Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Rowling worked on the book for six years before it was accepted by Bloomsbury Publishing, who paid her an advance of £2,500. The book was published in 1997. Most publishers who took a look at the title thought the book was too long at 90,000 words. But Bloomsbury published it when the chief executive’s daughter, who was eight years old, said Rowling’s book was “so much better than anything else.”

"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." "After I began to write "Philosopher's Stone," something horrible had happened. My mother died. She was only forty-five. Nine months afterwards, I desperately wanted to get away from everything and took a job in Portugal as an English teacher at a language institute. I took my manuscript with me in hopes of working on it while I was there. My feelings about Harry Potter's parents' death became more real to me, and more emotional. In my first week in Portugal, I wrote my favorite chapter in Philosopher's Stone - The Mirror of Erised."

When the book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1997, it was under the title *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*. Scholastic published the book the following year in the United States with the title *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*.

The book has been translated into 80 different languages, as of 2017.

Over 500 million copies have been sold worldwide.

When Joanne Rowling was trying to get her debut novel, *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*, published, Bloomsbury Publishing was concerned about her name, Joanne, as they thought boys would prefer a book with a male author. This is why Joanne’s pen name is J.K. Rowling.

A first edition *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone* sold for $90,000 in March of 2019.

Rated PG, run time 2h 32min, rated a 7.6/10 by [IMDb (you can also find a movie trailer, a summary, and cast information here)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241527/){:target="_blank"}. [Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harry_potter_and_the_sorcerers_stone){:target="_blank"} gives it an 81% on the Tomatometer and a 82% Audience Score. [This Bustle article](https://www.bustle.com/articles/31261-11-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-book-to-movie-changes-that-might-ruin-the-film-for-you){:target="_blank"} brings up a few of instances when the movie strayed from the book, such as the Sorting Hat's song being trimmed and the delivery of Harry's Nimbus 2000 happening at lunch instead of a secret delivery. [Harry Potter Fandom page](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_differences_between_the_Harry_Potter_books_and_films){:target="_blank"} lists every discrepancy it could find between the movie and the book.

King’s Cross Station does have an honorary platform 9 3⁄4 on the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10. They have a luggage cart going into the wall that fans can take pictures with. You can take your own photo at the wall for free, or pay to have a professional take it while you wear a scarf in your house color.