HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

Author: J.K Rowling Illustrator: Mary GrandPre’ Rating: 10/10 Age: 9+ Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humour, Magic Pages: 317 Published in: July 1999 Main Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lupin, Black, Dementors, Voldemort

Synopsis:   It was Harry’s 13th Birthday and he receives owls from his friends that had bought birthday gifts for him. As usual, the Dursleys have forgotten his birthday and continue to ignore him. Aunt Marge has came to stay at the Dursley's house and she abjectly continues to insult Harry’s parents during her visit. Harry gets very angry and consequently inflates Aunt Marge where she flows towards heaven like leaping hot air balloon. He knows that he could not stand it any longer if he continues to live with the Dursley’s, so he goes  out to be collected by the knight bus that is meant for any stranded witch or wizards. While boarding a bus Harry witnesses a glimpse of a rather huge hairy and hideous black dog staring at him.... During his excursion on the bus, Harry hears about a man named Sirius Black. The driver tells him that Black has escaped from Azkaban, which is a prison for a witch and wizards. The Knight Bus drops Harry off at Diagon Alley, where he is greeted by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. He choses a room and decides to camp there until it is time for him to rejoin next term at Hogwarts. While spending time in Diagon Alley, alongside finishing his schoolwork, Harry also starts admiring a Firebolt broomstick in the window of a shop. It is known to be the fastest racing broom that had ever been made! Soon after, he unites with his friends Ron and Hermione and they go hunting for all of their school supplies needed for that school year. At a pet shop, Hermione buys a cat named Crookshanks, who chases Scabbers, Ron's aging pet rat. Ron is most displeased seeing Scabbers being in distress given that he should have been left at his own pace. The night before they all heads to the station to go to platform 9 ¾ to Hogwarts, Harry eavesdrops a whispering of Ron's parents discussing of the fact that Sirius Black is after Harry. While on the Hogwarts Express, the journey gets abruptly stopped. A strange person boards the train, called a Dementor. During his encounter with Dementor Harry faints but he is revived promptly by Professor Lupin, who is Hogwarts’ new teacher specialising in Defense Against The Dark Arts.   Soon afterward, the students arrives at Hogwarts and classes resumes. Trelawney witnesses Harry's death, by reading tea leaves and finding the representation of a Grim, a large black dog symbolizing death. In the care of magical creatures class, Hagrid introduced the students to Hippogriffs. Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin student, attacks one of these beasts named Buckbeak. He exaggerates about his injury so that Hagrid and Buckbeak would be fired from their job. In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin takes the class in a defeat of a Boggart, that is known to change shape to appear as the viewer's greatest fear. For Lupin, it turns into an orb, for Ron, a spider (these were their fears). Harry doesn't have a chance to fight it… But why? As the class goes to a trip to Hogsmead, Harry decides to ask Lupin why he didn’t manage to use the Boggart. This was because Lupin had thought Harry would make Voldemort appear as his greatest fear, but Harry explains that it was the Dementors that scared Harry the most. Later that night, Sirius Black breaks into Hogwarts and destroys the Fat Lady portrait that guarded Gryffindor Tower. The students have to spent the night sleeping in the Great Hall while the teachers search the castle. Soon afterwards, Quidditch moves into full swing, and Gryffindor House plays against Hufflepuff. During the game, Harry spies the large black dog, and seconds later hoard of Dementors appears. He loses his consciousness and falls off his broomstick. Harry wakes up to find that his trusty broomstick had flown into the Whomping Willow and been smashed in his fall, and the game had been lost. Later, Harry learns from Lupin that the Dementors affect Harry so much because Harry' s past was so horrible. Why did Dementors affect Harry so much? Who is Sirius Black and what is life all about? Why was he in Azkaban?  To understand the story, you must read the book!

Why I like this book:   I love this book as it is full of mysteries and problems that Harry has to face during his hunt for Sirius Black. At the start, it feels like all the questions have been tangled into a huge ball, but as the story moves, the questions untangle themselves one by one. I would definitely recommend this book for any young reader who like action- packed books, as this is my favourite book from the series! The next book in this series is called: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Make sure to look out for my next book review as this will be the next one!