Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling

Mary GrandPre (Illustrator)

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Harry Potter's life is miserable. His parents are dead and he's stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he's a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.

Though Harry's first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it's his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.

Full of sympathetic characters, wildly imaginative situations, and countless exciting details, the first installment in the series assembles an unforgettable magical world and sets the stage for many high-stakes adventures to come.

“One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”

I can really relate to this quote! People love to give me books (no complaints here), but no one ever gives me socks. I love socks (especially fuzzy socks, but plain socks are great, too). I feel like I never have enough, so I'm always looking to add to my less-than-stellar sock drawer.

I try to re-read this series every year, but it's not always doable. I remember falling in love with reading as a child because of these books. My fourth grade teacher was reading through the books herself, but she didn't start reading them aloud until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (the fourth book), which was cruel and ridiculous (her not the book). Even at a young age, I knew books were meant to be read in the order they were written. Not everything works like the Star Wars movies. 

Eventually I checked out the first three books and spent the next week locked in my room. I devoured every page. Harry Potter brought magic and friendship into my life. I could relate to him and his living situation (more than I would ever admit), and it was nice to see him conquering evil every book. He made his life better by choosing to do the right thing, and because he had amazing friends to spend his days with.

I feel like I learn something new every time I re-read these books. It's like they apply to me differently based on where I am in my life. A phrase or an action might make more sense to me now as an adult than it did when I was nine or ten. For example, I thought Snape was romantic and in love when I first read through this series. He was the mean teacher that students avoided, but now I see it was more than that. Snape was a bully. He was biased against Harry from the start, but not because Harry himself had done anything wrong. No, Snape had his own personal issues that he chose to take out on an eleven-year-old child. That's fucked up. His treatment of children should have prevented him from being an instructor entirely. The fact that Dumbledore vouched for him, and saw him as a good friend, only makes me question Dumbledore's judgement. 

In the end, this is a series I will always treasure. The characters and the world have literally changed my life. They've been there for me when I needed an escape (more than a lot of other books that I've enjoyed), and I love that I can still find new things about the series every time I pick it up and start to read. It makes it feel like I'm reading it for the first time again.

This re-read I read the book out loud to my son. He's four, so I wasn't sure what he would take away from the story, but he did learn what a unicorn was. I may have skipped over some of the more gruesome aspects of those scenes for his benefit, but still explained to him what a unicorn was and how they appeared. He drew one for me the next day! He might not retain everything I say/read at this point, but I think it's good to expose him to literature and new ideas, concepts, and ways of thinking.