Harry Potter And the
Sorcerers Stone
Written by: J.K Rowling
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine books
Authors study for Harry Potter and the Sorcerors Stone
The author of the Harry Potter books is well known. She is JK Rowling. JK Rowling
was born in July of 1965. She was born at Yate General Hospital in England. Her
parents were both Londoners. Her father was in the royal navy. Her mother was a
part of the woman equivalent rights. They met on a train in Scotland. As a child JK
was interested in writing fantasy books that she would usually read to her younger
sister, Dianne. JK wrote her first story when she was five. It was about a rabbit
that got the measles. Then all of his animal friends visited him. The main animal
that visited the rabbit was a bumblebee called Miss Bee. JK Rowling lived in Yate
until she was nine. She then moved to a village called Tutshill. Tutshill is located
near Chepstow, Wales. JK went to Exeter University in Paris. There she earned a
French and classic degree. As a postgraduate she moved to London and worked At
Amnesty International over all other jobs.
JK started writing Harry Potter books during a train delay. Harry Potter was a
fictional series about a kid and his journeys. JK Rowling won many awards and
honors from these books including Order of the British empire, Prince of Asturias
award for Concord , Author of the year, lifetime achievement award, Blue Peter
Gold Badge, booksellers association author of the year, The Edinburgh award, and
the James Joyce award. That is eight awards and honors! In 1992 JK Rowling got
married (name of husband not included). Then in 1993 they had a girl named
Jessica. When the marriage ended, she and Jessica moved back to England from
Scotland. In 2001 JK married Dr. Neil Murray. They had 2 more kids named David
and Mackenzie. David was born in 2003 and Mackenzie in 2005. Nowadays JK lives
in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that was my authors study.
She can be contacted by mail at: J.K. Rowling, c/o Scholastic Inc., 555 Broadway,
NY, NY 10012
Interest Level and Reading Level: The
book is for intermediate readers. Grades 4-7
Theme:
The theme of the book is magic and
how Harry uses it to his advantage. In the
beginning of the book Harry’s life is
miserable with his aunt, uncle, and their son
Dudley. After Harry learns that he is a wizard
his life becomes better. At Hogwarts (the
wizarding school) he learns many spells and
gets many friends and enemies. Harry solves
his problems at Hogwarts, but he has to go
home for the summer. Harry can’t use magic
out of school, so he thinks of a devious plan
for the summer. That was theme of the book
and how it runs through it.
Overview:
In Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone a
13 year old boy (Harry) lives with his hateful
aunt, uncle, and their bully son, Dudley. After a
wizard named Hagrid tells that Harry is a
wizard, Harry heads off to Hogwarts. There he
meets two friends: Hermione Granger and Ron
Weasley. They find out that their school is
guarding the sorcerer’s stone, a stone of
eternal life. So, they go to get it before it falls
into the wrong hands of Voldemort, the evil
wizard who killed Harry’s parents. Harry
protects the stone but gets hurt in the act.
Problem and Solution:
In this Harry Potter there are two problems. The
first problem is that Harry’s aunt and uncle treat Harry
like dust. Harry finally gets a break when Hagrid shows
up and tells Harry he’s a wizard. The biggest problem is
the sorcerer’s stone. First, they suspect a mean teacher
named Snape to be the one about to steal the stone.
When Harry finally gets to the stone he finds it to be
professor Quirrell, but he is not alone, the evil
Voldemort has possessed his body. So Quirrell had two
faces. Harry fought to keep the stone away from
Voldemort. Before Harry knew it, he was at the
recovery room and before Voldemort could kill him,
headmaster Albus Dumbledore showed up. Harry was
thanked for his heroic actions and this is how Harry
solved his problems.
Setting and Point of View:
The main setting is at the castle. The
gigantic castle is next to a lake, and the
forbidden forest. The castle is where Harry
goes to school. The house of Harry’s aunt
and uncle is in a regular neighborhood near
London. The point of view of the book
bounces around from first-person to the thirdperson. It is mostly in the third-person point
of view.
Characters:
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The first character is Harry Potter. Harry is a nice, caring
kid, but when it comes to wizard school. He may fall
behind.
The next character is Ron Weasley. Ron is Harry’s friend,
he is a good kid who helps out, and is very good at
chess. But he also falls behind at school.
The last kid character is Hermione Granger. Hermione is a
very good student who hates to be bad, but can be bossy
at times.
The next person is Hagrid. He is a large man who has a
heart for animals. He is also very kind to Harry, but is not
afraid to challenge Harry.
The last person is Albus Dumbledore who is the
headmaster of the Wizarding School called Hogwarts.
Albus is a generous man who likes to check up
Discussion Questions:
Chapter 1: What did Harry Potter survive from?
Chapter 2: How did the snake know what Harry was saying?
Chapter 3: Where were the letters coming from?
Chapter 4: Where was Hogwarts?
Chapter 5: What was in the box?
Chapter 6: What were they going to do first at Hogwarts?
Chapter 7: Why did Harry forget that dream?
Chapter 8: Who broke into Grigotts (bank for wizards) and what did it
have to do with the thing in the box?
Chapter 9: Why didn’t Malfoy show up for the duel?
Chapter 10: Was it Snape who let the troll in?
Chapter 11: Would Harry win the cup for Quidditch?
Chapter 12: What did the mirror really show?
Chapter 13: Will Quirrell stand up to Snape?
Chapter 14: What will be their punishment?
Chapter 15: Was it Voldemort killing the unicorns?
Chapter 16: Who was the person trying to get the Stone?
Chapter 17: What is going to happen over the summer?
If you liked this book,
you’ll love…
If you liked this book you will like the rest in the series:
 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire
 Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
 Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince
 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2