Re-read 2021 review:

I started rereading this series after many years as a buddy read with a friend who has never read the books. This experience has brought me a lot of joy and laughs. It made me remember how wonderful these characters and this world are. Ron and Harry are especially snarky and their relationship in this book is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to friendship goals. The Weasleys have moments together that show how close they are as a family. Their immediate acceptance of Harry and the love they offer him is heartwarming. The fact that love is the main theme in this series really shines through on a reread and I appreciated that. 

There is a sense of morbidity mixed with humor within the story that is very tongue in cheek when it comes to the world building. For example, when the first years are waiting to be sorted, Ron's older brothers have made him believe that there is some sort of exam associated with being sorted into a house (page 114-115). It serves as moment of humor, but also serves to remind us that all of these students are 11 year old children at the end of the day (despite how mature and clever they make themselves out to be). A similar sense of humor is touched upon in Dumbledore's initial speech at the beginning of the school referencing the how wandering about the third floor corridors can potentially lead to a painful death (page 127). It helps maintain a lighthearted tone while still giving way for more complex nuggets of information that are important later in the story. 

There are many moments that occurred only in the book and did not make it into the film that I sorely wished had. As beautiful as the film soundtrack is, I really wish the Hogwarts song had made into the films. It rhymes and is silly and it was hard to resist the temptation to sing it aloud as I read it. Peeves was also omitted from the films, and as annoying as the poor ghost can be, I have a soft spot for the troublemaker. He is also the only other ghost besides Sir Nicholas that has extensive dialogue in the first book. His presence is a good way of letting readers know that the ghosts each have their own personalities and that not all of them are necessarily associated with a house. I know this seems asinine, but I had also completely forgotten Percy wears glasses. Percy's relationship with his family becomes more strained over time as the series progresses. However, I feel like you appreciate the falling out between him and his family more in the books because he interacts more in positive ways with his family. There is a moment where the Weasley twins forcibly stuff Percy into a sweater their mother sent him for Christmas and he proceeds to sulk about it. It made me laugh very hard because it makes the Weasley family feel so human. It also offers us this nuanced view of Percy as he changes throughout the series. I also just love healthy sibling relationships in books because they are the first strong relationships people in general form in life and those relationships can tell you a lot about a person.

When  Ron when earns Gryffindor house points at the end of the book Percy is incredibly happy and proud. This is one of my favorite parts because it is a reminder that despite how uptight Percy is at times, he still loves his family.

 

As for my criticisms, I don't have any particularly strong ones at the moment. I think there is an argument to be made about how the challenges created by the Hogwarts professors to guard the stone should have been harder. If it was so well guarded, then how could children get past it? My counterargument to this is that it's a children's book. The challenges created had to be difficult enough to pose a threat to the main character's goals, while also not being impossible for 11 year olds to solve. I think this was accomplished by the obstacles chosen for the story. Due to the popularity of this series, I think a lot of adults looking at this universe forget who the target audience is. This is a children's book after all, so my expectations for world building are different from what I expect from an epic fantasy novel. That is not to say that world building in children's books does not require work and effort, because it does. However, it must be done in a way that is still appealing to children, and I think this story accomplishes that. It is still something that children can read and have fun with while also being entertaining for adults. Therefore, I don't have any particular gripes with it. 

I was very happy to have the pleasure of picking this book up again and I'm excited to continue reexploring this universe.