Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Copyright: 1997 by J.K. Rowling
Ages: 9-12
Pages: 309
Genre: Fantasy

Summary:
When Harry Potter is a year old his parents are murdered by Lord Voldemort. Harry is the only person to have ever survived the killing curse. After his parents are murdered he is sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle. His Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and their son Dudley treat Harry horribly. For the first ten years they have him. Until the day that Harry gets a letter from a magical school called Hogwarts. His Aunt and Uncle try to tell him that there’s been a mistake, but they can’t stop the letters from coming. At one point, they all run away to a shack in the middle of the ocean and take refuge there. That night (the eve of Harry’s eleventh birthday) A Giant named Hagrid appears and tells Harry a bit about his past. Including that his parents were murdered. Hagrid takes him to the Wizarding part of London to gather his money from Gringotts (and a package that the headmaster sent Hagrid to retrieve) and school supplies. While Harry is purchasing a wand (The brother of the wand that left Harry a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.) Hagrid buys Harry an Owl whom Harry names Hedwig. Hagrid explains to Harry everything he knows about the night that Harry’s parents were murdered and then leaves Harry to his thoughts.
In September, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia drop Harry off at the train station for Harry to catch his train on platform 9 ¾. But because he is alone, he doesn’t know how to get onto the platform so he asks for help from a nearby woman with several children. It turns out he is supposed to run at the barrier (and basically hope you don’t die). Once he is aboard the train he meets Ronald Weasley and they become fast friends. They meet a know-it-all girl named Hermione and soon decide that she is not worth their while.
Hagrid greets the first year students at the train and takes them in the boats across the lake. Once they arrive at the castle, each student is sorted into one of four houses. This is done by a magical hat being placed on each first years head and it determines where they belong. When it is Harry’s turn he has the entire school’s attention, including the Headmaster (Dumbledore) and the Potions master (Snape). He begs the hat not to send him to Slytherin. So instead, he is placed in Gryffindor. Ron, Hermione and an awkward boy named Neville are also sorted into Gryffindor. While, a nasty boy named Draco Malfoy and his two friends Crabbe and Goyle are placed in Slytherin. (The same house that Voldemort was in.)
After the best dinner Harry has ever had, he and the rest of Gryffindor house head up to their common room which is behind that portrait of the fat lady.
The next day Harry becomes the center of attention, everyone stares and makes comments about him. Also, he and the first years attend their very first potions lesson. This is where Harry learns that Professor Snape absolutely hates him. He asks him impossible questions and expects him to know the answers and even takes points from Gryffindor when Harry doesn’t know the answer. Ron tries to cheer him up and they go to Hagrid’s for tea. While at Hagrid’s Harry finds a newspaper clipping about Gringotts, the wizard bank, being broken into. Harry thinks that it is the same vault that Hagrid emptied the first day they met.
Harry and Draco end up becoming enemies. But Harry triumphs. The first year students are to take flying lessons and Harry is an absolute natural. He and Malfoy have a fight of sorts in the air and their Transfiguration teacher see’s how amazing Harry is on a broom and puts him on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. Draco challenges Harry to a duel but in fact uses it as a set up to get Harry and Ron kicked out of school. (Hermione goes with them, much to the annoyance of the boys.) While on the run from Filch (the caretaker) they run into a locked door on the third floor (which they had previously been forbidden to enter) and come face to face with a three headed dog. They barely escape and return to their common room. Draco is furious when he sees them at school the next day and his anger only heightens when Harry receives his first broomstick. A Nimbus 2000. Later that day Harry receives his first Quidditch lesson from the team captain Oliver Wood. Harry is a natural and Wood is thrilled!
With classes and Quidditch Harry is shocked to find out he’s been at Hogwarts for two months. The first years begin to learn spells (like wingardium leviosa, a levitating spell.) But when Hermione masters the spells the quickest, Ron makes fun of her and she spends the rest of the afternoon in the girls bathroom crying. That night at the Halloween feast, a troll is let into the school and Harry and Ron run to warn Hermione. Only they end up locking the troll in the girls bathroom with her. All three of them are able to defeat the troll. When the teachers come in and start blaming the boys, Hermione lies to protect them. From then on, they’re all very good friends.
The Quidditch season begins and Harry prepares for his first game. He is beyond nervous and when Snape takes his Quidditch book from him, Harry notices that he is limping. He goes to the staffroom to retrieve his book only to find out that Snape had been bitten by the three headed dog. Harry comes up with the theory that Snape let the troll in to try and get past the three headed dog to get to whatever is was protecting. The day of Harry’s first game starts out wonderfully, until Harry loses control of his broom because of a curse. Hermione notices that Snape is watching Harry and speaking under his breath so she assumes that it’s him. She lights his robes on fire and Harry is able to regain control of his broom, barely catching the snitch in time. When Harry, Ron and Hermione tell Hagrid about Snape he is immediately curious to how they found out about his dog Fluffy. But explains to them that Snape is trying to protect what is hidden beneath the school and that it’s between Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Flamel.
With the Christmas holidays right around the corner Harry, Ron and Hermione spend a lot of time in the library trying to find out what could be hidden beneath the school. Christmas arrives and for the first time in Harry’s memory, he has gifts. He opens them to discover an invisibility cloak that belonged to his father. The note attached says “use it well”. And after the Hogwarts Christmas feast, he does. He goes to the restricted section of the library to look for information on Mr. Flamel. He is almost caught by Snape and Filch but squeezes through an open doorway to find a large mirror in the middle of a classroom. As he stepped in front of it he saw not only himself, but an entire crowd of people around him. He realizes that it is his family, and directly behind him are his mother and father. He leaves that night and plans to go back again the next day.
After telling Ron of his adventure they decide to go together. But when Ron stands in front of the mirror, he doesn’t see his family. He’s head boy and quidditch captain. Harry, wanting to see his parents again shoves Ron and there is a scuffle. Mrs. Norris (Mr. Filch’s cat) comes in and they run for it. But Harry is consumed by the mirror. He visits it nightly until Professor Dumbledore catches him. He explains that the mirror shows our deepest desires, but not the future. He tells Harry that the mirror will be moved to a new home and not to go looking for it again. Harry agrees and goes back to regular life. But soon finds that life is not normal. He begins having strange dreams and when he finds out that Snape is refereeing the next quidditch match, he becomes even more worried.
While in the common room with Hermione, Ron and Neville, Harry finds Nicholas Flamel. They find out that he created the Sorcerer’s Stone, which will make the drinker immortal.
As the next quidditch match approaches, Harry becomes more and more worried. Until he finds out that Dumbledore will be at the match. He catches the snitch and Gryffindor is in the lead. But on his way back up to the school he sees Snape going into the forbidden forest and follows him. He listens as Snape threatens Quirrell and then tells Ron and Hermione what he saw.
Soon after, they run into Hagrid who is looking up information about Dragons, only to find out that he has won a dragon Egg. Not only that, he is trying to hatch it, which is illegal. Unfortunately Draco hears them talking about it and informs a teacher, so they have to get rid of the dragon before Hagrid can be found out. Ron is ingured by the dragon and unable to help, so it’s left to Hermione and Harry. Fortunately, Ron’s brother has some friends who agreed to pick up the dragon. But it will be after curfew in the astronomy tower. Harry and Hermione let the dragon go without a hitch, but forget the invisibility cloak at the top of the tower. Draco had told on them and Neville had heard and was trying to warn them. All four of them got detention, not only that, they lost their houses 50 points each.
The night of their detention arrives and they go into the forbidden forest with Hagrid to find an injured unicorn. Harry and Draco find it, but it’s dead, and something is drinking its blood. It comes after Harry but he is rescued by a centaur, and returned to Hagrid. But Harry learned that Voldemort is after the stone.
Harry, Ron and Hermione all make it through their exams successfully, but none of them remember how. After their exams they go to Hagrids only to find out that Hagrid let the secret out of how to get past Fluffy. They run tot tell Dumbledore only to learn that he’s gone to London. They realize that tonight is the night and they plan to stop Snape. After everyone in the common room went to bed, Harry, Ron and Hermione get under the invisibility cloak and are about to head to the third floor corridor. Neville threatens to fight them to keep them out of trouble but Hermione stuns him. One they get to Fluffy, Harry uses a flute to lull Fluffy to sleep and Jump down the trapdoor.
Once they get away from fluffy they have to complete several tasks. The first of which is escaping from Devil’s snare, a deadly plant that tries to kill you. Hermione manages to get them out of that challenge. Next, is a room filled with flying keys and a locked door on the opposite side of the room. Harry masters this fairly easily. Ron is in charge of the next room. It’s a giant chessboard and they have to play the part of the chessmen. Ron sacrifices himself so that Hermione and Harry can go on. Harry and Hermione both stumble across a troll that has been knocked out and continue on. Hermione manages to get past Snape’s logic poem and she returns to help Ron and tell Dumbledore that Harry has gone after the stone. Harry moves forward but doesn’t meet Snape or Voldemort like he thought he would. Professor Quirrell is standing in front of the Mirror of Erised trying to figure out how to get the stone out of it. Harry is confused, he was sure that Snape tried to kill him and truly hates him. Quirrell agrees that Snape hates Harry but he tried to undo the curse on Harry’s broom. Harry learns that Lord Voldemort is with Quirrell at all times. The turban that he wears is to hide Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head. Voldemort has Quirrell use Harry to find the stone. Harry does, and then runs. For the first time in 10 years, Harry and Voldemort are face to face. He offers Harry the chance to be with his mother and father again, but Harry refuses. Quirrell/Voldemort try to kill him, but he cannot hold Harry. By touching him, he gets severe burns, so Harry grabs his face and doesn’t let go until he passes out.
When Harry wakes up with Professor Dumbledore leaning over him. He immediately begins to worry that Voldemort got away and advises Dumbledore to go after him. Dumbledore tells him that the stone has been destroyed and that the reason Quirrell/Voldemort could not touch Harry was because Harry’s mother died to protect him, and that it left a powerful mark of protection. Love.
Ron and Hermione come to visit Harry and he told them what Dumbledore had shared with him. Unfortunately, because of the points lost, Gryffindor is in last place for the house cup, until Dumble gives points to four lucky Gryffindor’s. They win the house cup and they all board the train and return home. Harry can’t wait to come back to Hogwarts after the summer.

Who would I recommend this to?
EVERYONE!!!

Potential Problems:
It is somewhat scary and involves witches which bothers some parents. They believe it’s an evil book.

My reaction:
This is my favorite book of the semester, I think J.K. Rowling is an amazing author and I can’t wait to read more of her books.