Rating: 
Summary: Pure Pleasure
Review: ...Most any of the reviews on the print versions of the book cover the contents. I wanted to cover the audio versions specifically.I'm an avid reader, but my husband prefers other pursuits, so I got the audio version for a car trip when we could both experience it. It was fabulous! Jim Dale, the reader for the series, couldn't be better at giving the characters life and keeping the British flavor this book was written with. Our drive was over before the book, and that's where the trouble began. We listened to the book on our commute to work and would sit in the car at journey's end waiting for the chapter to end. We were so hooked that we brought the tapes into the house and played them each night while we sat quietly in the family room with the lights dimmed. We're both confirmed Harry Potter fans now, having run out to get the second, then the third and fourth books on tape as soon as we finished the last one. I highly recommend these audio books. They are unabridged (a must in my opinion), well read, and entertaining throughout. Your whole family can enjoy them.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK SHOULD HAVE A SPELL TO MAKE IT NEVER END!!!
Review: ...Ok, on to the book. The story starts out as a boy who is orphaned and has a horrible aunt and uncle. Their son Dudley is even worse. He even sleeps in a closet under the stairs. Then one day he gets a misterious letter in the mail. The dursleys wont let him have it. Finally a giant named hagrid turns up to personally deliver the message, and he learns his misterious past, and he is going to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. It is not horrible witchcraft, it is spells that can help. They can make objects hover, they can summon objects. There are so many kinds of spells used that aren't horrible. Only the Evil person Voldemort uses them. And whats good saying he is evil if he cant even be evil?
I think this author has some very creative ideas, and I think the story is enjoyable and absolutley fantastic. I suggest you read this great book, you dont want to miss out!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, but not quite.....
Review: ...on the level of the Chronicles of Narnia[C.S. Lewis], the Dark is Rising series[Susan Cooper], or the Tales of Prydain[Lloyd Alexander]. However, the is highly entertaining, eminently readible fare. For me, though it falls just a little short of these classics, although the Potter series will become a classic down the road.
Rating:
Summary: ...Harry Potter
Review: ...the book...for everyone, not just children. It teaches meaningful lessons and uses metaphors and characters to describe life, in a way. For example the school that Harry goes to, every time he messes up, or does something wrong he gets points deducted from his group. Even though this is a school of witchcraft and wizardry the author still uses examples like that to describe the average life in high school. Also Harry has to deal with different types of people, and figure out how to get along with them so they wont hurt him. Narrow minded people ( his aunt and uncle) are another example of the type of characters we deal with in real life. They are against religion, and anything they don¡¯t understand, like magic. They punish Harry for even saying the ¡°M¡± word. The author uses magic as a metaphor for religion in our world. The young boy (Harry) stepping into life and facing all the tricky games is set in the story in an underground place where Harry with the help of his friends goes through tricky games to get to what he wants. There is a table where there are chemicals set up on it and if Harry drinks the wrong one he will die, but if he drinks the right one it will get him to the second step of the game. There is also a part where he and his friends have to go through a game of actual life size chess. If they play smart they¡¯ll get to the other side, if not they will get their heads cut off by the queen. These games symbolize the logic we use to get through some problems we face. And the help of our friends and loved ones. There is another object used in the story to help Harry understand life, my favorite The Mirror! Harry finds a mirror in which he sees his family and dead parents, and they are waving at him. He thinks this is the place where his family lives, but when he calls his friends to look into it, they see different things. One of his friends sees himself much older with a trophy in his hand, so he thinks that it is the mirror of the future. The mirror shows everyone who they really want to be deep inside. Harry has never had parents and has always longed for a family, that is why he sees a happy family in the mirror. After his final test and finding who he truly is, Harry meets the oracle. In other words the professor of the school who is a wizard. He is the one that tells Harry what the mirror meant, and why all the things that happened to him happened. This book is a very clever way of showimg a boy stepping into life and growing up....
Rating:
Summary: Even if you're all grown up....
Review: ...this is still a fun-to-read fantasy and as charming and deserving of all the hype! I never read any of the others in the series, but this one was enough that I don't feel like a complete failure when it comes to the pop culture phenomenon of Harry Potter. Breezy, amusing and whimsical. Oh, yeah...and better than the movie!
Rating:
Summary: The Great Get Away
Review: ...This was a really good book, at first I thought it was for young kids, then I found out my excutive neighbor was reading it! so I started. I could not put it down! It just takes you away from you life and you become Harry, who does run in to his share of problems. But he has powers to make them go away! I enjoyed the different names for people she uses. This helps you stay reading to find out what kind of personality they have. Reading and knowing that the life story goes on is like being a part of reading soap opera. One where the life of the main character Harry, changes almost over night! I t was a fun and easy going book to read when in high school the storys are not curernt and what everone is reading. The part I liked best was when Harry finds himself in a dark room, only for it to be a huge chessboard. They find the only way out is to play chess, and become the pieces to get out of the room. The author writes in a really talking style which makes it hard to put the book down. The end is really only at the end of the book and even here she lives you wanting to read the next book because you know Harry is going to have lots of fun with Dudley and his magic. I think everyone should read this1...
Rating:
Summary: A FUN, FUN BOOK
Review: ...This was a very fun book to read. It is a very fast read and the story hums along. I only have to
wait 5 years to read this to my oldest sun, by then he might be able to understand it. Harry Potter
is a very interesting character that a lot of kids can relate to. From not fitting in, to finding out
just how special of an individual you are. There is a lot of humor in the book and enough action
to keep the story moving forward. This is a great book for kids and adults.
Rating:
Summary: Great Beginning to a great adventure
Review: ...To have a book make me smile while I am reading it, and discuss it excitedly with friends, to make conversation with strangers you see reading it on the commuter train in the mornings... that is the mark of a great book. This book thrilled me because of the plot twists, (I never saw some things coming), the remarkable breadth of the characters (Snape is so hateful, yet is emerging as one of the most intriguing characters of them all, and in this book, you get to see his first encounter with Harry.) If one wants to read Harry, definitely, they can only start with this book. Some complain the book is not well written, or sophisticated. Who cares? This book hooked me from beginning to end, (and so many other readers) that it truly is a phenomenon. This book deserves to be a classic with a long, long shelf life. Once you get past Chapter 1, you're hooked for ever. And considering that Rowling, like the rest of us is just a Muggle, that is true magic.
Rating:
Summary: Ah, if only I was still young!
Review: . This is a great book. But I'm too old to be reading it for the first time. If I had read it when I was younger I would've read it many, many times. But now, alas! I am too old to be reading it for the first time. When I finished reading it, I though, "You know, if I had read this when I was a kid, then rereading it now would've been the greatest pleasure!" But oh well. I digged it anyway. And as they come out in paperback I'll buy and read them all. And then MY kids will have them, so they can give them the full five stars they arguably deserve. Oh--and all that Satanic stuff is ridiculous. Don't believe any noselin who says this book is Satanic. There's far more about Satan in Acts than there is in Harry Potter, book 1. That's enough on that.
Rating:
Summary: Hooray for Harry!
Review: 10 years old and nothing to look forward to including holidays and even your birthday. That's how 10-year-old Harry Potter feels all of the time. He lives in a cuboard under the stairs of his aunt and uncle's house where he is treated very poorly. He soon finds out that he is from a magical world full of charms, potions, spells, sports on broomsticks, and candy that comes in every flavor you could think of. His aunt and uncle have been hiding this from him for 10 years. He goes to Hogwarts and has a great adventure. Strongly recommended. I read it in three days and I'm only ten, too.
| 
