Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

As I was searching for a picture of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to post on my blog, I came across this awesome little blog. I spent about half an hour perusing her incredibly well-written posts and promptly forgot to copy the picture of the cover and post it to my blog.

Anyway, I was reading her Harry Potter posts, and I decided that I was going to do something similar and review the books that I love so dearly. This just might get me to look at them a little differently, which could be refreshing when considering how many times I have read this series.

I really love Sorcerer's Stone. There's just something so fun about the very beginning—before the crazy fanatics and the movies and the hype; before J. K. Rowling was richer than the queen; before Harry Potter was a name everyone knew, whether they'd read the books or not. Harry's naivete about the wizarding world is such a fantastic way to pull the readers in and make them care about what Harry is discovering. As readers, we learn as Harry learns, and we grow as Harry grows throughout the series.

The Good: Uncle Dursley singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" and jumping at small noises; Hagrid telling the Dursleys that their "great puddin' of a son" doesn't need more food; Harry's first trip into Gringotts and Diagon Alley; Harry discovering he's a natural on a broomstick; Ron knocking the troll out with its own club: "Oy, pea-brain!"; Neville trying to fight Crabbe and Goyle; Ron's sacrifice on the giant chessboard; Hermione figuring out the potion riddle; "Alas! Ear wax!"; Dumbledore handing out the extra points at the end of term to give Gryffindor the House Cup.

The Bad: Hermione's overwhelming bossiness at the beginning; Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback—I hate that stupid dragon; Harry getting treated like an outcast after losing 150 points—hasn't the poor kid been through enough? (Well, obviously not, since there are six more books to go.)

The Ugly: Quirrell drinking the blood of a dead unicorn; Voldemort's face sticking out of the back of Quirrell's head—I mean really, how creepy is that?