Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by British author J.K. Rowling and is the third in the Harry Potter series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban, the wizard prison, believed to be one of Lord Voldemort's old allies.

This article is about the book. For its adaptation, see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film).
"Prisoner of Azkaban" redirects here. For other uses, see Prisoner of Azkaban (disambiguation).

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Cover art of the first UK edition
AuthorJ. K. Rowling
IllustratorCliff Wright (UK Edition)
Mary GrandPré (US Edition)
Jim Kay (Illustrated Edition)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesHarry Potter
Release number
3rd in series
GenreFantasy
Publisher
Publication date
8 July 1999 (UK)
8 September 1999 (US)
Pages317 (UK Edition)
462 (2014 UK Edition)
435 (US Edition)
464 (2013 US Edition)
326 (Illustrated Edition)
ISBN0-7475-4215-5
Preceded byHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 
Followed byHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

The book was published in the United Kingdom on 8 July 1999 by Bloomsbury and in the United States on 8 September 1999 by Scholastic, Inc.[1][2][3][4] Rowling found the book easy to write, finishing it just a year after she began writing it. The book sold 68,000 copies in just three days after its release in the United Kingdom and since has sold over three million in the country.[5] The book won the 1999 Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was short-listed for other awards, including the Hugo.

The film adaptation of the novel was released in 2004, grossing more than $796 million and earning critical acclaim. Video games loosely based on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were also released for several platforms, and most obtained favourable reviews.

Plot

Harry is back at the Dursleys' for the summer holidays, where he sees on Muggle television that a convict named Sirius Black has escaped from prison. After the Dursley's Aunt Marge personally insults Harry, Harry accidentally inflates her, then runs away from home, fearing expulsion from school. After being picked up by the Knight Bus, meeting Stan Shunpike, and encountering a large black dog that seems to be watching him, he travels to the Leaky Cauldron, where Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, asks Harry to stay in Diagon Alley for his own protection. While there, he reunites with his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Before leaving for Hogwarts, Harry learns from Arthur Weasley that Sirius Black is a convicted murderer from the wizarding world and that Black has escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban to kill Harry. On the way to Hogwarts, a Dementor boards the train, causing Harry to relive his parents' deaths before fainting. The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, protects Harry, Ron, and Hermione from the Dementor. They learn Dementors will be patrolling the school in an attempt to catch Black. Although Professor Lupin is popular with his students, the Potions master, Snape, seems to hate him.

While Third Years are allowed to visit the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade on holiday, Harry is blocked from going because he has no permission slip from his legal guardian. Fred and George Weasley give him the Marauder's Map, which is enchanted to show all passages and people on Hogwarts grounds, to sneak out. Lupin later catches Harry with the map and confiscates it, believing it endangers Harry.

During a Quidditch match, Harry faints and falls off his broomstick after Dementors invade the field. His Nimbus 2000 is blown away and smashed by the Whomping Willow, a violent tree in the grounds. Afterward, Professor Lupin teaches Harry how to defend himself from Dementors using the Patronus charm.

Ron and Hermione's friendship suffers when Ron believes Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, to have eaten his rat, Scabbers. Hermione also gets Harry's new anonymously given Christmas present, a top-of-the-range Firebolt broomstick, confiscated for fear it might be jinxed by Sirius Black. Hermione becomes stressed by her many classes, some of which seem to occur at the same time, a detail which she refuses to explain to Harry and Ron.

Meanwhile, Hagrid's hippogriff Buckbeak is in danger of being executed by the Ministry of Magic after injuring Draco Malfoy, who provoked Buckbeak. Despite Hermione's and Ron's efforts to defend the hippogriff, they and Harry seemingly hear Buckbeak executed as they leave Hagrid's hut. While visiting Hagrid's, however, Hermione discovers Scabbers hiding there.

Scabbers escapes from Ron, who gives chase. The large black dog appears and attacks Ron, then drags him into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Crookshanks (who seems to be in league with the dog), Harry, and Hermione follow them through the tunnel and to the Shrieking Shack, a haunted house in Hogsmeade. They discover that the dog is Black in animal form. Harry disarms Black and intends to kill him but is unable to do so.

Lupin enters and embraces Black as a friend. He explains that, although he believed Black to have betrayed the Potters, he realises now that it was Peter Pettigrew. He admits he is a werewolf and that, while at school, the Marauders (Black, Pettigrew, and Harry's father, James Potter) learned to transform into animals to tame Lupin during his transformations. Lupin explains that Scabbers is Pettigrew in his animal form. Pettigrew faked his own death, framing Black for the murders, and has been hiding from Black since his escape from Azkaban.

Snape, who holds a childhood grudge against Lupin and his friends, arrives to apprehend Black but is knocked unconscious by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who now believe Black to be innocent. Lupin and Black transform Pettigrew into human form and prepare to kill him, but Harry stops them, feeling his father would not have wanted it. He convinces Lupin and Black to send Pettigrew to Azkaban instead.

As they attempt to bring Pettigrew back to Hogwarts, the full moon transforms Lupin into a wolf. The now feral Lupin attacks them, and in the confusion, Pettigrew escapes. Harry, Hermione, and Black are chased to the shore of the lake, where they are set upon by Dementors. They are rescued by a Patronus cast by a figure on the opposite shore, whom Harry thinks is his father.

Reawakening in the hospital wing, Harry and Hermione are told that Black has been sentenced to have his soul sucked out by Dementors, a fate worse than death. Professor Dumbledore tells Harry and Hermione to use Hermione's time-turner, a device she has been using to attend her simultaneous classes, to go back in time and save Buckbeak and Sirius. They rescue Buckbeak from execution and watch themselves attacked by Dementors at the lake. Harry realises that the figure he saw was not his father but himself, and casts the Patronus that drives away the Dementors. Harry and Hermione ride Buckbeak to the tower where Black is held and break him out. Black escapes on Buckbeak.

Harry and Hermione return to the hospital wing to close the timeline. Enraged by the escape of Black, Snape lets slip that Lupin is a werewolf, forcing him to resign. Harry returns to Kings Cross with his friends and receives a letter from Black, giving him permission to visit Hogsmeade next year.

Publication and reception

Pre-release history

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series. The first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US), was published by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997 and the second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published on 2 July 1998.[6] Rowling started to write the Prisoner of Azkaban the day after she finished The Chamber of Secrets.[7]

Rowling's favorite aspect of this book was introducing the character Remus Lupin,[8] Rowling additionally said in 2004 that Prisoner of Azkaban was "the best writing experience I ever had...I was in a very comfortable place writing (number) three. Immediate financial worries were over, and press attention wasn't yet by any means excessive".[9]

Critical reception

Gregory Maguire wrote a review in The New York Times for Prisoner of Azkaban: in it he said, "So far, in terms of plot, the books do nothing new, but they do it brilliantly...so far, so good."[10] In a newspaper review in The New York Times, it was said that "'The Prisoner of Azkaban' may be the best 'Harry Potter' book yet".[11] A reviewer for KidsReads said, "This crisply-paced fantasy will leave you hungry for the four additional Harry books that J.K. Rowling is working on. Harry's third year is a charm. Don't miss it."[12] Kirkus Reviews did not give a starred review but said, "a properly pulse-pounding climax...The main characters and the continuing story both come along so smartly...that the book seems shorter than its page count: have readers clear their calendars if they are fans, or get out of the way if they are not."[13] Martha V. Parravano also gave a positive review for The Horn Book Magazine, calling it "quite a good book."[14] In addition, a Publishers Weekly review said, "Rowling's wit never flags, whether constructing the workings of the wizard world...or tossing off quick jokes...The Potter spell is holding strong.[15]

However, Anthony Holden, who was one of the judges against Prisoner of Azkaban for the Whitbread Award, was negative about the book, saying that the characters are "all black-and-white", and the "story-lines are predictable, the suspense minimal, the sentimentality cloying every page".[16]

Awards

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban won several awards, including the 1999 Booklist Editors' Choice Award,[17] the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers,[18] the 1999 FCGB Children's Book Award,[19] the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year for children's books.,[20] and the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel,.[21] It was also nominated for the 2000 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the first in the series nominated, but lost to A Deepness in the Sky.[22] Prisoner of Azkaban additionally won the 2004 Indian Paintbrush Book Award[23] and the 2004 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award.[24] Additionally, it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book in 2000[25] as well as one of their Best Books for Young Adults.[26] As with the previous two books in the series, Prisoner of Azkaban won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal for children aged 9–11 and made the top of the New York Times Best Seller list.[27] In both cases, it was the last in the series to do so.[28] However, in the latter case, a Children's Best Sellers list was created just before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in July 2000 in order to free up more room on the original list.[29] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 24 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[30]

Sales

Prisoner of Azkaban sold more than 68,000 copies in the UK within three days of publication, which made it the fastest selling British book of the time.[5] The sales total by 2012 is said by The Guardian to be 3,377,906.[3]

Editions

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in hardcover in the UK on 8 July 1999[31] and in the US on 8 September.[31] The British paperback edition was released on 1 April 2000,[32] while the US paperback was released 2 October 2001.[33]

Bloomsbury additionally released an adult edition with a different cover design to the original, in paperback on 10 July 2004[34] and in hardcover on October 2004.[35] A hardcover special edition, featuring a green border and signature, was released on 8 July 1999.[31] In May 2004, Bloomsbury released a Celebratory Edition, with a blue and purple border.[36] On 1 November 2010, they released the 10th anniversary Signature edition illustrated by Clare Mellinsky and in July 2013 a new adult cover illustrated by Andrew Davidson, both these editions were designed by Webb & Webb Design Limited.[37]

Beginning on 27 August 2013, Scholastic will release new covers for the paperback editions of Harry Potter in the United States to celebrate 15 years of the series.[38] The covers were designed by the author and illustrator Kazu Kibuishi.[39]

An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on October 3, 2017, and was illustrated by Jim Kay who illustrates the previous two instalments. This includes over 115 new illustrations and will be followed by Illustrated editions of the following 4 novels in the future.

Adaptations

Film
Main article: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)

The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 2004 and was directed by Alfonso Cuarón from a screenplay by Steve Kloves.[40] The film débuted at number one at the box office and held that position for two weeks.[41] It made a total of $796.7 million worldwide,[42] which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2004 behind Shrek 2. However, among all eight entries in the Harry Potter franchise, Prisoner of Azkaban grossed the lowest, yet among critics and fans, the film is said to be one of the best in the franchise.[43] The film ranks at number 471 in Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[44]

Video games
Main article: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)

Three unique video games by different developers were released in 2004 by Electronic Arts, loosely based on the book:

DeveloperRelease datePlatformGenreGameRankingsMetacritic
KnowWonder25 May 2004Microsoft WindowsAdventure/puzzle68.52%[45]67/100[46]
GriptoniteGame Boy AdvanceRole-playing game69.58%[47]69/100[48]
EA UK29 May 2004GameCubeAction-adventure69.74%[49]67/100[50]
PlayStation 272.59%[51]70/100[52]
Xbox68.39%[53]67/100[54]
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gollark: I know! Write a browser extension which replaces `Christmas` with `potatOS Tau`.

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