Rowling, Joanne. (J. K. Rowling)

Joanne Rowling (J. K. Rowling) was born 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. She studied at Wyedean School, and graduated with a BA in French and Classics from the University of Exeter. She was born to Peter James Rowling, and her mother Anne Rowling was from a mixed French and Scottish heritage. Joanne has received honorary degrees from almost every leading university in the world. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). The Queen has also awarded her with an OBE. Intelligence and beauty in one neat package is a rare quality these days, so I bought the first Harry Potter book in 1997, but I only just came around to reading it at Christmas in 2012! That just goes to show how busy I can get.

When I read a fragment of The Philosophers Stone back in 1997, I thought it read well and felt compelled to buy it. I often buy books that seem interesting and plan to read them later. When my old TV broke down, I decided to convert the spare room into a library. Consequently, it is full of books piled high from the floor to the ceiling. When Joanne finally received her OBE, I decided to bring this book out of storage to see what all the fuss was about, and I was amazed! It is an excellent book most definitely worthy of the success that it received.

I loved the way she captures the typical characteristics and mannerisms of people. Almost straight away, I could identify with some of the characters within the story. Almost all of us will know someone like Petunia, who considers that they are better than anyone else. They are often lacking compassion, and are over-sensitive but only to their own feelings, and very egotistical... Almost all stepchildren and orphans will be able to identify the typical characteristics and behaviour of the Dersleys, and in particular, how they treat Harry. All of this periphery to the story is very powerful and helps the reader to identify with the main character of the book, Harry Potter. It requires very little effort from the reader to see things from Harry's perspective. That too is an important aspect of writing any kind of material.

When the characters are those that the majority of the people can relate to easily, it makes it a pleasure to read as it did with this book. There is clarity in her narrative that captures the imagination very easily. The descriptions are very rich, and simply expressed to aid easy visualisation. The creation of new concepts and labelling them with new words such as muggles, or put-outer, which children are naturally good at learning, demonstrates great creativity.

She has also captured some of the aspirations that people have while growing up. Almost everyone at some point in their lives will have thought, if only they had a gift. Wishing they had something that would set them apart from the rest of the average crowd. The very core of human existence is to aspire, to hope that eventually one will have a gift that will give their life a meaning. However, of course, for the majority, the gifts fail to become apparent, and the hard knocks of life eventually transform them into characters such as Petunia or the Dersley family. In that respect, when I read this book, I felt that Joanne had a very beautiful understanding of human dynamics, as it follows a symmetry that makes it very attractive to the human mind.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the title of the first book written by J. K. Rowling in 1997, and every book thereafter has been a success.

Almost all of the first editions of the Harry Potter series are valuable. Bloomsbury Publishing uses a reverse number system, so if your book has 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, then it might be worth something. There are also hardback versions of the Harry Potter series and obviously, they are worth even more money.

A first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone may be worth in the region of £4000 for an unsigned copy and around £10,000 for a signed copy.

Dumbledore

[Braille Monitors] The back cover reads Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by a beetle-eyed giant of a man, enrolls at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The reasons: HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!

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