Luke’s Letter Essay #4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

I am about 200 pages into the first book of one of the most well known series there is, Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone does an amazing job of starting of one of the most successful book series there is. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published on June 26, 1997 and was written by J.K. Rowling. I was inspired to start reading this series because I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter movies so I was interesting in comparing the books to the movies. Although they did an amazing job of bringing Harry Potter to the big screen I think that the book is a lot better. I think that it is better than the movie because of its opportunity to include a lot more detail and further establish some character’s backgrounds, also it  provided some explanations to some things in the movie that I did not understand.

The book starts of with the head of Hogwarts, Dumbledore dropping a young Harry Potter off at his aunt and uncle’s house. Afterward the book fast forwards to Harry’s childhood, Harry has no knowledge of his powers because his aunt and uncle don’t want to him to know, also they are very mean to him. Harry lives in a closet under the stairs and has almost nothing of his own, everything is passed down from his cousin Dudley. Harry continues living the same boring life until one day Harry gets a letter that his uncle instantly takes from him and burns in the fire. Harry was curious because he had never received a letter from anyone in his life. The next day Harry received another letter which his uncle also burned, the process repeated until one day letters started flying through the chimney. From that point on Harry’s life gets a lot more exciting.

I was surprised when the book explain Neville’s background, this surprised me because it revealed that not every ¨magical¨ person would be accepted into Hogwarts. If I were the author I would have added more of a mystery aspect, although there already is lots of mystery it would be interesting to try to figure out multiple mysteries at a time. The moment that shocked me the most is when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville run into three headed dog, ¨Harry turned around – and saw, quite clearly, what. For a moment, he was sure, he’d walked into a nightmare – this was too much, on top of everything that had happened so far… They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog… it had three heads” This was surprising because in the movie they had ran into the dog a different way, not only that but Neville was not with them either and his reaction made an excellent addition to the encounter. If you like Harry Potter the movie then there is no doubt that you will enjoy reading the books.

 

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4 thoughts on “Luke’s Letter Essay #4: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

  1. Luke,
    I’m glad you are reading a book to view critically the difference between the movie and the book. However, this book is 336 pages long and you can write a letter-essay after finishing half the book if the book is 400 pages; 336 isn’t really close to 400, in terms of reading. Also, please remember to elaborate when reflecting and to rank the book, out of 10. Thank you.

  2. I loved reading your letter essay! I am also a fan of the Harry Potter movies but, the books are definitely better, although I haven’t gotten the time to finish the last two books in the series. I agree with you about the part when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville run into the three-headed dog. I think the book just leaves you with your own interpretation of the moment. Keep reading the series!

  3. This was a good letter essay, however there were a few typos left in it, and you forgot to put in your rating of the book. But overall, it was good, and I like the movies too

  4. Dear Luke

    Your letter essay was great, but the only thing you forgot was your rating of the book. Keep up and good work and I loved this book.

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