REVIEWED BY JAMES
Year 4 student at Arden Anglican School, Beecroft NSW
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Children’s, ISBN 9781408855652
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a great book and has been round for 19 years and many people enjoy reading the series of books.
Joanne Rowling’s books have been translated into 78 languages and the Harry Potter series are her best books yet. Not only children enjoy reading it but many adults like to read the books.
The book has broken many records and there are many reasons it is famous. It has some of the best ratings you could see for a book that has been round for many years.
The best part I like about this book is many people think Harry knows a lot and that he has the power to control nearly anything. No one can do a lot in their first week at Hogwarts but Professor Snape is a bit jealous of Harry and the attention he gets. He tries to prove he knows nothing but he is still the same as he was before. Snape isn’t very nice to Harry because he expects a lot more, like to tell some people to do the same thing as they where told to when he never knew what the other people where doing.
The paragraph I like best is this:
Things didn’t improve for the Gryffindors as potion lesson continued. Snape put us all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black coat, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticising almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when green clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus’ cauldron. “You Potter why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills. Thought it would make you look good if he got it wrong did you?”
The part I like about this certain paragraph is that professor Snape is jealous of Harry’s powers so he tries to make him look bad in front of everyone. The only thing that made Harry famous is when Voldemort tries to kill him but couldn’t and something was protecting him.
This book has more action than usual books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid which is just a basic story. This is the best book I have read in the 9 years I have been around for. At the beginning you’re eager to see what happens next because it just describes a few characters and the settings. This book has a very tightening tension scene at the beginning. Yes it gets a bit boring reading the setting at the beginning but wait till another 5–8 pages and you’ll be totally addicted to it because I couldn’t stop reading.
Every night my Mum or Dad would come in an hour or 2 later after they said goodnight and I’d still be reading this magnificent book. The best character I like is Hagrid. You can never get enough of Hagrid, that’s one thing I know for sure! The best part I like with Hagrid involved is the Gringotts bank when they take a train back to the ground floor from Harry’s vault at the bank. This is what I like the best: Hagrid told Harry, “don’t talk to me on the way back, it’s best if I keep my mouth shut.” This is why I like Hagrid he is always in a pickle.
Even though Harry is just learning everything, he gets the hang of things very quickly. When he was taking his first flying lessons Neville broke his wrist so the teacher had to go. “Nobody can go on their brooms till I say so.”After she left Harry got on his broomstick and started flying to save one of Neville’s gifts his parents sent him. Malfoy always likes to tease or steal one of Harry’s friend’s things or even his stuff.
I like this because Harry is new and already he has friends and is helping them fit in even if he hasn’t already fit in.
This book has lots of descriptive language and that is very important in a book like this. Because it has a lot of stuff happening you need to have a little read of the sentence and you can basically remember what happened 5 pages ago. You can always keep up because the author explains every little detail. Some people may think that’s boring but when you get further into the book that little detail becomes very important and if you don’t have the detail you’ll lose track of where you are in the story
This book has changed my experience of reading books it has had so much action following with lots of detail. This story also has a very good sense of humour throughout it.
This is James’s first book review posted to Alphabet Soup. If YOU would like to send us a book review, story or poem — check out our submission guidelines.
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