I Wonder What All This Fuss Is About? (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling)

Member Name: GuruOnAMountain

Product:	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J. K. Rowling
Date:	20/07/04 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremely engaging!, Encourage children to read

Disadvantages: Some parents are worried they are a bad influence on children

Before the release of the Harry Potter films, I'd often walked by the books in bookshops and stared at the covers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I knew many kids raved about the books, but looking at the cover I felt distinctly uninspired. The first book cover sported a train and a startled looking boy with specs and the second featured some more startled faces staring out a Ford Anglia. I just didn't see the appeal myself.

However, the first film was released in due time and the adverts alone got me excited. I watched the movie and was riveted. However, I still didn't want to rush out and read some kids' books. I seen the second film, and recently the third, and found myself desperate to know what happens next. I also found myself entangled in debates with a pentecostal Christian friend who refused to have anything to do with Harry Potter. I'm a Christian myself, but have felt that Harry Potter is fairy harmless. I reckoned, though, that to debate it properly with her I shouldn't do things by halves. I decided to start at the beginning and read the books.

So it was that I went out and spent £3.99 on a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and settled down to read it. I'm used to reading Dickens and academic textbooks for Uni, so I expected that I would get mind numbingly bored by the end of chapter one, but I found myself hooked by the suspense Rowling built up by mentioning the events of the day that Harry's parents had been killed, while Harry's uncle carried on with day oblivious. As the day went on, his uncle became more and more aware of what was going on around him, and finally, as a climax to the whole chapter ended up having Harry deposited on his doorstep by Professor McGonagle, Professor Dumbledore and groundskeeper Hagrid of Hogwarts.

Rowling is an engaging author, and fills every page with magic of the literary and
Hogwartian kind. You can't help but feel yourself being overwhelmed and amazed along with Harry as he learns of his magic heritage and finds himself deposited at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

Even though I'd seen the film, the book contained snippets of extra information that the film missed. For example, we learn in the book of Harry's father saving Professor Snape's life when they were studying at Hogwarts together. I wont spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it yet by giving a detailed page by page summary, but I was certainly astonished at how rarely I found myself realising I was reading a kids' book. I was swept along in the fantasy just as readily as any child, and had to admit that Rowling has a rare talent.

I finished the book in a few hours, reading most of it in one sitting, unable to put it down and immediately went out the next day and picked up the next two in the series. I ranted to my family about it so much that my mum and sister went out and bought me the fourth and fifth books in the series, and I just can't wait to get through them all.

As for the debates over whether these books would encourage children to practice witchcraft, I would suggest from the evidence of the first book that they wouldn't. The first book seems harmless enough. The magic in it is clearly fantasy. No allusions to real wicca are explicitly made, and I would think that if a parent was set against wicca and didn't want his or her child to practice it, that they could still read the books with their child but making sure to stress the fantasy aspect of it. However, I've heard the books get darker, so I don't know if my opinion will hold out when I read the others.

I would recommend these books to anyone. They are engaging reading for children, and light but nevertheless immensely enjoyable reading for adults.

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