J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling's seven books follow Harry from a childhood spent unwanted to a school where staircases move and friends choose him, and the warmth of that turn is what holds the series together. «Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone» is the place to start, since it sets the castle, the friendships and the rules of the magic; «Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban» shows how much the stories can carry once you know them, mixing a prison break and a map that insults its readers into a year that feels both funny and uneasy. Across all of them the tone is plain and often dry, with the ordinary school life—classes, meals, quarrels—running alongside something darker that grows as the books do.

Feels like friendship, wonder and adventure.

Start with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Rowling wrote much of the first book in Edinburgh cafés, often with her infant daughter asleep beside her; the manuscript was rejected by twelve publishers.

The moment a magic lesson becomes a contest of who says it right.

‘And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?’‘Throw it away and punch him on the nose,’ Ron suggested.Wingardium Leviosa!’ he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.‘You’re saying it wrong,’ Harry heard Hermione snap. ‘It’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the “gar” nice and long.’‘You do it, then, if you’re so clever’ Ron snarled.Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, Wingardium Leviosa!’Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

Excerpt from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing 1997. Quoted for discovery. Source Rights & removals