Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favorite books by J.K Rowling. In it, Harry Potter starts his 3rd year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and finds out that a killer named Sirius Black is out on the loose.

During the train ride to Hogwarts, the dementors come and check the train for Sirius Black. I think the concept of them is excellent since they are able to suck happy memories out of you and make you cold. One of them got so close to Harry that he passed out. At school, dementors are stationed everywhere on campus.

Harry also get a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Lupin. Lupin then turns out to be a werewolf. I think that was an excellent plot twist since it was so unexpected.

After Harry’s best friend Ron’s pet rat runs away, they follow him into the stump of a tree, where a vicious wolf-like creature comes out and takes Ron’s pet rat away. The wolf-like creature is actually Sirius Black as an animagus. An animagus is someone who can turn into an animal at will. I think this is really cool since you can sneak around places without anyone being suspicious. On top of that, Sirius turns out to be Harry’s godfather! With all of these plot twists and a lot of magic, I rate this book a 5/5.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library. It can also be downloaded for free from Libby.