Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is afantasy novel written by British authorJ. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in theHarry Potter series and was Rowling's debut novel. It followsHarry Potter, a youngwizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance toHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school. With the help of his friends,Ron Weasley andHermione Granger, he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizardLord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.
The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 byBloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year byScholastic Corporation under the titleHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of theNew York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999, and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages and made into afeature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it thefourth best-selling book of all time.[1][2]
Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that ofJane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors;Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-tellerHomer. While some commentators thought the book looked backward to Victorian and Edwardianboarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as showing overcoming obstacles like bullying.
TheHarry Potter series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques,sociological analysis, and marketing.
Harry Potter lives with his abusive uncle and aunt,Vernon andPetunia Dursley, and their bullying, spoiled son,Dudley. On Harry's 11th birthday, he learns that he is a wizard when a man namedRubeus Hagrid invites him to attendHogwarts, a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, aDark wizard namedVoldemort murdered his parents and tried to kill him as well. However, Voldemort'skilling curse rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.
Hagrid takes Harry toDiagon Alley, where the latter discovers his fame among wizards while buying awand, an owl named Hedwig, and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes theHogwarts Express to Hogwarts. He befriendsRon Weasley, a first-year student, during the journey. He also meetsHermione Granger and has a confrontation withDraco Malfoy. At Hogwarts, a magicalSorting Hat assigns each first-year student to aHouse. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.
Harry'sbroomstick flying ability earns him a place on the GryffindorQuidditch team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for thePotions professorSeverus Snape, who seems to hate Harry. Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor one night. The two boys later save Hermione from atroll and begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that he jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift – his father'sinvisibility cloak. While using the cloak to explore the school undisturbed, he discovers theMirror of Erised, which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his family in the mirror.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called thePhilosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality. A centaur namedFirenze warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When the headmaster,Albus Dumbledore, is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the artefact. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry approaches the Stone. He encountersProfessor Quirrell, theDefence Against the Dark Arts professor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom; Snape was trying to save him during the match. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins to burn, and he passes out.
Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. Dumbledore explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's year-end feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the Dursleys for the summer.
Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard."[3] She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there.[4] Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead,[4] which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.
Ron Weasley is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him".[5] He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizard Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright, and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".[6] Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him aRemembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, with tangled black hair and beard, who was expelled from Hogwarts and hiswand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), though Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school'sgamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
ProfessorAlbus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".[7]
ProfessorMinerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teachesTransfiguration and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.
Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had beenbewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
ProfessorSeverus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in his own House of Slytherin, and appears to delight in humiliating those from other houses, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school'ssecret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.
Other members of staff include: the dumpyHerbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff HouseProfessor Sprout,Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitableCharms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporificHistory of magic teacher,Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death, andMadam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeistPeeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.
In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero, Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard"[3] and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him.[8] During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him".[5] Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".[6]
Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness".[7] His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.
The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate,[9] and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:
The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard. ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.[4]
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known,[a] wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat inManchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to writePhilosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product."[8] Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry.[8] Rowling spent six years working onHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Rowling sent the book to aliterary agent and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words.Barry Cunningham, who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors forBloomsbury Children's Books, recommended accepting the book[13] and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".[14]
After it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from theScottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.[15]
Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance[16] and Cunningham sentproof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched.[13] He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted thepen name J. K. Rowling just before publication.[13]
In June 1997, Bloomsbury publishedPhilosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries.[17] Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.)[18] The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers.[13] Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021Heritage auction.[19]Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.[13]
Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments,[13] wrote what is thought to be the first published review, inThe Scotsman on 28 June 1997. She describedHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children".[13][20] Another early review, inThe Herald, said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews inThe Guardian andThe Sunday Times and in September 1997Books for Keeps, a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five.[13]Sunday Times said: "comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", whileThe Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" andThe Scotsman said it had "all the makings of a classic".[13]
In 1997 the UK edition won aNational Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of theNestlé Smarties Book Prize.[21] TheSmarties award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years.[13] The following year,Philosopher's Stone won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children.[13][b] It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults,[22] but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards – for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books.[23] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on theBBC's surveyThe Big Read.[24]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, theBritish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association /Bookseller Author of the Year.[13] By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies[25] and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001.[26] ABraille edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.[27]
Platform9+3⁄4, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.[28]
Scholastic Corporation bought the US rights at theBologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book.[13] Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers[31] and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"[32]), the American edition was published in September 1998[33] under the title Rowling suggested,Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.[13] Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.[10]Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection withalchemy and some other changes lost the meaning of other terms changed in translation, for example from "crumpet" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" inHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions ofPhilosopher's Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits.[29] Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.[34]
At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such asKirkus Reviews andBooklist, which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one byCooperative Children's Book Center Choices, which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers.[35] AlthoughThe Boston Globe and Michael Winerip inThe New York Times complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book,[20][36] they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise.[13][20]A year later, the US edition was selected as anAmerican Library Association Notable Book, aPublishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and aNew York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year and wonParenting Magazine's Book of the Year Award for 1998,[21] theSchool Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.[13] In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published bySchool Library Journal.[37]
In August 1999,Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped theNew York Times list of best-selling fiction[38] and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until theNew York Times split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings.[23][35]Publishers Weekly's report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placedHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6 million copies).[39]
In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book[40] that was released on 1 October 2008[41] to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release.[40] For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-releasedSorcerer's Stone, along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art byKazu Kibuishi in 2013.[42][43][44]
By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages.[45][46] By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th beingLowland Scots.[47] Bloomsbury have published translations inLatin and inAncient Greek,[48][49] with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".[50]
Philip Nel has drawn attention toJane Austen's influence on Rowling, whom the writer has admired since the age of twelve. The styles of both novelists encourage rereading, as details that appear insignificant are discovered, upon revisiting, to foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story (for example, the brief mention of Sirius Black near the beginning ofHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone foreshadows his importance as a major character in the third to fifth books). Like Austen's heroines, Harry often finds himself re-examining his beliefs as the books draw to a close. Also reminiscent of Austen is the lively social custom of the communal reading of letters. Furthermore, both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that reinforce their personalities. However, for Nel, one point of divergence here between the two authors is that Rowling's humor tends towardscaricature, with names resembling those found inCharles Dickens.[20]: 13–15 Amanda Cockrell further noted that names invoke the dominant trait of their owners through allusions drawn from sources as varied asRoman mythology andeighteenth-century German literature.[51] Rowling, likeC. S. Lewis (author of theNarnia series'), blurs the distinction between juvenile and adult fiction. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines several literary genres—fantasy,young adult fiction,boarding school stories, andBildungsroman among others.[20]: 51–52
Some reviewers comparedPhilosopher's Stone to the stories ofRoald Dahl, who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch ofPhilosopher's Stone, seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other children's author of comparable popularity in the late 1990s was an American,R. L. Stine. Some of the story elements inPhilosopher's Stone resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero ofJames and the Giant Peach lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant aunts—one fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.[13]
Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley.[21][52]Tad Brennan commented that Rowling's writing resembles that ofHomer: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression".[50]Stephen King admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.[53]
Nicholas Tucker described the earlyHarry Potter books as looking back toVictorian andEdwardian children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, includingArgus Filch's cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak.[54] Several other commentators have noted that the books present a rigidly stratified society and include many social stereotypes.[55] However, Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.[56]
Susan Hall wrote that there is norule of law in the books, as the actions ofMinistry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This frees Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect, Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the rigidly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.[57]
Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the dully conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", at a time when the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards spring from affection and loyalty. This is evident from his pleasure in being an occasional temporary member of the Weasley family, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and laterRemus Lupin andSirius Black as father-figures.[20]: 13–15, 47–48 [51]
An illustrated version ofHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations byJim Kay.[67][68] The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.
In May 2020, a reading podcast bySpotify was created and entitledHarry Potter at Home: Readings. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from theHarry Potter andWizarding World franchises.[69]
In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first twoHarry Potter books toWarner Bros. for a reported £1 million.[70][71] Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such asRichard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books.[72] Afterextensive casting,[73] filming began in September 2000 atLeavesden Film Studios and in London, with production ending in July 2001.[74]Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in London on 14 November 2001.[75][76] Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating onRotten Tomatoes[77] and by a score of 65% atMetacritic, representing "generally favourable reviews".[78]
Five independent video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 byElectronic Arts, that were loosely based on the film and book:
Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as anobject lesson. Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors.[93] Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, andsocialisation; stratification andsocial inequality;social institutions; andsocial theory".[55]
Stephen Brown noted that the earlyHarry Potter books, especiallyHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names.[52] For example, a real-world analogue ofBertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was introducedunder licence in 2000 by toymakerHasbro.[52][94]
^J. K. Rowling was christened Joanne Rowling, without a middle name, and adopted thenom de plume J. K. Rowling for publication.[10] She says that she was always known as "Jo".[11] The book's copyright page gives her name as "Joanne Rowling".[12]
^The Children's Book Award, The Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year Award, the Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award and the Sheffield Children's Book Award.
^abcKnapp, N.F. (2003)."In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia"(PDF).School Libraries Worldwide.9 (1). International Association of School Librarianship:78–91. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 9 March 2011. Retrieved14 May 2009.
^Dammann, Guy (18 June 2008)."Harry Potter breaks 400m in sales". London: Guardian News and Media Limited.Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved17 October 2008.
^abcBrown, Stephen (2002). "Marketing for Muggles: The Harry Potter way to higher profits".Business Horizons.45 (1):6–14.doi:10.1016/S0007-6813(02)80004-0.
^Westman, Karin E. (2004)."Specters of Thatcherism". In Whited, Lana A. (ed.).The ivory tower and Harry Potter. University of Missouri Press. pp. 306–308.ISBN978-0-8262-1549-9.Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved15 May 2009.
