HP & the Sorcerer’s Stone (#1)

The movie based on this book is the worst one of the bunch, and I maintain that the book is only slightly better. Similar to the first installment, Chamber of Secrets is a book for young children. Nothing is too scary, the chapters are short and easy to digest, and a very small cast of characters to keep track of.

I’m never quite sure why I dislike this story so much, but I think it lies in the fact that these three young kids are never in class, always looking for trouble, and rarely if ever caught. Why are three young wizards solving the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets right now when even a cursory look at the evidence should have led any of their teachers to come to the same conclusions? Dumbledore at least should know Moaning Myrtle, the ghost that haunts the bathroom where she died and where the entrance to the chamber is concealed. Dumbledore is supposed to be the most powerful wizard and extremely clever – he never thought to ask Myrtle what she saw once he knew she was the girl that was killed? He was there! Not to mention the people that kept being petrified – no one thought to brainstorm things that could cause people to become petrified and then maybe settle on a basilisk as being linked to Slytherin, who even the teachers know created the chamber himself? I just…I don’t know, I feel like asking me to believe that three 11 year old kids would solve all this when the adults around them never even investigated is asking a bit much.

But this is a kid’s book after all, and if I was a kid reading this it would probably inspire me to ask more questions and to want to be smart enough to solve a mystery like this. I think it’s important to view it from this perspective because at this point in the series Rowling is still writing children’s books. It’s problem solving and standing up for what’s right and fighting what’s wrong no matter how old you are, and that’s a good lesson to learn.

I am reviewing it as an adult though, and for me this book is the weakest of the seven. It does introduce the first Horcrux, which makes it important, and for that I give it a pass. On to the next one.