8 hours of reading during a flight from Buenos Aires to Paris). I can hardly wait for Book 4 to be released!
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Summary: A really joyful experience. A must read!!!!
Review: I'd heard so much about Harry Potter that I decided to give this book a chance. And I loved it! I've seldom enjoyed a book so much! Although I'm 33 years old, it was such fun reading about poor Harry being mistreated by those mean relations and then being recognised as the defeater of Voldermort and offered a place at Hogwarts. His adventures there were also worth reading about. I finished the book in one day (including 8 hours of reading during a flight from Buenos Aires to Paris). I can hardly wait for Book 4 to be released!
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Summary: Harry Potter on Audio
Review: I'd heard the hype and wondered what could be so great about a children's book. I don't have kids, but am an avid reader and I must admit, my curiosity was peaked. I had reason to take frequent road trips by car so I tried Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on a whim for the long drive.Needless to say I've since listened to all four JK Rowling tales and I have no excuses - no child to hold up as a shield in my defense! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! I've even got my sister hooked. I'm over 30 and she's pushing 30 and our older sister thinks we've lost our minds (but just give us time - we'll get her hooked too)! Jim Dale's voices and his dramatization of the narrative made Harry, Ron, Hermione and the whole cast of characters spring to life. He's ruined my enthusiasm for other books on tape that fail to enthrall me... The irritating conceit of Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is still a running joke with us (...Harreeee), and I just love saying the word, "Quidditch". I may have to resort to old mystery radio shows on tape to fill the void left when I finished listening to the last tape of the series, as I sadly whined to my sister, "It's the last side of the last tape of the last chapter of the last book. There'll be no more after this. What am I to do?" To which my sister quickly replied, "You can always start at the beginning again!" I'm currently listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - for the 2nd time!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Long Live Harry (Flashman)
Review: I'd recommend this imaginative little book to any (unadventurous) child under the age of twelve. S/he won't learn anything from it, but as an alternative to "Dawson's Creek" and other dreck TV, it's solid, inoffensive fun. To others, though, the book could be instructive. Some adults--ambitious, mercenary, would-be writers--will find an object lesson here. The lesson: stick with the tried and true. If you want to be praised for "originality," just reach a little further back for your literary models. Rowling herself was a failed writer for years before she struck her gold mine: the English schoolboy serials of the early 20th century. George Orwell describes these stories--which were hugely popular in England and its colonies for over 30 years--in his great essay "Boys' Weeklies." They were all set entirely at posh boarding schools, hence their fantasy snob appeal: most of their readers could only dream about attending such places. The school rites, rules, customs of daily life, etc., were enshrined in fetishistic detail. For thousands of children, and adults, too--to judge from the weeklies' uproarious letter columns--these self-contained (and mostly imaginary) worlds held a mystical fascination that bordered on obsession. The typical heroes of these stories were titled (that is, bluebloods, with family in the peerage) and filthy rich. Their friends and foes were a variety of types: the plodding boy who's good-hearted and loyal, though a trifle melodramatic; the hand-raising pedant, who nevertheless shows pluck in a crisis; the villainous swell... Sound familiar? The teachers, too, were a menagerie of types, many of them eccentric and mysterious, a few not what they seemed (foreign spies, master thieves, etc.), but by and large, wise and benevolent. The plots consisted of mild pranks, curfew-breaking, besting bullies, solving quaint mysteries of the school, and so on. Sports and team spirit (and "house spirit") were, of course, all-important, and unshirking respect for those institutions was a given. The stories did not confront real life (even real school life)--or real emotion--in any shape or form except the most sentimental. These serials lost their readers by the late '30s because they were excessively "polite." Kids turned to power-trip fantasies about gun-toting brutes (commandos, explorers, detectives, "Doc Savage") whose exploits were faster and more sensational, more "life-and-death." Rowling's bit of genius was to throw both genres into the same pulper. The result: life-and-death power-trips set within the cozy, hallowed halls of a prestigious school. The hero is still a blueblood: Harry's magical destiny, the aura of Promise he carries into Hogwarts (symbolized by his scar, which is a throwback to the "royal" birthmark or tattoo of the pulps), is entirely a legacy of his powerful parents. The wealth fantasy of the earlier stories has become the even sadder one of having magical powers. And so the stories have cringed even further away from real life. Harry's beginnings as a transplanted orphan are another appeal to fantasy. The young reader can imagine that he too was born to greatness; that his own, loathsome family and school-life are amendable accidents; that any day now an owl will swoop from his chimney with certified proof of his true pedigree as a doyen of magical omnipotence--and vengeance. So--what should kids be reading instead of this stuff? How about: something exciting, with fantasy elements, yet still grounded in the real world--and with a dash of irony, to bring it all further down to earth? (I reject the doctrine that children are deaf to irony, which is a necessary ingredient of intelligence). My humble suggestion: give them the "Flashman" books of George Macdonald Fraser. This series of novels (the latest one appeared just last year), about a Victorian adventurer and coward, are thrilling, hilarious, eye-opening, and educational in every sense--historically, culturally, psychologically. Any child who has ever felt a little nauseated by the sententious, schoolyard call to conform and embrace "team spirit," will take to them readily--and become far more historically astute than his classmates (especially the ones who dream of playing "quidditch"). Oddly, Fraser lifted his anti-hero, Harry Flashman, from a 19th century "schoolboy" tale that was also one of Rowling's models: "Tom Brown's School Days," by Thomas Hughes. Flashman was the sadistic bully who made Tom's school life a living hell. Hogwarts could use someone like him. Actually it does have someone comparable, but he doesn't show much promise. In a hundred years, will Draco Malfoy have his own novels? I doubt it. But then, I'd be very surprised if "Harry Potter" is still read by anyone (other than nostalgia-buffs) in thirty years' time... even after Rowling has used her gazillion merchandising dollars to restore the British Empire to its full whimsy of cream buns, cold baths and cringing menials, with herself as Queen...
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I'll admit that the first Harry Potter book is not my favorite of the series, but that doesn't mean it's bad. After all, it started a whole series and is even coming out in the theaters. How can a book like that be bad? But why is it so great? I'll tell you now. First of all, the plot is great. Harry Potter is an orphan who lives with an obnoxious aunt, uncle, and cousin. His cousin takes great delight in bullying him, and his aunt and uncle make him sleep under the stairs. He has no clue what happened to his parents. One day, he recieves a letter that his family tries to keep away from him, but more letters come. Finally, Harry gets to read the letter. The letter tells Harry that he is a wizard and he is wisked away to a wizarding school on a train from platform 9 and 3/4. In this school are ghosts, talking pictures, moving staircases, and other magical things. I think I will stop here; I'm sure you can tell that the plot is well done. The characters are unique and seem real. You believe in these characters even if you never saw the movie in the first place. Unrealistic characters make a book very dull and unable to enjoy; characters that are believeable make the book exciting and help you visualize what is happening. Speaking of visualize, there is a good amount detail to let you see in your mind what is going on. The detail in the book provides enough to let you know what is going on but there isn't enough to confuse you, which is good. Finally, to sum it up, the contents. There are surprises behind every page of this book. There is a good amount of humor in this book, but you still have a scary part or two in this book. There is also plenty of mystery in the book. I also like the many imaginitive things the author came up with, from large things such as Quidditch (a sport played on broomsticks) to simple things such as goblins running a bank. It was nice to have some new things that no one has come up with before. All in all, this is a great book that you must read!
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Summary: Welcome to Hogwarts!
Review: I'll admit that when I first heard of Harry Potter's success a few years ago, I was slightly interested but didn't want to lower myself to read a children's book. I was, after all, in 8th grade. I love fantasy and all kinds of stories about magic and destinies, but I didn't think Harry Potter would be good because it was meant for kids and therefor wouldn't have anything exciting in it. Boy was I wrong. My friend Katie finally convinced me to read the Sorcerer's Stone because she is so in love with the series and that's all she talks about during our English class. So I went out and bought the book, found a comfy chair, and then didn't get up for about five hours because I couldn't put the book down. It was funny, and exciting, and it had danger, and it was just good. The book just makes you want to be a kid again and it makes you want to belive in magic just so you could go to Hogwarts and play Quidditch. Even if this book was meant for kids, it is still one of the best stories I have read in an extremely long time. I reccomend it to everyone.
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