Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em>. I subsequently spent the following afternoon with my nose buried into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMagic. It\u2019s a simple word, but how much history and power has it got behind it? How much bloodshed? How much robbery? And how many authors? The answers to most of these questions will never be found, especially the last. All because of a simple, yet coded fact \u2013 the Supernatural is anything that is not Natural. And what is natural is what we can explain. If you can cast your minds back to the Mediaeval period, you will remember a certain magician or wizard commonly spoken of, the sorcerer of Arthur\u2019s court, the enchanter Merlin. No British book containing so much as a whiff of magic has not been inspired in some way by this great mage, who basically rules the roost when it comes to European magic. He is mentioned in Hogwarts, but does not feature in the two tales I have read so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry\u2019s entrance into the Wizarding World is like two envelopes \u2013 one good news and the other bad news. The good news is told in one sentence: \u201cHarry \u2013 yer a wizard\u201d (Rubeus Hagrid). The bad takes longer to explain. Namely, Harry has mysterious powers no one quite knows what to make of, starting with a protective power that saved him when he was attacked as a baby, power that kept the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort\u2019s powers at bay, and then destroyed them. Second, when Hagrid takes him to buy his wand, the wand has a phoenix feather from the same bird as gave the feather from Voldemort\u2019s wand. Circles within circles. Only at Hogwarts does he confirm that Hagrid was telling the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hogwarts, the fictional school, is a castle built by four founders: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. It is one of only two schools I would ever go to by choice, the other being in Earthsea (Ursula K LeGuin\u2019s creation). Who wouldn\u2019t want to learn magic?! But if you are very famous because of stopping the dark magic of You-know-who (Voldemort) and you have a very noticeable scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on your forehead, it might take a little more convincing to go of your own accord. Such as the fact that your carers are horrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry goes to the Hogwarts Express, on Platform 9 \u00be, which I wrote about gong to see in June. He gets to Hogwarts, making one friend and one enemy on the way, and in the great hall tries on the Sorting Hat. This hat selects which of the school houses (named after the four founders) you are destined to be in. After a lot of difficulty, the hat finally registers him as Gryffindor, and he takes his place as a first-year Hogwarts Wizard of Gryffindor House. Suspicious circumstances mean research into what is happening, culminating in a journey to look for the philosopher\u2019s stone. For the rest, well, READ THE BOOK! (clue \u2013 he\u2019s still alive in book two, so he survives).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve only just got the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets<\/em>, but I\u2019m already rereading it. You may have heard of Dobby the House Elf \u2013 I certainly had \u2013 before reading it, but he\u2019s in Chamber of Secrets<\/em>. The plot is similar \u2013 suspicious circumstances, needs research, only this time Harry and his two friends Ron and Hermione have more magical tricks to work with and more spells are used for me to try out (Yes, I have my own wand \u2013 I made it myself from a tree up the hill; Rowan, 12 inches, don\u2019t know what core I need yet, and I do have an 11 inch Holly wand like Harry\u2019s too). Again, it culminates in a face-off under the school, and again, you\u2019ve gotta read the book!<\/p>\n\n\n\nI\u2019ll probably be getting Prisoner of Azkaban<\/em> next year, as I\u2019ll be 13 \u2013 the same age as Harry. But till next week, I\u2019m going to VANISH IN A PUFF OF SMOKE\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\nPoof!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey Blog! Time for a book review again, and as a special treat you\u2019re getting two books in one! Most people my age will have read Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling. It is a modern classic and a pillar of magical fantasy. I had known about Harry for a long time, and had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-ed-in-a-shed-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
Book Review No. 4: Harry Potter 1 and more! - Home Ed in a Shed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Review No. 4: Harry Potter 1 and more! - Home Ed in a Shed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hey Blog! Time for a book review again, and as a special treat you\u2019re getting two books in one! Most people my age will have read Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling. It is a modern classic and a pillar of magical fantasy. 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