Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone: Hufflepuff Edition

Our Review

Monday 26th June 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone. To mark this anniversary I decided to review Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone on this website but to make it a review with a difference.

As I doubt very much that there are many people who haven’t read Harry Potter I decided to make this review more about my experiences of reading and re-reading Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone and some of my personal favourite bits from the book.

I will, however, review the additions to the book for the 20th Anniversary Hufflepuff house edition.

When I heard that Bloomsbury were going to release some special editions of this book I was very excited and immediately went to my favourite website for purchasing books to check out which one I wanted to buy.

At this point I was torn: Do I buy the book based on my favourite Hogwarts house (Griffindor) or my favourite colour (yellow)? Then do I go for the paperback or hardback version? In the end I decided to go for the Ravenclaw paperback and the Hufflepuff hardback. The reason I chose to review this edition is because I thought it was the prettiest.

“Dedication, Patience and Loyalty” are the three qualities prized the most in those who belong to the Hufflepuff house and perhaps because of this it is the house that has produced the fewest dark wizards.

This edition describes the house ghost, relic and livery to the reader.

On re-reading Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone I was struck by the fantastic choice of title for the opening chapter: ‘The Boy Who Lived.’

This book contains one of my favourite opening lines from a book, mostly because it is completely commonplace and at odds with the rest of the book:

“Mr and Mrs Dursley, of four Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

When I originally read Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone I can remember the first moment I suspected I might come to love this book. It was when I read the following line:

“It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map.”

It was such a simple line but it held so much promise for what was to come.

My favourite character in the series by a mile is Albus Dumbledore and re-reading the first page with him on still makes me smile.

“Nothing like this man had ever been in Privet Drive…Albus Dumbledore didn’t seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.”

One think that struck on reading it this time round was how early the death of Lilly and James Potter is mentioned. As far as I am aware, it is uncommon for a children’s book to mention death at all and it is even more unusual for it to be mentioned so early on.

I can remember when I first read Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone thinking how much I liked that Harry escaped Dudley’s bullying with magic without even realising it.

By having Harry originally living outside of the wizarding world the reader was able to learn about it alongside Harry and marvel at the world J. K. Rowling had created. As Harry is ignorant of many of the things in the Wizarding world we, the readers, are able to learn so much more.

There are so many first in this book, and on reflection, that is one of the best things about it. The first time we meet Hagrid, the first time we meet Ron and Hermione and a whole host of other firsts.

On the subject of Ron and Hermione, their friendship is something I cannot fail to think of when I think of this book. It is definitely heart-warming to read and re-read about the events their friendship was based upon.

My abiding memory from the first time I read Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone is that I felt constantly hungry whilst I was reading it. I wanted to be there experiencing the things they were experiencing, and eating the food they were eating. One of the most anticipated moments for me when watching the films was the appearance of the food trolley on their train to Hogwarts. That was the moment in the book where I most wanted to be able to eat what they were eating.

“The woman didn’t have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cake, Liquorice Wands and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life.”

The first time we get a measure of the kind of character Harry is going to be is when he stands up to Draco Malfoy on the Hogwart’s Express and informs him he can tell the ‘wrong sort’ for himself. I can remember thinking how likeable Harry is as a character.

One of the characters I enjoyed reading about in the books was Peaves. I was disappointed to see he was left out the films and thought he added something to the books. In fact, reading the book, I was struck by just how much material the films had to leave out.

My absolute favourite scenes from the book though are the ones between Harry and Dumbledore. Their relationship is one of the major things that made the books so special to me.

Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone is a book that I can read no matter what mood I am in and a book I am sure I will continue to read and love.

Our Final Rating...

Tue, 27th June 2017