The Harry Potter Books
"It's literature, it is about what we are like, about deeper things
than just telling stories. It's just that it's aimed at an audience who
don't drink a lot of chardonnay."
--
Robbie Coltrane
("Hagrid")
The Harry Potter books are a series of stories written by Scottish author
Joanne Rowling. She writes under the pen name of J.K. Rowling, although
in reality she has no middle name (the inital 'K' was borrowed from
her grandmother,
Kathleen).
The books tell the story of a boy named
Harry who was raised by an
abusive aunt and uncle from age 1
until age 11. On his 11th birthday, he learns to his amazement that he is
actually a wizard and that he will be attending
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The books tell of his years at
Hogwarts, one book
for each of the seven years.
As
Harry learns more and more about
his true indentity, he also learns that he is part of a larger saga, an
almost legendary confrontation between good and evil, between him, along
with his friends and allies, and the greatest Dark wizard of the age,
Lord Voldemort.
Harry discovers his place in this
great struggle as his years at
Hogwarts go by and as he
finds himself becoming enmeshed in battles and conflicts.
The Harry Potter books are available in a number of editions, including
hard cover, soft cover, and audio books.
Bloomsbury and
Raincoast have
also released the books in adult editions, but these are identical to the
"children's" editions in all respects except the covers. If you're
interested in purchasing any of the books through Amazon.com, click on the
book covers on the page for that book.
