Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

By J.K. Rowling

(1997)  ISBN 0590353403

Harry has single handedly increased the number of young readers and for that many in the book business are very appreciative.  The success of this series is well deserved with Rowling’s creation of the memorable characters that populate Harry’s world of witches and wizards.  This book starts by introducing Harry’s terrible excuse for relatives, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and the descriptions of these two “normal people” were enough to convince the reader that this was going to be a very entertaining book and this level of interest continued throughout the entire book.

As many readers know, it is on Harry’s eleventh birthday that his life changes drastically as he learns that he is in fact an actual wizard and that he is to attend Hogwart’s School of Wizardry.  Harry is delighted to get away from the miserable home he shares with his uncle and aunt.  As Harry works on his lessons and completes his first year at Hogwart’s he finds out that he is not just a wizard but a unique wizard with a higher mission ahead of him although at the end of his first year he is not in possession of the full details.

This has been a unique series and to find something with any degree of similarity is difficult.  One is tempted to bring King Arthur’s Merlin as a companion piece.  The illustrations in this book tend to stay in bit in the background but nevertheless are quite essential to the mood of the book.  They add to the humor of some situations and give the reader good clues as to what some characters and creatures really look like.