Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first volume in a series of seven books of the Harry Potter series. The book was published 30 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London, and has also been made into a feature-length film of the same name. In her debut effort, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Rowling crafts a tale of magical mayhem truly worthy of the often over-used phrase, "a contemporary classic."This is also the most popular of the books by far, selling an estimated 107 million copies worldwide.

This story introduces us to Harry Potter, an orphaned boy sent to live with his "horrible" Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and their fat, obnoxious son, Dudley. Since Harry's parents were powerful witches before they were killed by an even more powerful witch, Harry has Generational Witchcraft in his background, making it very likely that he will be a wizard when he grows up. Vernon and Petunia know this, and since they hate Witchcraft and anything to do with it, they determine to try to raise Harry in such a way as to deny him any knowledge of his parent's proclivities.

Therefore, they do not tell him the truth of his parent's death, telling Harry they were killed in an auto accident. They also force Harry to live in a closet underneath the stairs, even though they have a perfectly good extra bedroom upstairs. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia deny Harry any parental love and compassion; in fact, all through this book, any non-witch folk -- like Vernon and Petunia -- are depicting in disgusting language. Non-witch people are known as Muggles , and they are depicting as being "dumber than a box of rocks", of being physically obscene, and of living the most boring, unimaginative lives possible. Witches, on the other hand, are depicted as being very smart, very "with it", of being physically normal, and of living wonderfully exciting lives, especially when they are in their Fantasy Reality, explained below.

Harry spends his first ten years totally unaware that he has Witchcraft in his background and that he might possess inherent "special powers". Suddenly, a letter arrives from the Hogwart School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, telling Harry that he has been accepted as a student, and informing him as to when classes begin. Of course, Uncle Vernon intercepts and destroys the letter. On the next day, two letters arrive, and Vernon destroys them. On the next day, many more letters arrive, this time coming in through windows, doors, and cracks. Finally, after the most stupid flight possible to avoid the letters, enough letters arrive at the boat on which Uncle Vernon has taken Harry that Harry finally gets his hands on one of the letters.

Harry is totally dumbfounded with the news that he is a Wizard, but he has to get free of the physical clutches of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. They have Harry on a boat headed for nowhere and they had every intention of keeping Harry from ever attending Hogwarts School. However, Harry receives supernatural assistance. A very huge man suddenly appears on the boat, out of nowhere, and forcibly removes Harry from the clutches of Uncle Vernon. His name turns out to be Hagrid, and he is the grounds keeper of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft.

Soon, Harry finds his way through the dimensional portal at the train station, and on board the Hogwarts train, on his way to discovering new friends, and an entirely new, exciting life in the Fantasy Reality of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Suddenly, Harry finds himself and his friends,Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, in the exciting race to discover the Sorcerer's Stone, the occult symbol of reaching the final stage in the quest for eternal life.

The book has been remade into a film with the title "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". The rle of Harry is played by Daniel Radcliff and the roles of ron and hermione are played by Ruperth Grinth and Emma Watson respectively.