Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the Harry Potter series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school. With the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.

The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999, and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages and made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the fourth best-selling book of all time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors; Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-teller Homer. While some commentators thought the book looked backward to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as showing overcoming obstacles like bullying.

The Harry Potter series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis, and marketing.

Plot

Harry Potter lives with his abusive uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying, spoiled son, Dudley. On Harry's 11th birthday, he learns that he is a wizard. A man named Rubeus Hagrid tells him that he can attend Hogwarts, a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, a Dark wizard named Voldemort murdered his parents and tried to kill him as well. However, Voldemort's killing curse rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead. Unbeknownst to Harry, this event made him famous among wizards.

Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where he buys a wand and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. He befriends Ron Weasley, a first-year student, during the journey. He also meets Hermione Granger and has a confrontation with Draco Malfoy. At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns each first-year student to a House. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.

Harry's broomstick flying ability earns him a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for the Potions professor Severus Snape, who seems to hate Harry. Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor one night. The two boys later save Hermione from a troll and begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that he jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift – his father's invisibility cloak. While using the cloak to explore the school undisturbed, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his family in the mirror.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality. A centaur named Firenze warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the artefact. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry approaches the Stone. He encounters Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins hurting, and he passes out.

Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. Dumbledore explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's year-end feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the home of the Dursleys for the summer.

Characters

• Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard."<ref name="jkrbio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there.<ref name="RehmInterviewRowling">Template:Cite episode</ref> Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead,<ref name="RehmInterviewRowling" /> which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.

• Ron Weasley is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him".<ref name="Harry Potter and Me">Template:Cite episode</ref> He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizard Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
• Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright, and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".<ref name="EBF 2004">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

• Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
• Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly Template:Convert tall, with tangled black hair and beard, who was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), though Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's gamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
• Professor Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".<ref name="Solomon">Template:Cite episode</ref>
• Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teaches Transfiguration and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
• Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
• Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
• Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.
• Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been bewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
• Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
• Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
• Professor Severus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in Slytherin, his own House and seizes every opportunity to humiliate others, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
• Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school's secret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.

Other members of staff include: the dumpy Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitable Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporific History of magic teacher, Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeist Peeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.

In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero, Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard"<ref name="jkrbio"/> and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him.<ref name=hilary/> During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him".<ref name="Harry Potter and Me"/> Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".<ref name="EBF 2004"/>

Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness".<ref name="Solomon" /> His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.

The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate,<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:

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Development, publication and reception

Development

The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known,Template:Efn wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product."<ref name=hilary>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry.<ref name=hilary/> Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She sent the book to a literary agent and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words. Barry Cunningham, who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors for Bloomsbury Children's Books, recommended accepting the book<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Publication and reception in the United Kingdom

[[File:Harry Potter Platform Kings Cross.jpg|thumb|Imitation of the fictional [[Places in Harry Potter#Platform Nine and Three-Quarters|Platform Template:Frac]] at the real King's Cross railway station, with a luggage trolley apparently halfway through the magical wall]]

Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Cunningham sent proof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the pen name J. K. Rowling just before publication.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing"/>

Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments,<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing">Template:Cite book</ref> wrote what is thought to be the first published review, in The Scotsman on 28 June 1997. She described Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children".<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /><ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews">Template:Cite book</ref> Another early review, in The Herald, said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews in The Guardian and The Sunday Times and in September 1997 Books for Keeps, a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Sunday Times said: "comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" and The Scotsman said it had "all the makings of a classic".<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

In 1997 the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP">Template:Cite journal</ref> The Smarties award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> The following year, Philosopher's Stone won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />Template:Efn It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards – for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover" /> In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.<ref>"BBC – The Big Read" Template:Webarchive. BBC. April 2003, Retrieved 12 December 2013</ref>

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association / Bookseller Author of the Year.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Braille edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Platform Template:Frac, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

US publication and reception

citation

CitationClass=web }}</ref>	UK	American
mum, mam	mom
sherbet lemon	lemon drop
motorbike	motorcycle
chips	fries
crisp	chip
jelly	Jell-O
jacket potato	baked potato
jumper	sweater

Scholastic Corporation bought the US rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers<ref name="fansided">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"<ref name="vox">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>), the American edition was published in September 1998<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.<ref name="mugglenet-bbc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy and some other changes lost the meaning of other terms changed in translation, for example from "crumpet" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of Philosopher's Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits.<ref name="Nel2004JellyJello">Template:Cite book</ref> Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On BookBrowse, a site that aggregates book reviews such as media reviews, the book received a Template:Rating from "Critics' Opinion".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one by Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers.<ref name="UnsworthCoursesHPAndSorcerersStone" /> Although The Boston Globe and Michael Winerip in The New York Times complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book,<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" /><ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref> they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /><ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" /> A year later, the US edition was selected as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and a New York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year and won Parenting MagazineTemplate:'s Book of the Year Award for 1998,<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP" /> the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 1999, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped the New York Times list of best-selling fiction<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until the New York Times split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="UnsworthCoursesHPAndSorcerersStone">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Publishers WeeklyTemplate:'s report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6 million copies).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book<ref name="muggle">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> that was released on 1 October 2008<ref name="10than">Template:Cite book</ref> to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release.<ref name="muggle"/> For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-released Sorcerer's Stone, along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art by Kazu Kibuishi in 2013.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Translations

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By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages.<ref name="Translations for Harry Potter">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots.<ref name="BBCScots">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".<ref name="Brennan2005ReviewAncientGreek">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Style and themes

Philip Nel highlighted the influence of Jane Austen, whom Rowling has greatly admired since the age of twelve. Both novelists greatly encourage re-reading, because details that look insignificant foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story-line – for example Sirius Black is briefly mentioned near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and then becomes a major character in the third to fifth books. Like Austen's heroines, Harry often has to re-examine his ideas near the ends of books. Some social behaviour in the Harry Potter books is reminiscent of Austen, for example the excited communal reading of letters. Both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that express their personalities. However, in Nel's opinion Rowling's humour is more based on caricature and the names she invents are more like those found in Charles Dickens's stories,<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />Template:Rp and Amanda Cockrell noted that many of these express their owners' traits through allusions that run from ancient Roman mythology to eighteenth-century German literature.<ref name="Cockrell2004Password">Template:Cite book</ref> Rowling, like the Narnia series' author C. S. Lewis, thinks there is no rigid distinction between stories for children and for adults. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines literary genresTemplate:Nsmdnsfantasy, young adult fiction, boarding school stories, Bildungsroman and many others.<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />Template:Rp

Some reviewers compared Philosopher's Stone to the stories of Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of Philosopher's Stone, seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other really popular children's author of the late 1990s was an American, R. L. Stine. Some of the story elements in Philosopher's Stone resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero of James and the Giant Peach lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant auntsTemplate:Nsmdnsone fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP" /><ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles" /> Tad Brennan commented that Rowling's writing resembles that of Homer: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression".<ref name="Brennan2005ReviewAncientGreek" /> Stephen King admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Nicholas Tucker described the early Harry Potter books as looking back to Victorian and Edwardian children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, including Argus Filch's cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Several other commentators have stated that the books present a highly stratified society including many social stereotypes.<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination">Template:Cite journal</ref> However Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Susan Hall wrote that there is no rule of law in the books, as the actions of Ministry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This provides an opportunity for Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the highly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.<ref name="Hall2003RuleOfLaw">Template:Cite book</ref>

Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the extremely conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", while the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards are based on affection and loyalty. This is reflected in his happiness whenever he is a temporary member of the Weasley family throughout the series, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as father-figures.<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />Template:Rp<ref name="Cockrell2004Password" />

Legacy

Sequels

The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and later, in the US on 2 June 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Harry Potter US — Scholastic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates" /><ref name="Harry Potter US — Scholastic" /> Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Illustrated version

An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations by Jim Kay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.

Podcast version

In May 2020, a reading podcast by Spotify was created and entitled Harry Potter at Home: Readings. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Chapter	Title	Release date	Runtime	Narrated by
1	The Boy Who Lived	5 May 2020	25 mins, 54 secs	Daniel Radcliffe
2	The Vanishing Glass	8 May 2020	27 mins, 27 secs	Noma Dumezweni
3	The Letters from No One	12 May 2020	26 mins, 14 secs	Eddie Redmayne
4	The Keeper of the Keys	14 May 2020	26 mins, 54 secs	Stephen Fry
5	Diagon Alley	19 May 2020	48 mins, 1 sec	Simon Callow, Bonnie Wright and Evanna Lynch
6	The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters	20 May 2020	41 mins, 47 secs	Jamie Parker and cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
7	The Sorting Hat	27 May 2020	27 mins, 1 sec	Olivia Colman, Jonathan Van Ness and Kate McKinnon
8	The Potions Master	28 May 2020	18 mins, 36 secs	Alia Bhatt, Alec Baldwin and Carmen Baldwin
9	Midnight Duel	3 June 2020	33 mins, 21 secs	Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler
10	Hallowe'en	4 June 2020	29 mins, 06 secs	Whoopi Goldberg
11	Quidditch	10 June 2020	22 mins, 27 secs	David Tennant and David Beckham
12	The Mirror of Erised	3 July 2020	39 mins, 14 secs	Matthew Lewis, Helen Howard and Imelda Staunton
13	Nicolas Flamel	7 July 2020	22 mins, 2 secs	Hugh Bonneville
14	Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback	8 July 2020	26 mins, 6 secs	Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton and Helen McCrory
15	The Forbidden Forest	13 July 2020	33 mins, 3 secs	Claudia Kim and Dakota Fanning
16	Through the Trapdoor	14 July 2020	51 mins, 35 secs	Kenneth Branagh, Ruth Wilson and Helena Bonham Carter
17	The Man with the Two Faces	16 July 2020	41 mins, 29 secs	Three families of Harry Potter fans, with a surprise appearance from J. K. Rowling

Film adaptation

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In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first two Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books.<ref name="Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone">Template:Cite news</ref> After extensive casting,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> filming began in September 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London, with production ending in July 2001.<ref name=greg>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in London on 14 November 2001.<ref name="BBCFilmPreview">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and by a score of 65% at Metacritic, representing "generally favourable reviews".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Video games

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Five unique video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, that were loosely based on the film and book:

Developer	Release date	Platform	Genre	GameRankings	Metacritic	Notes
KnowWonder	15 November 2001	Microsoft Windows	Adventure/puzzle	67.35%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 65/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||
Argonaut		PlayStation	Action-adventure	66.98%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 64/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||
Griptonite		Game Boy Color	Role-playing game	73%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || Template:N/A ||
		Game Boy Advance	Action puzzle	68.37%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 64/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||
Aspyr	28 February 2002	Mac OS X	Adventure/puzzle	Template:N/A	Template:N/A	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Warthog	9 December 2003	GameCube	Action-adventure	63.31%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 62/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||
		PlayStation 2		57.90%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 56/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||
		Xbox		61.82%<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 59/100<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||

Uses in education and business

Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as an Template:Linktext. Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors.<ref name="Conn2002ClinicalTeachers">Template:Cite journal</ref> Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination" />

Stephen Brown noted that the early Harry Potter books, especially Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names.<ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles">Template:Cite journal</ref> For example, a real-world analogue of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was introduced under licence in 2000 by toymaker Hasbro.<ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Release history

Country	Release date	Edition (Hardback/Paperback)	Publisher	Pages
United Kingdom	26 June 1997<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Children's Edition	Bloomsbury	223
		Paperback Children's Edition
	11 September 1998<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Adult Edition (Original)
	27 September 1999<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Signature Special Edition
	8 October 2001<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Special Edition
	10 July 2004<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)		336
	4 October 2004<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)		223
	1 November 2010<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Harry Potter Signature Edition
	18 July 2013<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)
	1 September 2014<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardcover Children's Edition (Re-issue with new cover)		352
		Paperback Children's Edition (Re-issue with new cover)
	6 October 2015<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardcover Illustrated Edition (Illustrated by Jim Kay)		256
	20 October 2020<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	MinaLima Edition		368
	9 June 2022<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardcover Children's Edition (25th Anniversary Edition)		352
United States	1 September 1998<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	Hardback	Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic	309
	8 September 1999<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback
	1 November 2000<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Collector's Edition
	1 November 2001<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Mass Market Paperback		400
	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		Paperback (Exclusive Scholastic School Market Edition)	309
	1 October 2008<ref name="10than"/>	Hardback 10th Anniversary Edition
	27 August 2013<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback (Re-issue with new cover)		336
	6 October 2015<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardcover Illustrated Edition (Illustrated by Jim Kay)		256
	20 October 2020<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	MinaLima Edition		368
Canada	1 December 1998<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Children's Edition	Raincoast	223
		Paperback Adult Edition (Original)
	1 November 1999<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Signature Special Edition
	31 August 2000<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Children's Edition
	16 October 2002<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Magic Edition
	4 October 2004<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Hardback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)		336
	12 January 2011<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)	Bloomsbury	223
		Paperback Harry Potter Signature Edition
	27 August 2013<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Paperback Adult Edition (Re-issue with new cover)

Works cited

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External links

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• Template:Trim {{#if: | " | }}Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone{{#if: | " | }} title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Template:OL work

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