Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J. K. Rowling
Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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J.K. Rowling's first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, is a story full of magic and wonder that is sure to capture the imagination of children both young and old. The story begins with Harry being dropped off at the house of his aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley. The couple, who disapproved of the lifestyle of Harry's wizard mother and father, take Harry in but neglect and abuse him throughout his childhood. At the age of ten, however, Harry begins to embark on a magical journey he will never forget.
Harry begins receiving mysterious letters on his tenth birthday which force his aunt and uncle to move the family. The letters follow until eventually Hagrid introduces himself to Harry as his "mentor" and tells him of his acceptance into Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Before going to school, Harry and Hagrid go shopping for books and supplies needed for study at Hogwarts. Harry soon discovers that he is considered to be a celebrity by fellow wizards because he survived the attack by Voldemort which in turn killed both of his parents. He is then sent off on a train to Hogwarts where he meets his two future best friends, Ron and Hermoine, as well as his future arch rival, Malfoy. Once at Hogwarts, he is assigned to a hall which Professor McGonagall is in charge of. After struggling with his first few classes, he finds out that he is a natural at broomstick flying. He is placed on the hall's Quidditch team in hopes of finally winning the school's championship.
Harry later takes Malfoy up on a challenge to fight at midnight, but stumbles into a hidden chamber on his way there. There he runs into a three-headed dog which Harry suspects is guarding something very valuable. After much grilling, Harry gets Hagrid to tell about the Sorcerer's Stone that is hidden away in the chamber. Harry then starts a race to get to the Stone before the "evil" Professor Snape can get his hands on it. The one who wants the Stone turns out to be Weasly who is after the Stone so that he can free Voldemort and wreak havoc on the school. By believing in himself, he eventually manages to get the Stone and save the school from certain destruction.
CRITICAL REACTION
Harry Potter, not surprisingly, is a critical favorite among book reviewers who feel that the series opens up a whole new generation of readers to the wonder and magic of fantasy books. The cover shows a picture of Harry riding his broom, which leads the reader to believe that the story is a fantasy. The age range of this book would probably be around fifth grade, about the same age as the main character. The story is so original and creative that I think both students and parents would want to read it together. One underlying theme of the story is the struggle with expectations placed upon a person and how it affects that person psychologically. Harry is treated as an instant celebrity after having been treated like dirt his entire life by his aunt and uncle. Harry has conflicting thoughts about the value of his life and his abilities to live up to his expectations at Hogwarts. However, Harry develops into a well-rounded, confident, individual who more or less risks everything to help Hagrid get rid of his dragon at night and also to challenge the underground puzzles. Even though the situations are far-fetched in this book, children could easily relate to the feelings of Harry and his friends. Every child has doubts about his or her own abilities, whether it be sports, music or anything else. This book shows students that they can overcome those everyday obstacles.
- Bryan Cramer
J.K.Rowling:
J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, is a graduate of Exeter University where she studied French. Before finding her calling as a writer, Rowling taught English as a foreign language in other countries to elementary school students. But now that the first 3 books in the Harry Potter series have reached best-seller status, Rowling is making enough money to write full-time and spend more time at home in Edinburgh with her daughter.
Rowling attributes many characters and events
in her books to real-life occurrences. For example, the know-it-all
Hermione is based loosely upon Rowling herself. Two of her childhood
friends had the last name of Potter, which she always liked, and decided
to use as the last name of the hero in her books. Further, she made
the teacher of Potions, Professor Snape,
mean because she hated Chemistry ("muggle" for
potions) when she was Harry's age.
After spending time at jobs she disliked writing down bits of plots and character descriptions, Rowling finally got her first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, published by an American company. (Note: The book now known as Harry Potter was first published in Britain as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, then was published by Scholastic in the U.S.). Rowling has plans for 4 more books (7 total) to account for each year Harry is at Hogwarts. (And now maybe that she's proven her readability, they'll drop the J.K. from her name and use her full name of Joanna--because boys love these books, even though they are written by a woman by a woman (which was the reason for the initials in the first place)).
- Colleen Wheat
- Alphabet Book (created
by Barbara Martin)
Give each student
a letter of the alphabet. Have them write the letter in a fairly
large size in the top left hand corner. Ask students to find a "made-up"
word within Harry Potter starting with their letter. If the book
does not provide a fantasy word with their letter, have them make up their
own word. Invite the students to write a sentence using their word
along with an illustration. Once each student has finished his or
her letter, make an alphabet book for the class.
- Cloak of Invisibility (created
by Barbara Martin)
Give students options
to pick a style of writing such as descriptive, expository, narrative,
or persuasive. For a descriptive writing project, invite students
to write a letter to a friend explaining the cloak: how it feels, looks,
etc. For an expository activity, students could write a letter
to a friend telling about their favorite thing to do while wearing
the cloak. For a narrative response, children could write about a
day in their life as they wear the cloak and the differences they feel
when they have it on. For a persuasive written work, students could
try to convince a friend why it is not right for him/her to borrow the
cloak to do something wrong.
- Tunnel of Challenges
Have students break
up into small groups of four or five. Each student will be responsible
for coming up with their own challenge to have to pass through before getting
to the sorcerer's stone. Students will construct their obstacles
so that the passage through does not solely depend on magic, but on instincts
and cleverness as well. Have students build a model of their connecting
challenges.
- Magic Game
Invite students
to invent their own sport. After looking into the game of Quidditch,
have students work in small groups to create a sport using magic.
Give them specific aspects of the sport that they must explain such as
rules, objectives, equipment, penalties, etc. Have the groups present
their sports to the class and vote on the best one.
- Natalie Orsini
Alexander, Lloyd
The Chronicles of Prydain (series)
Almond, David
Skellig
Anderson, Janet
Going Through the Gate
Baron, T.A.
The Lost Years of Merlin
Beagle, Peter
The Last Unicorn
Bellairs, John
The Dark Secret of Weatherend
Trolley to Yesterday
House With a Clock in its Walls
Boston, Lucy M.
The Children of Green Knows
Cameron, Eleanor
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
Charnus, Suzy McKee
The Bronze King
Chetwin, Grace
The Riddle and the Rune
Chew, Ruth
The Would-be Witch
Cooper, Susan
Over Sea, Under Stone
The Boggart
Coville, Bruce
The Dragonslayers
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
Dahl, Ronald
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Matilda
The Witches
Duane, Diane
So You Want to be a Wizard
Durrell, Gerald
The Talking Parcel
Eager, Edward
Half Magic
Magic or Not?
Seven Day Magic
Ende, Michael
The Neverending Story
Gray, Nicolas Stuart
Grimbold's Other World
Hayes, Sarah
Crumbling Castle
Ibbotson, Eva
The Secret of Platform 13
Which Witch
Jaques, Brian
Redwall
Jones, Diana Wynne
Archer's Goon
Castle in the Air
The Dark Lord of Derkholm
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Juster, Norton
Phantom Tollbooth
Kellogg, M. Bradley
Book of Earth
LeGuin, Ursula K.
A Wizard of Earthsea
L'Engle, Madeline
Wrinkle in Time
Levine, Gaila
Ella Enchanted
Lewis, C.S.
Chronicles of Narnia (series)
McKillip, Patricia
The Forgotten Beasts of It
McKinley, Robin
The Blue Sword
The Hero and the Crown
Nesbit, E.
Five Children and It
Nix, Garth
Sabriel
O'Shea, Pat
The Hounds of the Morrigan
Pierce, Tamora
The Circle of Magic (series)
The Immortals (series)
The Song of the Lioness (series)
Pope, Elizabeth
The Perilous Gard
Pullman, Phillip
The Golden Compass
Regan, Dian Curtis
Princess Nevermore
Smith, Sherwood
Wren to the Rescue
Somtow, S.P.
The Wizard's Apprentice
Tolkein, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
White, T.H.
The Sword in the Stone
Winthrop, Elizabeth
The Castle in the Attic
Wrede, Patricia
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (series)
- Nicole Romano
When Harry goes off to live at Hogwarts it is as if he is in another world, because so many things are different. For this project, students are going to be taking their own trip to another planet. First they will choose their favorite planet. Tell them that the trip is free, however they must find out how much they weigh on this planet. This will be done by going to the following website:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight.They must also draw a picture of a creature that they find on this planet. They are to draw the picture and print it out, all of which can be done at the following website:
http://www.kidpix.com/applet/show.html.Part of the trip also includes an unlimited supply of any ice cream that the student would like. They can choose their favorite by visiting this website:
http://www.icecreamusa.com.One other thing about this trip was not mentioned. There will constantly be classical music playing on this planet. The students do, however, get to choose the composer that they will listen to. They can choose the composer and song at this next website:
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/3486.Finally, students will have to write all about their trip. When writing they should consider the following questions: Why did you choose the planet you chose? How did you feel when you met the creature? What was the creature like? What kind of ice cream did you choose and what was it like eating as much as you wanted? Why did you choose the song you chose? Did you get tired of hearing it over and over?
- Chris Shivers
