Good morning to you dear reader, I hope you are all keeping well. There was no post last week as I was celebrating my birthday and I had a lovely time and felt very spoilt indeed. Celebrations included an afternoon tea at Betty's Tea Rooms with my Sister and a breakfast out with lovely Chris. Books and chocolate were the order of the day for gifts, and how well my friends know me. When I do finally get round to updating my To Be Read list for 2025, I'd put aside a day or two to read the post!

Read my Autumn 2024 To Be Read Post

In the lead up to Christmas I was on kept on a strict book buying ban. Apart from being immensely difficult not to purchase a book or two, it meant I got to revisit a book I hadn't read in quite a while, but which sits on my bookshelves. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the 3rd book in the Harry Potter series. You could read it alone, but why would you want to? Instead start from the beginning and learn all about the magical world Harry inhabits.

This book is #24 on the BBC Big Reads List from 2003. Way back then the BBC launched a campaign to find the nation's best loved book. This caught the imagination of the country, and was eventually topped by The Lord of the Rings. But it is testament to the Harry Potter series that all 4 books, that were then available, were in the top quarter of the list.

Read all about my BBC Big Read Challenge

The Plot

Harry Potter is a wizard! Along with Ron and Hermione, his best friends, Harry is in his third year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Who knows what will happen this year?

My Thoughts

Full disclosure here, I adore this series of books. J.K.Rowling has woven a magical world, involved and charming that draws you in and leaves you feeling all warm and cosy. I read this just before Christmas and it was a wonderful time to read this. If you are a fan of the films, they barely scratch the surface of this world of wizards and muggles.

Having only discovered he was a wizard at the age of 11, Harry continues to learn more about the wizarding world, such as the Knight bus, a tall purple bus that wil transport any witch or wizard in need of aid, the Prison of Azkaban, the terrible Dementors with the torn cloaks and terrifying kiss. The fact that following a Dementor encounter, one should always have chocolate. We learn more about Harry's past and the lead up to his parents' murder.

One thing I love about the Harry Potter books is the humour which is written on many levels entertaining both children and adults alike. The Marauder's Map, the joke shop in Hogsmeade and Fred and George, Ron's cheeky older brothers.

When I think of this series, I remember the bookshop events held in honour of it's launch, the imaginations it captured, and the children it encouraged to read. I remember one parent telling me that her daughter cried when she turned 11 years old because her letter from Hogwart's did not arrive. I think fondly of the memories we created as booksellers.

One of my friends, asked her (now) husband to help with the evening events, and volunteered him to be Harry Potter. Leaving them to get dressed, she returned looking sheepish, advising that whilst drawing the famous scar on 'Harry's' head, couldn't remember if she had used permanent ink, but decided to wait until the end of the evening and deal with it then. Her now husband looking confused once the event had finished at the relieved faces round the shop when his scar did indeed come off.

This is a wonderful read, funny, entertaining with a brilliant imagined world, involving and cosy. It also comes with nostalgia and memory for me and thus joins the 5 star read club.