Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Re-Read

Like so many others I have had a long relationship with Harry Potter. Like really long. I started reading the books when I was four years old and they were my world. Harry Potter got me reading and writing and it was my gateway fandom. If I had not fallen so hard for Harry I would not be who I am today. Because of this you can imagine my excitement over the release of the script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. This new release has prompted me to return to the wizarding world full force with a re-read. I started at the beginning and I'd like to offer up my thoughts on it since up until now I had not re-read the books in about eight years. So let's get into it, shall we?

Since Sorcerer's Stone is the Harry Potter book I've read the most I decided to make it even more exciting by reading the picture book edition I received for Christmas. This book is GORGEOUS!

Some new realizations I had and little things I noticed while re-reading Sorcerer's Stone:

-Dumbledore really isn't the amazing hero I used to believe he was. He's endangering small children! Also why is his being able to turn invisible without a cloak never revisited and explained? Get on it JKR?! We've seen how good at backtracking and filling in plot holes you've become.

-J.K. Rowling mentions Harry feeling as though Snape can read minds. That is some pretty early planning for the occlumency introduced in Book 5. I loved that!

-I forgot how much more antagonizing Draco is in the books. He's so obsessed!

-I still love Lee Jordan's quidditch commentary!

My final verdict:

Harry Potter has come to be much more to me than any other book has throughout my entire life. Letting myself get lost in the series again has been a bit like finally going home after a long vacation. However, now that I have developed a much more critical mind toward literature I found myself able to see small flaws for what they were: human. J.K. Rowling is just as human as you and I and everyone else in the world. She made some mistakes when she wrote the series. She tries to cover them up as best as she can but she can't go back and rewrite the books. Does this take away from the books whatsoever? NO because she also did follow through on the plot of the books very carefully and created a wonderful world. Who cares if she made a mistake here and there? That only makes her all the more relatable and the books more lovable in my opinion. I will never be able to experience the books completely anew but going back was every bit as lovely as it ever was.