Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Author: JK Rowling
Series: Harry Potter #3
Genre: Fantasy (Middle Grade)
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Harry Potter, along with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can’t wait to get back to school after the summer holidays (who wouldn’t if they lived with the horrible Dursleys?) But when Harry gets to Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There’s an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school….

There are a few minor spoilers in this review, mostly for the two previous books.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite story in the Harry Potter series. I love the dynamic of everything found in its pages–the characters, the adventure, the “mystery,” etc.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, the third year students finally get a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his stuff. You get to see the students learn how to battle boggarts, grindylows, hinkypunks, and much more. It’s fun to see how the students handle each of these obstacles. Professor Lupin is one of my favorite characters. I loved getting to know him and learning all about him and his life at Hogwarts as a student and as a teacher.

Speaking of teachers, Snape made me so angry in Prisoner of Azkaban. I wanted to reach through the pages and strangle him on more than one occasion. I remember hating him after finishing this book for the first time. You think he hates Harry in the first two books, but there’s nothing like his hatred for him in this book. I completely understand why Harry, Ron, and Hermione don’t trust him. I wouldn’t have either.

“You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble?” Albus Dumbledore

It was also fun to see the growing pains Harry, Ron, and Hermione go through. At first, it seems as though their friendship is perfect, none of them can do wrong in each other’s eyes. But, in Prisoner of Azkaban, the reader sees that their friendship is just as susceptible to anger, hurt, indifference, and jealousy as any other friendship. But, their friendship is so strong, it can stand these hiccups and actually become stronger because of them. Their friendship, as I said in my review of Sorcerer’s Stone, is one to be jealous of.

I loved exploring Hogsmeade, the only all-Wizard town in England. It was fun to delve deeper into the wizarding world and explore all the different shops. It actually made me kind of jealous of the characters as I’d love to experience everything they did, especially the sweets and food.

My favorite thing about Prisoner of Azkaban is the concept of the Marauders and the Marauders’ Map. I love the back story of Loony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. This is the main reason I don’t like the movie version of Prisoner of Azkaban very much because I think it doesn’t give enough time to explain the importance of the Marauders and the map.

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author: JK Rowling
Series: Harry Potter #2
Genre: Fantasy (Middle Grade)
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Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does he know that this year will be just as eventful as the last … even getting there is an adventure in itself! The three firm friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione, are soon immersed in the daily round of Potions, Herbology, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Quidditch. But then horrible and mysterious things start happening. Harry keeps hearing strange voices, sinister and dark messages appear, and then Ron’s sister Ginny disappears….

There are a few minor spoilers in this review.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the book in which I learned to love the characters the most. Now that all the introductions are done, except for a few new characters, you start to see their true nature. The dynamic of these characters is such that without a single one of them, it’d throw off the story in some form or another.

There are the main three, of course. Hermione is a bossy know-it-all, but without her love for all things learning and her incredible logic and intellect, I don’t think Harry or Ron would’ve got nearly as far as they did in solving the mysteries of each novel. Nor would they have kept on top of their studies. Ron is the funny best friend. He keeps both Harry and Hermione grounded and can even put Hermione in her place when she’s being too bossy. Harry is the hero, but not just any hero. Although he’s very uncertain of himself, we find that he’s brave and has a good heart. He doesn’t want anything to happen to anyone. And, if there’s anything he can do about it, he’ll do it, even if he’s not the best wizard for the job.

Fred and George Weasley bring humor to the story and help us remember than even in the darkest of times, we can still enjoy ourselves and have fun. Neville, although accident-prone and the most unlikely to be a great wizard in the school, is fiercely loyal, friendly, and determined to prove that he’s just as good as everyone else.

Then there are the characters that we hate or don’t know what to think of yet. Draco Malfoy is annoying, pompous, and snobbish. He thinks he deserves everything and that everyone’s beneath him. But, without him, Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s Hogwarts life would be just too easy. Even though Snape is harsh and unfriendly to most students, there’s more to him than meets the eye. And, Lockhart … I forgot how annoying he is until I started reading his character again. But, like Ron, I’m almost sad to see him go in the end.

Apart from the characters is the actual story in Chamber of Secrets. The complexity amazes me. Having read the future books, I can see the foreshadowing Rowling does even from this point in the series. There are so many little clues here and there that tell you what’s going to happen.

“It is our choices, Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Albus Dumbledore

There are so many little things I love about this story. I love when Harry meets Fawkes, Professor Dumbledore’s phoenix, for the first time. I love reading about his uncertainty of whether Gryffindor is the right house for him. And, I love the interactions between him and Dobby.

The first time I read Chamber of Secrets in 2001, I figured out the mystery long before Harry, Ron, and Hermione did. But, I still remained on the edge of my seat, excited to see how and when they found out what everything meant and how to put a stop to it.

There’s so much more I can say about Chamber of Secrets, but I don’t think anyone wants to read all of it. Simply put, it’s a wonderfully, complex, rich story and makes me excited to continue on with Harry’s adventures in the next books.