English 7th grade A book review Worksheet 1

READING

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER´S STONE

A book review
So many of the beloved heroes and heroines of children's literature -- from Cinderella and Snow White
to Oliver Twist and the Little Princess to Matilda, Maniac Magee and the great Gilly Hopkins -- begin their
lives being raised by monstrously wicked, ignorant adults, too stupid to see what we the readers know
practically from page 1: This is a terrific person we would love to have for a best friend. And so it is with
Harry Potter, the star of ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone”, by J. K. Rowling, a wonderful first novel
from England that won major literary awards and has been at the top of the adult best-seller lists.
Poor Harry Potter, an orphan baby, was sent to live with his odious aunt and uncle, Petunia and
Vernon Dursley, and their fat son, Dudley. While Dudley Dursley has two bedrooms, Harry was forced to
sleep in a tiny space under the stairs, never had a birthday party in his 11 years and must wear his cousin's
way baggy hand-me-down clothes.
But Harry is destined for greatness, as we know from the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, and
one day he mysteriously received a notice in the mail announcing that he had been chosen to attend
Hogwarts, the nation's elite school for training wizards and witches, the Harvard of sorcery. Before the book
finished, Harry Potter meets a dragon, makes friends with a centaur and battles with a three-headed dog; he
learns how to fly a broom and how to use a cloak that makes him invisible. But the magic in the book is not
the real magic OF the book. The author, J. K. Rowling, keeps the emotions, fears and triumphs of her
characters on a human scale. We feel Harry's fear when for the first time he is traveling to a faraway place,
an 11-year-old boy arriving alone at the King's Cross train station with a trunk bigger than he is, and no idea
how to find Platform 9.
The book is full of humor. The characters are impressively three-dimensional. However, a few times
in the last four chapters, there are things I found irritating. These are minor criticisms. On the whole, ''Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' is as funny, moving and impressive as the story behind its writing. J. K.
Rowling, a teacher by training, was a 30-year-old single mother living on welfare in a cold one-bedroom flat
in Edinburgh when she began writing it during her baby daughter's nap times. But like Harry Potter, she had
wizardry inside, and has soared beyond her modest Muggle surroundings to achieve something quite special.
By Michael Winerip, for The New York Times Magazine (abridged and adpted)

COMPREHENSION
1. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)? Find evidence in the text.
1.1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer´s Stone was a big hit.

1.2. Michael Winerip didn´t like reading this book.

1.3. J. K. Rowling was a teenager when she wrote it.

1.4. She was rich and famous before writing the book.

2. Answer the questions about the text. Use your own words.
2.1. How old was Harry Potter in this first book?

2.2. Who did he live with? Why?

2.3. What kind of place is Hogwarts?

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English 7th grade A book review Worksheet 1

2.4. What does Harry learn there?

VOCABULARY
1. Complete the table of the verbs
VERB PRESENT SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE MEANING
BE
BUY
HAVE
GO
FLY
WASH
ARRIVE
MAKE
RUN
SWIM
LISTEN

2. Find in the first paragraph of the text synonyms for the following words.
2.1. Kids –
2.2. Start –
2.3. Awesome –

GRAMMAR
1. Complete the sentences with the verbs in the past simple.
1.1. Harry Potter ……………..(sleep) under the stairs.
1.2. He ………………(have) a wonderful birthday party.
1.3. His best friend …………………(be) Hermione and Ron.
1.4. We ……………….(like) reading the book very much.
1.4.1.Put the sentences in the negative form.

1.4.2.Put the sentences in the interrogative form.

2. Complete the sentences with the verbs in brackets in the past simple tense.

My sister and I …………………..(be) in the park yesterday. Then we ………………..(go) home and
………………(help) my mother in the house. We …………………(make) our beds and ……………….
(clean) the bedroom. At night I …………………(study) a little and my sister …………………(watch)
TV with my father. My mother ……………….(be) always working on the computer, because she
……………..(have) a presentation on the next day. We all …………………(go) to bed at midnight.

3. Make correct sentences in the present simple or present continuous tenses.

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English 7th grade A book review Worksheet 1

3.1. Now / read / I / a book

3.2. Sometimes / she / wash / the bathroom

3.3. At the moment / his parents / be / in London

3.4. Peter / be / usually / at library

3.5. They / now / study / Maths

3.5.1.Put the 3.3 and 3.4 in the negative form.

3.5.2.Put the 3.2 and 3.5 in the interrogative form.

4. Read the text and correct the errors.

My name is John and I has seventeen years old. When I am child, a little girl, I live in Coimbra, Portugal.

Now I live in London with my parent, because they work at Portuguese Embassy here in London, of

course. I miss my old house in Portugale, because it is very beautiful. It have a big garden with oranges

trees and many flowers. I has a dog, too. It name is Rex. The house is on the beach. I wish I was there

now.

5. Make correct questions for the following answers.

5.1. ………………………………………………………….?
5.1.1.Yes, they did. They flew to London yesterday.
5.2. ……………………………………………………………?
5.2.1.No, he didn´t. He did not go to the cinema.
5.3. …………………………………………………………….?
5.3.1.Tess was born in January.
5.4. …………………………………………………………….?
5.4.1.I left the book at school
5.5. …………………………………………………………….?
5.5.1.She went to the hospital yesterday.
5.6. ……………………………………………………………..?
5.6.1.My mother has got two apples.
5.7. ……………………………………………………………..?
5.7.1.I like chocolate, because it´s sweet.