Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone is the first book of the Harry Potter series (according to the author there are to be seven).
The hero of the
story is, of course, Harry Potter – a young
boy who became an orphan at the age of one. He has lived with his uncle and aunt since, who treat him like dirt, and with his cousin Dudley, a fat and overgrown boy who, together with his gang, loves to pick on Harry.
On his eleventh birthday, a mysterious man by the name of Hagrid comes to visit and tells Harry that he is a wizard, and that his parents were killed by the Dark Lord, the most evil
wizard of the time, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Voldemort. Harry receives an invitation to the Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He finds out that he is very famous in the magical world, because he is the only one who has ever survived the Dark Lord’s curse of death. Voldemort, according to the common opinion – has died. Because of the incident, Harry receives a great amount of attention from the children in the school.
The school is divided into four houses, who have a great amount of rivalry between them. Harry meets new friends in the school, and grows especially attached to two: Hermione Granger – a nice girl with horse-teeth and a great love for the rules, and Ron Weasley – a tall, red-headed boy who is a member of a poor and vast family.
Harry acquires himself enemies as well – Draco Malfoy, one of the students in his class, and Professor Snape – the potions master, who absolutely despises Harry.
Harry learns a lot about the magical
world where everything is new and strange to him, and is found to be bright, brave and has a special talent of getting himself into trouble. Throughout the book, Harry goes through a maturity process and finds he masters powers he didn’t know existed. Harry is also discovered to have a special talent for Quidditch – the popular wizard sport which is played entirely on flying brooms.
The plot surrounds a stone with wonderful powers, which can turn a human into an immortal and grant wealth, and was created by Nicholas Flamel, a famous alchemist.
Throughout the year the three heroes discover more and more details about the wonderful stone until they find where it dwells, while they deal with many dangers, and discover the truth of the Lord Voldemort’s end.
The author has successfully managed to combine myths and a fantastic world in a spirited and light-humoured story. The story is suitable for children of the ages 7-18 and older people will enjoy it as well.
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