J.K. ROWLING & ROBERT GALBRAITH, WRITE TO SUCCESS

After taking a few days off doing what she loves most in Germanic and Scandinavian lands with the company of Joseph de Ca'th Lon and Claire Fontaine, The Grandma has returned to Barcelona as tomorrow she hopes to meet The Morgans in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, where they have a very important date with Cambridge.

The family has spent a few days at Hogwarts enjoying the magic and preparing for this very special test. They have enjoyed the magical world created by J. K. Rowling, the English author who continues to conquer the hearts of young and old with her masterful works.

Joanne Rowling (born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is an English author, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist.

She is best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has won multiple awards and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history.

The books are the basis of a popular film series, over which J. K. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and was a producer on the final films. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, J. K. Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990.

The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. There were six sequels, of which the last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in 2007.

Since then, J. K. Rowling has written five books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and -under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith- the crime fiction Cormoran Strike series, which consists of The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), and Lethal White (2018).

Starting on 26 May 2020, her political fairytale for children, The Ickabog, is being released in instalments in an online version.

J. K. Rowling has lived a rags to riches life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being named the world's first billionaire author by Forbes.

However, J. K. Rowling disputed the assertion, saying she was not a billionaire. Forbes reported that she lost her billionaire status after giving away much of her earnings to charity but remains one of the wealthiest people in the world. She is the UK's best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238 million.

The 2019 Sunday Times Rich List estimated J. K. Rowling's fortune at £750 million, ranking her as the joint 191st richest person in the UK. Time named her a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans.

J. K. Rowling was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) at the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature and philanthropy.

More information: J.K. Rowling

In October 2010, she was named the Most Influential Woman in Britain by leading magazine editors. J. K. Rowling has supported multiple charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, as well as launching her own charity, Lumos.

Although she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage, her name was Joanne Rowling.

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, the daughter of science technician Anne and Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer Peter James Rowling. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964.

J. K. Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and a strained relationship with her father, with whom she is not on speaking terms.

J. K. Rowling later said that she based the character of Hermione Granger on herself when she was eleven.

In 1982, J. K. Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter.

In 1995, J. K. Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which was typed on an old manual typewriter.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again J. K. Rowling won the Smarties Prize.

In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making J. K. Rowling the first person to win the award three times running.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000 and broke sales records in both countries. 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.

In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was announced on 21 December 2006 as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

More information: Wizarding World

In February 2007, it was reported that J. K. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. The book's last chapter was one of the earliest things she wrote in the entire series.

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated US$15 billion, and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.

The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although it is reported that despite the huge uptake of the books, adolescent reading has continued to decline.

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum.

A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002.

The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on 4 June 2004, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005.

The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script.

Warner Bros. filmed the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in two segments, with part one being released on 19 November 2010 and part two being released on 15 July 2011. Yates directed both films.

More information: Twitter

In 2000, J.K. Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one-parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.

J.K. Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University, where she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony.

In 2009, J.K. Rowling was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2002, J.K. Rowling became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) as well a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

She was furthermore recognized as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) in 2011 for services to Literature and Philanthropy.

More information: The Guardian

 

 

I would like to be remembered as someone

who did the best she could with the talent she had.

J. K. Rowling

THE MORGANS, SEARCHING THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Today, The Morgans have started their first day in Hogwarts. First, they have assisted to the Hat's ceremony where a magic Hat has sent every one of them to a House. The family has started to search the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality as well as the ability to turn any metal into pure gold.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by English author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school, and with the help of his friends, Harry faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord 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 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry 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 the New 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 has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels.

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 of Jane 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-teller Homer.

More information: Harry Potter Fandom

While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as overcoming obstacles like bullies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, along with the rest of the Harry Potter series, has been attacked by some religious groups and banned in some countries because of accusations that the novels promote witchcraft under the guise of a heroic, moral story.

Other religious commentators have written that the book exemplifies important viewpoints, including the power of self-sacrifice and the ways in which people's decisions shape their personalities. The series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis and marketing.

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, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester 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 write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product.

Then Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.

By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. It was translated by Matthew Fitt, who said that he was honoured to be the Scots translator, and that he wanted to do it for a long time.

The translation is considered significant by Heart, who described it as probably the most incredible version so far, The Guardian, who believed that it may just be the best of all, and Stylist. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries.

More information: Go To Quiz

The Philosopher's Stone, more properly philosophers' stone or stone of the philosophers, in Latin lapis philosophorum, is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, gold, and ποιεῖν poiēin, to make) or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy.

The Philosophers' Stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

Efforts to discover the Philosophers' Stone were known as the Magnum Opus (Great Work).

The earliest known written mention of the Philosophers' Stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 AD). Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This knowledge was said to be passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving them their longevity. The legend of the stone was also compared to the biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118.

The theoretical roots outlining the stone's creation can be traced to Greek philosophy. Alchemists later used the classical elements, the concept of anima mundi, and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato's Timaeus as analogies for their process. 

According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or Prima Materia first matter, associated with chaos. Prima Materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the Philosophers' Stone. The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things.

 

More information: Live Science 

Early medieval alchemists built upon the work of Zosimos in the Byzantine Empire and the Arab empires. Byzantine and Arab alchemists were fascinated by the concept of metal transmutation and attempted to carry out the process. The 8th-century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber) analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities. Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist.

He theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles, two of them interior and two exterior. From this premise, it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. This change would be mediated by a substance, which came to be called xerion in Greek and al-iksir in Arabic from which the word elixir is derived.

It was often considered to exist as a dry red powder also known as al-kibrit al-ahmar, red sulfur made from a legendary stone -the Philosophers' Stone.The elixir powder came to be regarded as a crucial component of transmutation by later Arab alchemists.

In the 11th century, there was a debate among Muslim world chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was the Persian polymath Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances, stating, Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.

According to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the Philosophers' Stone. Magnus does not confirm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did record that he witnessed the creation of gold by transmutation.

The 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus believed in the existence of alkahest, which he thought to be an undiscovered element from which all other elements (earth, fire, water, air) were simply derivative forms. Paracelsus believed that this element was, in fact, the Philosopher's Stone.
 

 Download Harry Potter and the Sorcecer's Stone by J.K.Rowling

Download The Philosopher's Stone (Exercise)

 

 

We teachers are rather good at magic, 

you know.

Minerva McGonagall

J.K. ROWLING & ROBERT GALBRAITH, WRITE TO SUCCESS

Today, The Grandma is reading about J. K. Rowling, the creator of Hogwarts world.

 

Joanne Rowling (born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has won multiple awards and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history.

The books are the basis of a popular film series, over which J. K. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and was a producer on the final films. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, J. K. Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990.

The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. There were six sequels, of which the last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in 2007.

Since then, J. K. Rowling has written five books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and -under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith- the crime fiction Cormoran Strike series, which consists of The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), and Lethal White (2018).

Starting on 26 May 2020, her political fairytale for children, The Ickabog, is being released in instalments in an online version.

J. K. Rowling has lived a rags to riches life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being named the world's first billionaire author by Forbes.

However, J. K. Rowling disputed the assertion, saying she was not a billionaire. Forbes reported that she lost her billionaire status after giving away much of her earnings to charity but remains one of the wealthiest people in the world. She is the UK's best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238 million.

The 2019 Sunday Times Rich List estimated J. K. Rowling's fortune at £750 million, ranking her as the joint 191st richest person in the UK. Time named her a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans.

J. K. Rowling was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) at the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature and philanthropy.

More information: J.K. Rowling

In October 2010, she was named the Most Influential Woman in Britain by leading magazine editors. J. K. Rowling has supported multiple charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, as well as launching her own charity, Lumos.

Although she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage, her name was Joanne Rowling.

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, the daughter of science technician Anne and Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer Peter James Rowling. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964.

J. K. Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and a strained relationship with her father, with whom she is not on speaking terms.

J. K. Rowling later said that she based the character of Hermione Granger on herself when she was eleven.

In 1982, J. K. Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter.

In 1995, J. K. Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which was typed on an old manual typewriter.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again J. K. Rowling won the Smarties Prize.

In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making J. K. Rowling the first person to win the award three times running.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000 and broke sales records in both countries. 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.

In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was announced on 21 December 2006 as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

More information: Wizarding World

In February 2007, it was reported that J. K. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. The book's last chapter was one of the earliest things she wrote in the entire series.

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated US$15 billion, and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.

The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although it is reported that despite the huge uptake of the books, adolescent reading has continued to decline.

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum.

A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002.

The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on 4 June 2004, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005.

The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script.

Warner Bros. filmed the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in two segments, with part one being released on 19 November 2010 and part two being released on 15 July 2011. Yates directed both films.

More information: Twitter

In 2000, J.K. Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one-parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.

J.K. Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University, where she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony.

In 2009, J.K. Rowling was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2002, J.K. Rowling became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) as well a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

She was furthermore recognized as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) in 2011 for services to Literature and Philanthropy.

More information: The Guardian

I would like to be remembered as someone

who did the best she could with the talent she had.

J. K. Rowling

THE WINSORS, SEARCHING THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma have started their first day in Hogwarts. First, they have assisted to the Hat's ceremony where a magic Hat has sent every one of them to a House.

 

The Sorting Ceremony occurs at the start of every new Hogwarts year, sorting the fresh cluster of first-year students into their Hogwarts houses. 

 

At the start-of-term feast, the ceremony invites students to wear the Sorting Hat, an ancient piece of sentient headwear that determines if the pupils should belong to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Once sorted, the student will join their house table, while the festivities continue.

 

All of them have been chosen to be members of Gryffindor under the orders of Professor Minerva McGonagall.

 

Before meeting Ms McGonagall, the family has studied some English vocabulary about Personal Details, Family Matters and Free Time.

Download Personal Details Vocabulary

More information: Personal Details

Download Family Matters Vocabulary

More information: Family Matters

Download Free Time Vocabulary

 More information: Free Time

Gryffindor values are courage, bravery, nerve, and chivalry. Gryffindor's mascot is the lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold.

During the books, the Head of this house is the Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall until she becomes headmistress, and the house ghost is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, more commonly known as Nearly Headless Nick. According to Rowling, Gryffindor corresponds roughly to the element of fire. The founder of the house is Godric Gryffindor.

More information: Minerva McGonagall, Real Pragmatism in Magic

The Gryffindor common room is in one of the castle's highest towers, and its entrance is on the seventh floor in the east wing of the castle and is guarded by a painting of The Fat Lady, who is garbed in a pink dress.

She permits entry only after being given the correct password, as was established in the third book, when Sirius Black tried forcing entry into the tower, only to be blocked by The Fat Lady after he could not give the correct password.

In the first book, Neville Longbottom tends to forget the password and must wait near the painting until other Gryffindors arrive to open the way.

More information: Wizarding World

The Stones have started to search the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality as well as the ability to turn any metal into pure gold.

The Grandma has told them the story of this magic stone.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. 

The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school, and with the help of his friends, Harry faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord 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 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry 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 the New 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 has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels.

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 of Jane 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-teller Homer.

More information: Harry Potter Fandom

While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as overcoming obstacles like bullies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, along with the rest of the Harry Potter series, has been attacked by some religious groups and banned in some countries because of accusations that the novels promote witchcraft under the guise of a heroic, moral story.

Other religious commentators have written that the book exemplifies important viewpoints, including the power of self-sacrifice and the ways in which people's decisions shape their personalities. The series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis and marketing.

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, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester 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 write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product.

Then Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.

By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. It was translated by Matthew Fitt, who said that he was honoured to be the Scots translator, and that he wanted to do it for a long time.

The translation is considered significant by Heart, who described it as probably the most incredible version so far, The Guardian, who believed that it may just be the best of all, and Stylist. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries.

More information: Go To Quiz

The Philosopher's Stone, more properly philosophers' stone or stone of the philosophers, in Latin lapis philosophorum, is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, gold, and ποιεῖν poiēin, to make) or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy.

The Philosophers' Stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

Efforts to discover the Philosophers' Stone were known as the Magnum Opus (Great Work).

The earliest known written mention of the Philosophers' Stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 AD). Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This knowledge was said to be passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving them their longevity. The legend of the stone was also compared to the biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118.

The theoretical roots outlining the stone's creation can be traced to Greek philosophy. Alchemists later used the classical elements, the concept of anima mundi, and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato's Timaeus as analogies for their process. 

According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or Prima Materia first matter, associated with chaos. Prima Materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the Philosophers' Stone. The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things.

 

More information: Live Science 

Early medieval alchemists built upon the work of Zosimos in the Byzantine Empire and the Arab empires. Byzantine and Arab alchemists were fascinated by the concept of metal transmutation and attempted to carry out the process. The 8th-century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber) analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities. Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist.

He theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles, two of them interior and two exterior. From this premise, it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. This change would be mediated by a substance, which came to be called xerion in Greek and al-iksir in Arabic from which the word elixir is derived.

It was often considered to exist as a dry red powder also known as al-kibrit al-ahmar, red sulfur made from a legendary stone -the Philosophers' Stone.The elixir powder came to be regarded as a crucial component of transmutation by later Arab alchemists.

In the 11th century, there was a debate among Muslim world chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was the Persian polymath Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances, stating, Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.

According to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the Philosophers' Stone. Magnus does not confirm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did record that he witnessed the creation of gold by transmutation.

The 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus believed in the existence of alkahest, which he thought to be an undiscovered element from which all other elements (earth, fire, water, air) were simply derivative forms. Paracelsus believed that this element was, in fact, the Philosopher's Stone.
 

 Download Harry Potter and the Sorcecer's Stone by J.K.Rowling

Download The Philosopher's Stone (Exercise 1)

 

We teachers are rather good at magic, 

you know.

Minerva McGonagall

THE WEASLEYS, IN SEARCH OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Today, The Weasleys have started their first day in Hogwarts. First, they have assisted to the Hat's ceremony where a magic Hat has sent every one of them to a House.

The Weasleys have been chosen to be members of Gryffindor. They are going to be under the orders of Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Gryffindor values are courage, bravery, nerve, and chivalry. Gryffindor's mascot is the lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold.

During the books, the Head of this house is the Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall until she becomes headmistress, and the house ghost is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, more commonly known as Nearly Headless Nick. According to Rowling, Gryffindor corresponds roughly to the element of fire. The founder of the house is Godric Gryffindor.

The Gryffindor common room is in one of the castle's highest towers, and its entrance is on the seventh floor in the east wing of the castle and is guarded by a painting of The Fat Lady, who is garbed in a pink dress.

She permits entry only after being given the correct password, as was established in the third book, when Sirius Black tried forcing entry into the tower, only to be blocked by The Fat Lady after he could not give the correct password.

In the first book, Neville Longbottom tends to forget the password and must wait near the painting until other Gryffindors arrive to open the way.

The Stones have started to search the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality as well as the ability to turn any metal into pure gold.

The Grandma has told them the story of this magic stone.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. 

The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling's debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school, and with the help of his friends, Harry faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord 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 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry 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 the New 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 has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels.

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 of Jane 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-teller Homer.

More information: Harry Potter Fandom

While some commentators thought the book looked backwards to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as overcoming obstacles like bullies.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, along with the rest of the Harry Potter series, has been attacked by some religious groups and banned in some countries because of accusations that the novels promote witchcraft under the guise of a heroic, moral story.

Other religious commentators have written that the book exemplifies important viewpoints, including the power of self-sacrifice and the ways in which people's decisions shape their personalities. The series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis and marketing.

HP and the Philosopher's Stone

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, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester 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 write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product.

Then Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and after it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.

By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. It was translated by Matthew Fitt, who said that he was honoured to be the Scots translator, and that he wanted to do it for a long time.

The translation is considered significant by Heart, who described it as probably the most incredible version so far, The Guardian, who believed that it may just be the best of all, and Stylist. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries.

The Philosopher's Stone, more properly philosophers' stone or stone of the philosophers, in Latin lapis philosophorum, is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, gold, and ποιεῖν poiēin, to make) or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy.

 

 More information: History

The Philosophers' Stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

Efforts to discover the Philosophers' Stone were known as the Magnum Opus (Great Work).

The earliest known written mention of the Philosophers' Stone is in the Cheirokmeta by Zosimos of Panopolis (c. 300 AD). Alchemical writers assign a longer history. Elias Ashmole and the anonymous author of Gloria Mundi (1620) claim that its history goes back to Adam who acquired the knowledge of the stone directly from God. This knowledge was said to be passed down through biblical patriarchs, giving them their longevity. The legend of the stone was also compared to the biblical history of the Temple of Solomon and the rejected cornerstone described in Psalm 118.

The theoretical roots outlining the stone's creation can be traced to Greek philosophy. Alchemists later used the classical elements, the concept of anima mundi, and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato's Timaeus as analogies for their process. 

According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or Prima Materia first matter, associated with chaos. Prima Materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the Philosophers' Stone. The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things.

Early medieval alchemists built upon the work of Zosimos in the Byzantine Empire and the Arab empires. Byzantine and Arab alchemists were fascinated by the concept of metal transmutation and attempted to carry out the process. 

 

The 8th-century Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Latinized as Geber) analyzed each classical element in terms of the four basic qualities. Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist.

He theorized that every metal was a combination of these four principles, two of them interior and two exterior. From this premise, it was reasoned that the transmutation of one metal into another could be affected by the rearrangement of its basic qualities. This change would be mediated by a substance, which came to be called xerion in Greek and al-iksir in Arabic from which the word elixir is derived.

 

More information: Live Science

It was often considered to exist as a dry red powder also known as al-kibrit al-ahmar, red sulfur made from a legendary stone -the Philosophers' Stone.The elixir powder came to be regarded as a crucial component of transmutation by later Arab alchemists.

In the 11th century, there was a debate among Muslim world chemists on whether the transmutation of substances was possible. A leading opponent was the Persian polymath Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who discredited the theory of transmutation of substances, stating, Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.

According to legend, the 13th-century scientist and philosopher Albertus Magnus is said to have discovered the Philosophers' Stone. Magnus does not confirm he discovered the stone in his writings, but he did record that he witnessed the creation of gold by transmutation.

The 16th-century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus believed in the existence of alkahest, which he thought to be an undiscovered element from which all other elements (earth, fire, water, air) were simply derivative forms. Paracelsus believed that this element was, in fact, the Philosopher's Stone.
 

 Download Harry Potter and the Sorcecer's Stone by J.K.Rowling

Download The Philosopher's Stone (Exercise 1)

 

We teachers are rather good at magic, 

you know.

Minerva McGonagall