Medium – Book
About the Book – In this large-scale illustrated version of the third Harry Potter book, the Wizarding World is in uproar – the notorious serial killer, Sirius Black, has escaped the Prison of Azkaban, and is hellbent on murdering Harry Potter. After a rather unfortunate incident with his uncle’s sister, Harry finds himself homeless and on the brink of expulsion from Hogwarts. However, the threat of Black means that his underage magic is overlooked for once, and Harry is able to return to Hogwarts, with his friends Ron and Hermione. However, once he is back at Hogwarts, Harry soon discovers why Sirius Black may want him dead, as the murderer seems to be getting ever closer to the school.
My Rating – 5/5 (for both the story and the illustrations!)
My Thoughts – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favourite of the Harry Potter books. The storyline is compelling, but Voldemort plays a really small role. The children are past the innocent age, but are not at the angsty teenager stage. It has one of my favourite literary characters ever – the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin (seriously, as a much younger reader, my ideal husband was a mix of him, and Legolas from the Lord of the Rings). I really like the inclusion of some of the characters with smaller roles, like Buckbeak, Professor Trelawney and Sir Cadogan. For me, it was the book that drew me into the Wizarding World. As this was a re-read, the book was always going to be a five star one for me, but I wanted to give equal weighting to the illustrations, as that is what is special about this book.
Jim Kay, who illustrated the book, has done a fantastic job. I loved the whole page illustrations, especially those that looked like they came out of magical textbooks (like ‘Fantastic Beasts’), and really enjoyed reading on the pastel-coloured pages (which are great, if like me, you have visual stress). I really enjoyed the portraits that the author had created as well – I liked the fact that the characters were more like I had pictured them, rather than like the actors in the film. I’m really keen to get the other illustrated versions of the books (although having to think really carefully about where I am actually going to store them!)
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