Scholastic released J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book in the United States under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The British edition was published by Bloomsbury in 1997 as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Scholastic acquired the American publishing rights and issued the book in 1998 with a changed title. The alteration was intended to make the concept of a “philosopher’s stone” clearer to American children, who were thought to be more familiar with “sorcerer.”
The plot and characters remain the same in both editions, although some vocabulary was also adjusted between British and American versions. For example, certain school-related terms differ across the editions. The title difference is therefore a publishing decision, not evidence of a separate story.
Bloomsbury and Scholastic are both correct publishers in different markets. Scholastic is the precise answer when the question specifies the American title “Sorcerer’s Stone.”