Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 11, 52 in 52

I realize that I am a latecomer to the Harry Potter series of books. It's probably the first time in my life that I've actually seen the movie (at least the tv version of it) before actually reading the book. I'm also the last in my family to get around to reading the books. Both my parents, my sister, and her husband have all read the series. Still my oldest has been asking when I would let her read the books. (She saw the portion of the movie with the quidditch match in it and loved it.) I've been putting her off with the vague "when you're older" excuse which can only buy time for so long. I finally decided it was time to wade through the books myself, so I can make an informed judgement about them rather than relying on someone else's evaluation.

As expected, I found the first Harry Potter book to be completely delightful and managed to find enough time to finish it in under 24 hours. I can see why so many people fell in love with this series when it first came out. Harry makes a wonderful protagonist as he struggles to learn who he is and how he fits into a new magical world while trying to do the right thing and help those around him. The scariest scene in the story when Harry, Hagrid, and a few others go out into the forest at night to search for an injured unicorn comes across much more tamely than it's visual counterpart in the movie, so I have no concerns about it causing nightmares. Overall, I would have no problems giving this book to my oldest if it were a stand alone read. Since it is part of a larger series, I will reserve my final decision until I've finished the entire set knowing that she will not want to stop with just one book.

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