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Harry
Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling (Read by Jim
Dale)
Brand
New (still shrink wrapped): Unabridged. 8.3 hours
7CDs Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping
under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist
of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a
phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including
strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you
are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in
J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry
is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited
him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of
wizards, small, skinny Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to
kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously
refined sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's
quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike
cousin Dudley.
A mysterious letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry
from his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform you
that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT
PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough,
however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl Hedwig... and that's
where the real adventure--humorous, haunting, and suspenseful--begins. Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published in England as Harry
Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win major awards in
England. So far it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the
Children's Book Award, and is short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, the U.K.
version of the Newbery Medal. This magical, gripping, brilliant book--a future
classic to be sure--will leave kids clamoring for Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Narrated by the fantastic British Actor Jim Dale -
who narrates more Harry Potter Audio Books sold worldwide than anyone else!
The audio version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, narrated by Jim
Dale, has become the first book inducted into the Audio Publishers
Association's brand-new Hall of Fame.
About the Narrator Jim Dale
Jim became "The Toast of Broadway" [NY Times 1981] when he created the flamboyant title role in the now world famous Cy Coleman musical "Barnum", winning him the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award.
He started training for his career at the age of nine. For six years he studied tap dancing, judo, National dancing, ballet and tumbling. During these years he performed in many amateur shows and started to include comedy in his act.
At the age of seventeen he became the youngest professional comedian in Great Britain, touring all the famous Variety Music Halls.
He joined the Royal Air Force at the age of eighteen and spent the next two years entertaining troops in England and Germany.
At the age of 22, he became a very successful 'pop singer'. He first appeared in, then hosted the top pop music show on BBC television, "6-5 Special." Later he became the first recording artist under the wing of the now legendary Sir George Martin, who produced many hit records for him over the next two years.
He was invited to join the BBC as a disc jockey, and hosted their top Saturday morning two hour record show for over a year.
In 1966 he was asked to play the clown Autolycus in Shakespeare's, The Winter's Tale at the Edinburgh Festival.
The next year he played Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream and the title role in Scapino.
In 1970, at the request of Laurence Olivier, he joined The British National Theatre as a leading actor.
Over the next two years he appeared in Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, The National Health, The Good Natured Man, The Captain of Kopenick, and a two hander play with Anthony Hopkins, The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria.
At the Young Vic, he re-created the title role in Scapino, which he co-adapted with Frank Dunlop, and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.
His other West End theatre credits include The Burglar, The Wayward Way, The Card, A Midsummer Nights Dream, A Winters' Tale, and most recently, the part of Fagin in Cameron Mackintosh’s Oliver! at the London Palladium.
Broadway saw Jim in the smash hit, Scapino (Drama Desk Award/ Outer Critics Award / Tony nomination).
Other credits on and Off-Broadway include, Joe Egg, (Outer Critics Award / Tony nomination). Travels With My Aunt, (Drama Desk Award / Outer Critics Award / Lucille Lortel Award) Candide (Tony Nomination), The Comedians, (Lucille Lortel Nomination) The Invisible Man, Privates On Parade, The Taming of the Shrew, Me And My Girl , A Christmas Carol - The Musical, The Music Man and Address Unknown.
Television
Huckleberry Finn for PBS, The American Clock by Arthur Miller, The Bill Cosby Show, The Ellen Burstyn Show, The Dinah Shore Show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium (Host), Six Five Special (Host), Thank Your Lucky Stars (Host), Meet Jim Dale and The Jim Dale Show for ATV London.
Films
The National Health, Joseph Andrews, The Spaceman and King Arthur, Hot Lead-Cold Feet, Pete’s Dragon, Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall, Lock Up Your Daughters, Scandalous, The Winters Tale, Digby, The Hunchback, and eleven films in the British "Carry On" series.
Song Writing
He won an Academy Award Nomination for writing the lyrics to Georgy Girl, and has written songs for such films as Shalako, A Winter's Tale, Twinky and Joseph Andrews.
Audio Books
Jim has recorded all six audio books in the "Harry Potter" series, winning a Grammy Award 2000
and four Grammy Nominations.
He is also the recipient of seven Audie Awards, and seven Headphone
Awards.
2001
"Best Narrator - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire""
2004
"Audio Book of the Year - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix",
"Best Childrens Audio Book - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
2005
"Best Classic Audio Book - A Christmas Carol",
"Best Childrens Audio Book - "Peter and the Starcatchers",
"Best Narrator - Peter and the Starcatchers"
About the Author J K Rowling: Joanne Rowling was born in South Gloucestershire, England on 31 July
1965, on the outskirts of Bristol. There is some confusion as to exactly where; Rowling has said she was born in Chipping Sodbury, whereas her birth certificate apparently claims she was born in the Cottage Hospital at Yate. Her sister Di was born when Rowling was almost two
. The family moved to Winterbourne, Bristol when Rowling was four, and then to Tutshill, near Chepstow, Wales at the age of nine. She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College. In December 1990, Rowling's mother succumbed to a decade-long battle with multiple
sclerosis.
After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter, with a year of study in Paris, she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry while she was on a four-hour, delayed train trip between Manchester and
London. When she had reached her destination, she began writing immediately .
Rowling then moved to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October
1992. They had one child, Jessica Isabel, before divorcing in 1993. Their daughter was named after Rowling's heroine, Jessica
Mitford.
In December, 1994, she and her daughter moved to be near her sister in
Edinburgh. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel, doing some of the work in local Edinburgh cafes whenever she could get Jessica to fall
asleep. There was a rumour that she wrote in local cafés in order to escape from her unheated flat, but in a 2001 BBC interview Rowling remarked, "I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat, in Edinburgh, in mid-winter; it had heating"
In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual
typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a young reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
. A year later she was finally given the greenlight (and a £1500 advance) by the editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher
Bloomsbury. Although Cunningham happily agreed to publish the book, he claims he advised her to get a day job, as she had little chance of making money in children's
books. She then received an £8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue
writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc, who paid Rowling more than 0,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the
news. In June, 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an intial print run of only 1000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued at between £16,000 and £25,000 each.
Five months later it won its first award, a Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and, later the Children's Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the States under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a change Rowling now claims she regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.
.
In December 1999, the third Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,won the Smarties Prize, in the process making Rowling the first person to win the award three times
running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January, 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it narrowly lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of
Beowulf. That June, the Queen honored Rowling by making her an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire.
To date, six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, one for each of Harry's school years, have already been published and all have broken sales records. Upon its publication, both the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, were the fastest-selling books in
history.
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