Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1

By: J.K. Rowling

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Jim Dale's Grammy Award-winning performance of J.K. Rowling's iconic stories is a listening adventure for the whole family.

Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.

Close your eyes and enter the magical world of Harry Potter. In these editions, Jim Dale's characterful narration is so entertaining, fun, and theatrical you can almost hear the crackle of the fire in the Gryffindor common room.

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter stories never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.

©1997 J.K. Rowling (P)1999 Pottermore Limited

Critic reviews

"To call Dale a 'reader' of books is like saying Monet was a Sunday painter." (Los Angeles Times)

Outstanding

Would you consider the audio edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1 to be better than the print version?

Wow, that's hard. There is, as there always is for me, so much enjoyment in reading for myself with my own timing, like stopping to imagine a scene, re-reading something that made me laugh, etc. But after having read the book, I really enjoyed listening to it.

What about Jim Dale’s performance did you like?

His performance matched pretty closely the way I would have read the book out loud to myself, and you can't ask for more than that!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It would just be silly to binge listen to such a huge and amazing (magical) story. Enjoy it!

Rowling is great - would prefer Fry's version

I love Harry Potter, but I wish Americans could order Fry's version of the audiobooks rather than Jim Dale's. I first encountered Jim Dale in another series and absolutely hated the way he voiced girls and women - and two of the three main characters were female. He was so bad, I researched a bit to find out why this fun, promising book (The Emerald Atlas, btw) had such a terrible reader and was very surprised to learn he had won awards for Harry Potter! It took me quite a while to resign myself to get these audiobooks. Rowling never disappoints, but Dale is another thing altogether. He is quite good with most of the voices, but Hermoine's is so terrible, it has shades of sexism. I'm not calling him sexist, but he's just that bad.

The first installment of the popular series

A nicely done presentation of the series. Reader presents well except a couple places where speech is so quiet it is difficult to hear.

Hermoine not well represented

Love the books not as impressed with the narrator, Hermoine sounds like a a silly girl

Wish I was allowed to read this as kid

I'm almost twenty years late in reading this, and boy is it well written. But people weren't really afraid of the witchcraft, they were afraid of how delightfully subversive it is.