Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
So at last, I did it. I crossed over from the group of people who had never read a Harry Potter book to the other side.
When I first heard about the Harry Potter series, they did not at all interest me. Books that celebrated witches and wizards and magic? Heavens forbid!
I watched the news reports of the furore that accompanied each new book release with confusion. Why would children spend the night outside a book store to buy a book that they could stroll into the same store in a few days time and purchase the same book? The upside to me was the clear refute to the often made statement that “children today don’t read.”
And that alone continued to pique my interest. I would understand if the hype was about a film or a video game, but a book – in today’s technology-centered world? So, I wondered what was in those pages to keep children hooked enough to race through one book and buy all 7 in the series.
Then I started writing stories again last year. I gradually figured out that my genre of interest was children’s and more specifically middle grade. The online courses I took all recommended that I read the most successful books in that genre over the last 5 years. Harry Potter appeared in many of the middle grade and young adult lists that I saw. So for research purposes, I had to see what the HP books were all about.
I downloaded a sample of the first Harry Potter book (the Philosopher’s Stone) and the first 2 chapters were all it took to get me hooked.
As soon as I could, I got my own copy of the book and raced through it in 11 days (a record for my adult-reading-self). Thankfully, I had already lined up the next 3 books ready for me.
As with most children’s books of today, the writing is to the point. There are no overly-descriptive texts and flowery language. J.K. Rowling builds a world that feels very real and exciting and I can imagine children seeing themselves in it or wanting to inhabit it. There were diverse types of characters and I liked that although he is our hero, Harry is very human. We see his good parts (he is kind, courageous and curious) and his faults (he is impatient and on occasion lets himself be riled-up by others).
I’ve read that the series contain a lot of Christian imagery, reflecting the author’s faith. I didn’t see that in The Philosopher’s Stone. However, the fight between good and evil, which was the running theme of the book aligns with the Christian faith, although witches and wizards and anyone involved in the practice of magic technically aren’t on the “good” side either according to the bible. The debate on whether the books are evil and anti-Christian or wonderful for encouraging children to read has been going on since the first book was published and will likely keep going as long as the books are still in print.
I can see that for children or anyone who isn’t strong in their Christian faith (and this is many of us at some point or the other), the Harry Potter books present an alluring world that one might want to be part of. I can see children trying to cast spells and thinking that witches and wizards are cool, because they can relate to Harry, Ron, Hermoine and some of the other characters.
Well, for me, The Philosopher’s Stone was an enjoyable read. I’ll be reading the second book in the series next and will be looking out for the Christian undertones.
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