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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; and the Chamber of Secrets; and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Audio Cassettes of the first 3 Harry Potter novels.
Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1999
314 people are currently reading
4142 people want to read
About the author
J.K. Rowling
675 books234k followersSee also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
September 13, 2025
What in the world was I waiting for?
Most decidedly curmudgeonly! Yes, that's it. One of the few remaining people on the planet who hadn't read any of the Harry Potter novels and, like Vernon Dursley, my initial reaction to all this wizard and magic rubbish was a very mugglish "stuff and nonsense". I admit it. As I read the first few pages, my initial thoughts were that this was all quite silly. Where had this Harry Potter phenomenon come from and what did everybody see in it?
But then, very quickly actually, JK Rowling, undoubtedly a graduate of Hogwarts herself, began to weave a most hypnotic magical spell and I was hooked. Transported to that child-like garden of delights at Hogwarts - a land of fantasy, witches, warlocks, trolls, spells, potions, charms and, for the readers, total enjoyment and smiles - I fell in love with Harry, Hermione, all of their Gryffindor classmates, and with Dumbledore's paternal wisdom and I cheered wildly as Harry, the team seeker, dove and swooped in quest of the Snitch during their quidditch matches.
There is a benefit, of course, to having waited so long to read my first Harry Potter novel, you know. I've got six to go and now I can pick them up, one after another, just as quickly as I want to with no waiting for years at a time for the next book to be published. Eat your hearts out everyone! I claim membership in the legion of Rowling's happy fans.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Most decidedly curmudgeonly! Yes, that's it. One of the few remaining people on the planet who hadn't read any of the Harry Potter novels and, like Vernon Dursley, my initial reaction to all this wizard and magic rubbish was a very mugglish "stuff and nonsense". I admit it. As I read the first few pages, my initial thoughts were that this was all quite silly. Where had this Harry Potter phenomenon come from and what did everybody see in it?
But then, very quickly actually, JK Rowling, undoubtedly a graduate of Hogwarts herself, began to weave a most hypnotic magical spell and I was hooked. Transported to that child-like garden of delights at Hogwarts - a land of fantasy, witches, warlocks, trolls, spells, potions, charms and, for the readers, total enjoyment and smiles - I fell in love with Harry, Hermione, all of their Gryffindor classmates, and with Dumbledore's paternal wisdom and I cheered wildly as Harry, the team seeker, dove and swooped in quest of the Snitch during their quidditch matches.
There is a benefit, of course, to having waited so long to read my first Harry Potter novel, you know. I've got six to go and now I can pick them up, one after another, just as quickly as I want to with no waiting for years at a time for the next book to be published. Eat your hearts out everyone! I claim membership in the legion of Rowling's happy fans.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
May 20, 2019
I LOVE THESE BOOKS. BEAUTIFUL.
December 19, 2021
nostalgic books
July 17, 2009
The 3rd story has always been my favorite so I had to read it again. Of all the books it's the only one where Harry Potter is not battling Lord Voldemort so-as the little kid I was when I started reading-it was not "scary." I also loved finding out Sirius was a good guy and that Harry finally had a family. A great book for good feelings.
The second one was just as fun. Dobby is such a classic character and he always makes me laugh. My all time favorite was Professor Lockhart because he was such an idiot! He could be described as a self obsessed, peacock at best.
The first one I remember reading with mom and dad when my brother and I were little. Because of that it is always a cozy book to snuggle up with. A lost boy finding a place where he belonged is a good story.
The second one was just as fun. Dobby is such a classic character and he always makes me laugh. My all time favorite was Professor Lockhart because he was such an idiot! He could be described as a self obsessed, peacock at best.
The first one I remember reading with mom and dad when my brother and I were little. Because of that it is always a cozy book to snuggle up with. A lost boy finding a place where he belonged is a good story.
February 19, 2009
Harry Potter makes the world go round.
February 2, 2016
One of the best book series ever written.
June 6, 2017
Good
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2022
Couldn't be any better!
March 28, 2022
I read it with the kids and loved doing voices for Lockhart and Dobby.
September 18, 2023
I love how this HP book gives off Halloween vibes. Perfect book to get in the spooky season spirit.
May 11, 2022
Since the 10YO doesn't remember us having read this before, we went through it again at bedtimes. We had a lot of discussions about how the book varies from the movie, and he's finally seeing my point of view on that (that is, that the books are better, or at least different enough that they should be considered separate canons). We also had a good discussion on why Lupin is a marginalized member of society. I like the way that kid's brain works.
August 5, 2021
I picked this up at my daughter’s in WI. I WAS JUST GOING TO LOOK AT THE PICTURES. But the magic pulled me in & I read the entire thing. 💙💙💙💙💙‘d reading it again.
October 30, 2016
Harry potter, an orphen who had lived with his aunt family, and had suffer from their mistreatment , discovers that he is a wizard, and not any wizard he is a legend in the Magic realm, and that he is the reason of the defeat of the most powerful dark wizards who also killed his parents. and because the incident happened when he was 1 year old he dont remember anything about it, his only reminder was a lightning shaped scar on his forhead.
beeing a legion doesnt mean his life will be easy, he had to fight so hard to survive on each of these 3 stories. eventhough hes still a child a burden of his entire world is on his shoulders, he felt it, but he still doesnt know what is it yet
beeing a legion doesnt mean his life will be easy, he had to fight so hard to survive on each of these 3 stories. eventhough hes still a child a burden of his entire world is on his shoulders, he felt it, but he still doesnt know what is it yet
April 14, 2013
I'm only thing this boxset instead of the three books individually because I absolutely hate the American title: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone" Was there actually any need to change the title? Are there no philosophers in the US? Anyway, no need to rage.
August 31, 2022
I still love these books ❤️
August 31, 2018
Do the Harry Potter books need an introduction?
As we all know it’s a world of magic loved by many. If a person hasn’t read the books then they have watched the films. If they have not done either of those things, they must have heard some kind of Harry Potter related comment.
Harry Potter has become so much part of our world that I have trouble believing people need reviews.
As we all know it’s a world of magic loved by many. If a person hasn’t read the books then they have watched the films. If they have not done either of those things, they must have heard some kind of Harry Potter related comment.
Harry Potter has become so much part of our world that I have trouble believing people need reviews.
July 1, 2020
This was the book that made me fall in love with reading and magic, and I couldn’t wait to share this edition with my 8 yr. old. He enjoyed it, but I’ll admit to being more enchanted by the experience than he was. :) It took us almost a year to get through The Sorcerer’s Stone, reading a few pages at a time.
But the illustrations in this edition are beautiful. It was an absolute joy to look through the pages and remember the magic that first drew me into reading. If you are a fan of the books at all, the illustrated books are a must have.
But the illustrations in this edition are beautiful. It was an absolute joy to look through the pages and remember the magic that first drew me into reading. If you are a fan of the books at all, the illustrated books are a must have.
September 4, 2023
the art is so gorgeous and it’s so nostalgic. we don’t stan jk rowling. anyway i was noticing now that i’m older and reading it again how many problematic things there are in it, like snape literally bullying a child? and how low key stupid harry is like maybe stop and think just for one second 😭
December 1, 2025
Reading the books for my 8 year old daughter - and she's having a blast. It's been a while since I sat down and read these books and I can still see why these are so beloved. I'm loving the trip back down memory lane - and looking forward to the next one.
May 17, 2020
So fun to read with new illustrations!!!!
July 7, 2021
Kui ma olen filme nii 5-6x vähemalt näinud, siis see läheb juba raamatu läbilugemise arvele? :D
July 15, 2021
Lovely illustrations, makes the story come alive even more!
January 15, 2025
The best books ever
January 6, 2025
Best way to read the Harry Potter books! I absolutely love the illustrations. Makes the books feel MUCH shorter because the longest book, The Order of the Phoenix is regularly 912 pages but this version makes it 565 (which, granted, is still a lot of pages…)! The big page format allows for detailed images that help you imagine the scenes as you read! I hope you love these books as much as I have!!
December 3, 2025
Incredible book that we have read together with my son. It is weird but it is the first time I read Philosopher stone. As first I had watched the movie and after that started reading the books from the second chapter. I love the illustrations and the books itself. Great experience!
January 11, 2014
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone has become one of the most well known and popular children’s books of all time. I my opinion this is a well deserved accolade, this book is perfectly suited for those within the 8-12 age range, however readers of any age may enjoy this title.
The story centres around an 11 year old boy named Harry Potter. Harry is an orphan who has grown up with his aunt, uncle and cousin. Harry discovers that he is in fact a wizard and that his parents were killed by an evil wizard called Voldemort. After discovering that he is a wizard Harry moves to Hogwarts school of wizadry and witchcraft and befriends Hermione and Ron. The reader then joins Harry as he adapts to his new environment and the adventures it contains.
This book truly captures the reader’s attention from the very outset. As a reader I was immediately drawn in and found the book difficult to put down. Readers can identify the positive characteristics which Harry possesses such as bravery courage etc. Younger readers may also benefit from the important lessons of friendship and loyalty contained within the book. I feel that younger readers may benefit from reading this book independently and allowing themselves to imagine facing challenges along with Harry.
The story centres around an 11 year old boy named Harry Potter. Harry is an orphan who has grown up with his aunt, uncle and cousin. Harry discovers that he is in fact a wizard and that his parents were killed by an evil wizard called Voldemort. After discovering that he is a wizard Harry moves to Hogwarts school of wizadry and witchcraft and befriends Hermione and Ron. The reader then joins Harry as he adapts to his new environment and the adventures it contains.
This book truly captures the reader’s attention from the very outset. As a reader I was immediately drawn in and found the book difficult to put down. Readers can identify the positive characteristics which Harry possesses such as bravery courage etc. Younger readers may also benefit from the important lessons of friendship and loyalty contained within the book. I feel that younger readers may benefit from reading this book independently and allowing themselves to imagine facing challenges along with Harry.
April 8, 2018
There is just something that is so satisfying about being read to. I'm not sure what it is but Stephen Fry really does it down to a 't'.
I love JK Rowling's work and that sure does help Fry to be able to really out do himself but not only that, the amount of voices versus characters really is something quite remarkable and I must congratulate Stephen Fry on his ability to capture the listener and perform as though he were on stage.
Definitely recommend this and of course the Harry Potter series, naturally! 5/5
I love JK Rowling's work and that sure does help Fry to be able to really out do himself but not only that, the amount of voices versus characters really is something quite remarkable and I must congratulate Stephen Fry on his ability to capture the listener and perform as though he were on stage.
Definitely recommend this and of course the Harry Potter series, naturally! 5/5
February 27, 2009
I gave in and decided I had to see what all the fuss was about. I enjoyed all the books, but the pacing is a little off. The earlier books are more obviously children's books, and then, as the broader appeal of the series became clear, she started to write for a more adult audience and both the plotlines and prose become more convoluted. If for some odd reason you haven't read these yet, I'd recommend them, if only for the sake of cultural literacy.
Read
June 6, 2009Daddy's read you the first two so far, but by the end of the second it was getting pretty scary so we haven't embarked on the third. You've listened to Philosopher's Stone on CD with Stephen Fry, too, though I think Daddy is MUCH better at doing the voices, especially Hagrid and Harry. Stephen Fry makes all the characters sound quite posh, but Daddy's character's are much better defined and sound more like themselves. He's very funny.
January 29, 2016
It is always so nice and comforting to revisit the world of Harry Potter. This was my first time listening to it on audio, and it was a new and different experience, yet as familiar as ever. Jim Dale does a great job with the narration; due to the movies, I've almost come to grips with things being pronounced differently than in my head while reading, but Jim Dale threw a whole nother wrench into it - Gryffindah, Voldemorrrr, etc. I still loved it though, how could you not?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews