HARRY POTTER and the PRISONER OF AZKABAN

For most children, summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.

As it turns out, Harry isn't punished at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that, but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected? Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately, there are four more in the works.

Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban has won the following awards:

• Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1999 Gold Medal 9-11 years
• Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year 1999
• British Book Awards 1999 Author of the Year
• The Booksellers Association / The Bookseller Author of the Year 1998
• FCBG Children's Book Award 1999 / Longer Novel Category
• Whitaker's Platinum Book Award 2001

Buy Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from Amazon.com:

The Audio CDs and Cassettes are unabridged, read by Jim Dale. See Amazon.co.uk for UK versions of these titles.