My Book Shelf

Right now, my favorite books are Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. I first started reading it while I worked at Walden Book over the winter. I know, I know. Harry Potter is a book for kids. So bite me. Everyone loves Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone starts out a bit slow, with Harry Potter's parents' deaths.

However, you quickly feel sorry for Harry and want to cheer for him as he lives with his horrid uncle and aunt who hate him and fear him. Furthermore, because of Harry's parents' mysterious deaths and because Harry is the only one who survived the wrath of "You know who", Harry is famous among other wizards, which makes him very uncomfortable.

Although Harry attends wizardry school, you don't feel like you can't identify with people. There's the house rivalry, sports equivalent to "muggers" football, and professors you like and hate. It's the most typical school, except that you get to see dragons, wizards, and sorcerer's stone.

One thing I'm not sure about is why the American publisher changed the philosopher's stone to sorcerer's stone. I wonder if the publisher thought the word "philosopher" is too difficult for little kids. Still, the correct term is the philosopher's stone, which is very famous among the magic community as a magic amplifier as well as an object of other secrets.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets begins with more trouble for Harry. Because of Harry's new found magical power, his uncle and aunt are afraid of him, yet Harry cannot use magic outside of the class room. However, someone wants Harry to stay home and not to attend the school. Since that's out of question for Harry, Harry and his friends go to school anyway, only to get into a lot of trouble and have Harry being accused of killing his class mates.

The third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, starts with Harry blowing up his aunt's sister, who is an incredibly unpleasant hag. Because Harry knows he's going to get into a lot of trouble with Dumbledore (the School's Headmaster), he runs away, but the wizards are kind to him despite him breaking the no-magic-outside-of-the-classroom rule. It turns out that the prisoner of Azkaban, who is guilty of killing Harry's parents, escaped Azkaban, and he's out to get Harry.

Unfortunately, the book four isn't out yet. However, I highly recommend the series to anyone who likes magic, innocence, and imagination. I also heard that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is going to be made into a movie. So I look forward to the movie as well. ^_^