The first installment called Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone brings the reader into a story of Harry Potter, a poor orphan boy forced to live with his aunt, uncle; and cousin, where they treat him horribly as a slave, making him take care of them and living in a cupboard under the stairs. That is until the owls start coming with letters from Hogwart's academy, a place for wizards and witches to gain schooling in magical arts. The story takes a turn when Hagrid, a giant whisks Harry away from his horrible family, taking him on an adventure that he never could have anticipated. During his stay, Harry faces many adventures with his new friends, Hermoine and Ron. Together the three of them decide to find out where the sorcerers stone is hidden and why it is so important to the enemy, an evil character named Voldimort. In the end, Harry learns about his parents, his talents; and becomes a hero when he thwarts Voldimort from getting the stone, concluding his first year at Hogwarts.
The genre of this book would fall into fantasy, as it is full of magical and mystical beings and locations, not to mention magic itself being used in nearly every page. The story has well defined characters, plots; and settings allowing the reader to become fully involved in a magical world that does not exist in reality, but also contains real-world settings like London, England. One key point of this work within the genre of fantasy is that it "...is detailed and believable within the context of the story" (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, 209).
There are not really any illustrations in the book other than the occasional black ink sketch associated with beginning a new chapter, and are illustrated by Mary GrandPré (Rowling, 1997).
For response-centered project ideas, I believe that a once/now essay would be a great way for readers to see the transformation of Harry from the beginning of the story to the end after he has experienced a whole new world and realize that his parents were not killed in an accident, nor is he just a simple normal boy. It would be a great way for the students to utilize critical thinking skills in determining just how much he changed from the beginning of the story to the end. Secondly, I believe that a scrapbook would be a neat idea for readers to make because they could take the main characters, in this instance, I would say Hermoine, Harry; and Ron, and use their personal characteristics to create a neat scrapbook about each person in the story.
This book provides a magical story about transformation. Not just for Harry, but his entire world transforms, and it is applicable to the reader in a manner that they can relate to. Maybe they are going to a new school, maybe they have family members who are less than kind. The list could continue. I enjoyed it personally because I love using my imagination for adventure into different dimensions of fantasy. J.K. Rowling wrote the entire series of Harry Potter adventures as well as small volumes called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages (Rowling T. &., 2012).
References
Galda, L., Cullinan, B. E., & Sipe, L. R. (2010). Literature
and the Child. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cenage Learning.
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's
Stone. New York: Scholastic.
Rowling, J.K. & TM (2012). Biography. Retrieved
from jkrowling.com: http://www.jkrowling.com/en_GB/#/about-jk-rowling
Great book! I think one great project to do is for the students to put themselves in the book. They could make themselves a friend of Harry's or an enemy. They can choose any chapter from the book and add themselves in that way. Another project is to have the students think about the end of the book. I would have the students write about Harry's task at defeating Voldemort. Do they think they could do they same thing?
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