Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Review)

My son wanted to start reading the Harry Potter series, and even though I knew he could handle the reading, I was a little concerned about the subject matter. I talked with his second grade teacher about it (she read the whole series) and she said that years 1-5 weren’t too bad, but that years 6-7 were a little intense, so I decided that we would read each volume together. I also thought I would give an overview of each year in my blog just in case you might be curious about the Harry Potter books.

First let me start out by saying that I’m now a J. K. Rowling fan, and I never really liked fantasy or sci-fi themed stories-the books are that good. I read ahead when my son goes to bed and at first I did it as a precaution, but now I can’t put the books down (I am four chapters ahead of my son.!)  My son is also hooked, and we are constantly discussing events of the story-sometimes it can be a bit much so I’ve had to tell him when I’m Harry Pottered out and need to talk about something else.

The first book in the series is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and it’s in this first book that we first learn about Harry’s peculiar abilities and his sad past. The story begins with the delivery of Harry to his only blood relatives after the untimely deaths of his parents. Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts (the local wizarding school), along with Professor McGonagle (a witch at the school) and Hagrid (the school’s gamekeeper) check out and deliver Harry on the doorstop of the Dursleys. There is one major problem with this-the Dursleys are not magical. They are "normal" humans that magical folk refer to as "muggles," and Harry will have to live in their world and not the world of his parents-it will be safer...

Harry has it hard with the Dursleys-his Aunt Petunia (his mother’s sister) and Uncle Vernon have not told him about his magical parents or how they died, and they treat him like he is some sort of poor relation who they have been forced to raise. The Dursley’s only son Dudley is very fat and given anything that he desires, while poor Harry is made to live in the cupboard below the stairs, becomes a human punching bag for Dudley, is forced to wear Dudley’s overly large hand-me-downs, and is never shown even the slightest bit of kindness. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia abhor anything that is out-of-the-ordinary, and there is nothing ordinary about Harry.

But Harry’s life is about to change. He turns eleven, and though he doesn’t get even a happy birthday wish from his relatives, there are wizards every where who know about Harry and they soon will do everything in their power to wish him a happy birthday and welcome him back into their world, even if they have to go against the wishes of Harry’s muggle family.

The rest of the story revolves around Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, the school for witches and wizards, as he struggles with new-found fame in the wizarding world. However, some disturbing events force Harry to deal with both a painful past and uncertain future, as he unravels the real reasons why he is so famous.
Now even thought I love the books, there are a few alarming elements in each story that younger kids might find frightening. In year one, someone or something has been attacking the unicorns in the woods that surround the school (students are forbidden to go there because of the menagerie of dangerous creatures who live there). Harry and a classmate serve a detention where they accompany Hagrid into the woods and they not only find the hurt unicorn, they come across a shadowy figure doing the attacks!

Since my son and I were taking turns reading back and forth, I "glossed" over this particular area during the reading, and we talked about what was going on with Harry in the story. And, after we read a book, we rented the movie, but the movies were kind of a let down-someone else’s vision can’t quite take the place of the pictures our own minds can create…

Here are my ratings for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone:

Language/Vocabulary: One of the things I found most interesting is Rowling’s ability to create this world with all the terms and lingo associated with it. You can’t help but believe this world exists. (For example: Harry plays the wizard game of Quidich, a sort of a basketball game played in the air on broomsticks.) Keep in mind that the characters are English, so they speak a little differently that our kids, but there is no need to worry about foul language. My rating: 5/5


Lesson: There are plenty of positive messages given throughout the book: the importance of friendships, how your past does not decide your future, acceptance of people who are different from you, and the power of love.
My rating 5/5

Violence: Here’s where things get touchy. As I said before, there is the attacker in the woods, but there is also a brush with a three-headed dog, and danger for Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione at the end of the story.
My rating 3.5/5

I highly recommend the series, but keep what I've said in mind when considering these books for your child. The official age rating for at least the first book is 8 and up, but many teachers say that fifth graders can better handle the subject matter. Regardless, the books are quite large and the vocabulary is unique, so it may be best to read it with your child, especially if they struggle over unfamiliar words. Happy reading!

The picture of the book was used for the sole purpose of review and is connected to it's source-Amazon.com.  All opinions expressed in this review are my own and were done without any form of compensation.

What we're reading now (book review)

As promised, I’m going to review one of the books I’ve been reading to my kids. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart is the author’s first children’s novel, and not only was it was on the New York Times Best Sellers List for many weeks, it's now a series. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey is the second in the trilogy, and just out this month, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma.

I bought this book on a whim for my son’s birthday because I was attracted by the story line and size of the book-this was definitely going to take some time to get through, and I was looking forward to reading it with the kids. The Times age level rating is from ages 9-12, and although I agree that the vocabulary might be challenging to a young reader, I believe the story itself would interest children a little younger and a little older than the ratings. My son just turned 8 and my daughter is 11 so this was just right for us.

The story revolves around four gifted children (each gifted in his or her own way), who respond to a newspaper ad that asks, "Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" Although many children respond and attempt at passing numerous mind-boggling tests, only these four succeed:

• Reynie Muldoon, a keen observer of people and puzzle solver-to him everything has a trick.
  
• Sticky Washington, a boy who can remember anything and everything-obscure facts stick like glue to his well trained mind.
  
• Kate Weatherall, a girl who can get out of most situations with the help of her handy bucket of tools she keeps attached at her hip-she definitely has had her share of tough times.
  
• And Constance Contraire, a diminutive girl whose talent seems to be her extreme stubbornness-she certainly is not afraid to speak her mind.
  

Together these children must solve some perplexing issues like the disappearance of government agents and the fact that nobody seems concerned-and they have to do it in a school!
There are also a host of other interesting characters that the children interact with:

• Mr. Benedict, a genius in the science world and former government advisor.
  
• Milligan, a very sad secret agent who acts as the children’s guide and later their protector.
  
• Rhonda Kazembe and Number Two, secret agents and aids to Mr. Benedict.
  
• And the villain, scientist Ledroptha Curtain, head of The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened located on Nomansan Island.

I truly loved the fact that this story wrapped a mystery up in a blanket of scientific fiction while still managing to involve the reader in all  the puzzling-I found myself reading past my kids’ bedtime because all of us couldn’t stand the cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. In fact, I would always start the next section to make sure everything turned out alright, and I caught myself reading ahead after the kids went to bed because I couldn’t put the book down-the story is that riveting!
 (My son started taking the book off of me when we were through, and shaking his finger he would say, "Mommy, I’m going to take this off of you now so you don’t read ahead because you know that won't be fair," but I would just sneak it out of his room whenever he fell asleep…)

I also liked some of the quirky details, like how the characters’ names cleverly referred to individual personality traits, and how the third-person omniscient narration allowed us to get inside the heads of all the characters. We read two very long chapters tonight, and we have both a final chapter and an excerpt from the beginning of the next book in the series to read. (I finished the book a few days ago. Shh! Don’t tell my kids.)

I want to add that the story line is not gender specific, but it did take my daughter a couple chapters to get hooked (she is not used to this type of story)-now she is the biggest complainer when I stop and call it a night! So if you are looking to entice a reluctant reader, or if you are thinking about getting this for your reading library, don’t hesitate-this book is a must add. And with the holidays fast approaching, what better time than now?

*Please note: I did not receive compensation of any kind from either the publisher or author of this book. I bought this book and read it to my kids, and thought the readers of my blog might enjoy it as well.