Harry+Potter+and+the+Prisoner+of+Azkaban

=Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban = =J. K. Rowling =

**Bibliographic Data**

Original Publication Date: September 1999 Publisher: Scholastic Imprint: Scholastic Press ISBN: 0-439-13636-9 Hardcover Price: $13.75 Paperback Price: $7.99 Number of Pages: 435 Best for ages: 9 & up Type of book: Fiction/Fantasy

**Summary**

It is another lonely – and hungry – birthday for 13 year old Harry Potter as he is anxiously counting down the days until he leaves for his third year at Hogwarts. Third year wizards have more privileges than the younger students, including trips to Hogsmeade, the only all wizards village in the area. But there’s one thing standing in his way – The Dursleys. In order to get his Hogsmeade permission form signed by Uncle Vernon, he needs to play the role of the misbehaved boy going to St. Brutus’ Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys while Aunt Marge is in town. Things don’t go as planned and Harry accidentally blew up Aunt Marge. Whoops! Harry ends up leaving earlier than planned only to find out that the escaped prisoner of Azkaban, a prison for the most dangerous of criminal wizards, is said to be looking for Harry himself. The escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, was convicted of murdering 13 people with just one single curse. He was also said to be an accomplice of the Dark Lord Voldemort – the defeat of Voldemort’s army against one year old Harry was said to also be Black’s Downfall. Even within the protected magical walls of Hogwarts, Harry Potter is not safe.

**Review**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">// Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban // is an enjoyable story for adults and children alike. Readers watch the wizard boy grow as well as his problems and responsibilities. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The book is written in third person with Harry Potter as the main character. The narrative allows readers to see into the feelings and actions of Harry as well as the others around him. In this book, Harry’s problems are getting bigger and the implications of his actions are more serious than ever. Readers are taken on a bumpy ride to self-discovery with Harry, whose story is very much similar to that of a hero archetype.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Author Bio**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born and raised in England. She has one sibling, a sister named Di. She got the surname “Potter” from a boy she knew from her childhood neighborhood. She adopted the middle name Kathleen after the death of her favorite grandparent, her grandmother Kathleen. She studied at the University of Exeter. She wanted to be a writer from the age of 6 but had not been so ambitious and motivated until the idea of Harry Potter came to her on a crowded train after College. Very soon after beginning what was then called “The Philosopher’s Stone,” her mother died at the age of 45 and made Harry’s feelings about his dead parents that much stronger. After taking a break from writing her first book, she went to Portugal and taught English for a year. Not only did she return home with more of her story completed, but she also came home with a daughter, Jessica. She spent any free moment she had completing her book so she could try to get it published before returning to teaching. She sent her manuscript to many different publishers and got denied many different times before finding a company willing to publish her book. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was more successful than she could have ever imagined. She has written six more books to complete the series of everyone’s favorite wizard hero. The books are translated into almost 70 languages.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">**Literary Element Analysis: Character Development** <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban// is a real coming-of-age tale that allows readers to watch Harry find himself through his heroic and magical acts and abilities. There are a few qualifications that make a character the typical hero like Superman or Hercules. As the result of a dramatic event, the individual must venture on a quest to regain societal position or restore order. More often than not, the traditional hero receives supernatural help – unusual but helpful circumstances from birth and/or a special weapon. Harry’s special powers, though viewed as evil in his home with the Dursleys, manage to save his friends, himself, his family and even his school on numerous occasions. This book, in particular, shows Harry rescuing an innocent creature, Buckbeak the hippogriff, and his godfather, who were both sentenced to death.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Harry’s life at home with the Dursley’s is miserable. At home no one cares about him or if he even gets one square meal a day. Harry would give anything to see his parents and the feelings left by their absence is amplified by the indifference of the only family he has at home. Harry is very passive and timid in the beginning and lacks a voice. He accepts things as they are and does not believe that he can change them. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">v p. 23 - “So!” she barked. “Still here, are you?” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“Yes,” said Harry. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“Don’t you say ‘yes’ in that ungrateful tone,” Aunt Marge growled. “It’s damn good of Vernon and Petunia to keep you. Wouldn’t have done it myself. You’d have gone straight to an orphanage if you’d been dumped on my doorstep.” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Harry was bursting to say he’d rather live in an orphanage than with the Dursley’s, but the thought of Hogsmeade stopped him. He forced his face into a painful smile.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Harry then spends almost the entire year trying to stay safe from the convict who he finds out is his godfather. His friends see a completely different side of him when he overhears a conversation and learns that Sirius Black is supposedly the one that sold his parents out to the Dark Lord and caused their deaths. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">v P. 214 “Harry, listen,” said Hermione, exchanging a look with Ron, “you must be really upset about what we heard yesterday. But the thing is, you mustn’t go doing anything stupid.” <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“Like what?” said Harry. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“Like trying to go after Black,” said Ron sharply. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">… <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“You won’t, will you, Harry?” said Hermione. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“Because Black’s not worth dying for,” said Ron. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">“D’you know what I see and hear every time a dementor gets too near me?” Ron and Hermione shook their heads, looking apprehensive. “I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you’d heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn’t forget it in a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her—“ <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">At this point Harry is beyond the advice of his friends. He has nothing on his mind but getting revenge on the man that killed his parents. He is no longer being passive and he is going to take action to get what he wants.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Harry finds out that Sirius Black is not the criminal that everyone thinks he is and did not have anything to do with the death of his parents, nor did he kill thirteen people. With the help of his friend Hermione, Harry rescues his godfather and an innocent hippogriff accused of being dangerous. The thirteen year old wizard saved not just one life, but two.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Related Links
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__http://www.pottermore.com/__ - Pottermore.com is a new website created by J. K. Rowling herself that allows readers to explore the Harry Potter books in a new and exciting way.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">__http://harrypotter.warnerbros.co.uk/hp7b/__
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> www.harrypotter.wikia.com - This website has everything anyone has ever wanted to know about Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and J. K. Rowling’s wizarding world.

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