Title: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
Author: J.K. Rowling
Illustrator: Mary Grandpre
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1997
Grade: 5th grade
Genre: fantasy
When the book begins, the Dursleys are proceeding with their everyday life. That night, Hagrid brings Harry Potter, the survivor of Voldemort's vicious attack, to Dumbledoor so he could leave Harry on his aunt and uncle's door step. For the next eleven years Harry is forced to live with them and has no idea he is a wizard until his eleventh birthday. Hagrid comes and gets Harry and takes him shopping for all of his school supplies. Harry then gets on the train at platform number nine and three-quarters to go to Hogwarts. It is there on the train that Harry meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. When Harry gets to Hogwarts, everyone knows he is Harry Potter by the scar on his forehead. While at Hogwarts, Harry meets Draco Malfoy, whom Harry strongly despises. Harry is extremely curious at Hogwarts and often wonders around so he can "snoop." While he is snooping he stumbles upon the Mirror of Erised, which is a mirror that when one looks into it they see their greatest desires. As the story progresses, Harry, Ron, and Hermione want to protect the sorcerer's stone so they go through the trapdoor to find the stone before Snape does. Through this journey the three are required to perform different tasks, but at the end Harry is forced to face Professor Quirrell/Voldemort. Dumbledore comes to the rescue and saves Harry. In the end, Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup and the students are dismissed for summer vacation. Uncle Vernon picks Harry up from the train platform.
I had actually read this book once before, but that was when it first came out in 1997. So needless to see I had no recollection of what happens in the book and when it happens. I enjoyed it though, and I'm not big on the fantasy genre. When I was little I use to watch "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and then go pretend I was a witch, so I liked reading about this magical world of Hogwarts. I also love the characters in this book, especially Hermione. Hermione reminds me a lot of what I use to be like. I was always the girl who did her research and was always the one who said "Don't do that because it's against the rules!" I really enjoyed the book.
I'm not sure if I would use this book in my classroom or not. I understand where people come from with these censorship issues. I know that some students have a very strong imagination and some students may actually go wild and practice these spells and such. Then again, I also think it is a good book to read just because of the adventure. I personally don't see anything wrong with reading Harry Potter as long as you know that there is no such thing as magic and witches and wizards. If I did use this in my classroom, I would incorporate the Mirror of Erised like we are doing. My students could design their own mirror putting their own desires in the mirror. I would also do character maps or character journals where the students could keep all the characters straight. It would also be neat for the students to have a notebook where they wrote a summary on each chapter that they read, that way they would not forget anything big that happened in the chapter.
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5 comments:
Hermione is one of my favorite characters as well. I enjoyed that she was always trying to lead the boys in the right direction and always had good advice!
Your ideas for teaching connections are great! I definitely think that a character map would help students, exspecilly with this book. I beleive it is important, though, when teaching this book in the classroom to help students understand that this work is a fantasy and that things which occur in this work are not true to life. It might be a bit controversial to use in schools, but I think as long as you make this aspect of the book clear to students, it should not be a problem.
I agree. That's my argument with why people think Harry Potter is a bad book to read. As long as the students know that witchcraft doesn't exist and that this book is a work of fantasy then I don't see what the problem is!
I think you are right taking such precautions in a classroom. I think it would be important to ask parents if it is okay to use the book. There are such great links to science and writing that students will be able to take from the book; the dark magic is certainly not as prevalent, especially in the first book.
I also agree with how you think it would be okay to use in the classroom as long as your students know that there is no such thing as magic. It might be harder for younger students to understand this, but older students would have no problem. Good job on your mirror too!
Very nice blog, Ms. Mundy!!! Keep up the great work!!
Kari H. :-)
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