Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (2003, Hardcover, Illustrated)

In this 5th installment of the Harry Potter book series, Harry shows himself early on to be a very different young man than we have grown to expect.

Although completely justified, Harry is rather 'moody' in this book. Realistic in the sense that our 15 year old hero is finally acting more like a teenager than ever before. Withdrawn, angry, lashing out at his friends...this was the first time in the series that I thought, "Gee, I don't know if I would like to be Harry's friend if I were at his school this year". I could not help but wonder, as the events of this school year unfolded, why Hogwarts does not have something like a school counsellor on staff. A few months ago, a student had died at school, and with all the changes in administration (due to the interference of the Ministry and the High Inquisitor), there is a lot of stress for the students of Hogwarts. Oh well...I suppose wizarding kids are made of stronger mettle than us mere Muggles when it comes to emotional problems and upsets.

This book was about the same size as the previous book (#4, the Goblet of Fire) which, by previous standards, is quite a big book (over 750 pgs...compared to the first 3 books at an average of a mere 300 pages). I found this story to be the most 'disturbing' yet...the things that bothered me the most was the though of the Ministry (government) framing Harry (ex. the Dementor attack and changing his trial time so that he would miss it and be found guilty) and the media slandering his character and that this was viewed as acceptable behavior. Also, the (literally) torturous detentions given by new 'Professor' Umbridge were almost too awful to imagine.

I feel, for the most part, that this book was the beginning of a new chapter in Harry's life. There was the very short time in his life when he had a 'normal' existence with his parents, then the terrible 10 years that followed living with his neglectful/abusive relatives, then the (relatively) happy next 4 years Harry spends at Hogwarts with his friends...and then this. He is kidnapped and almost killed by a murderous villian and now (understandably) his life has changed and his mood with it. In this part of the continuing series, Harry must arm himself for future conflict by building his confidence and strengthening his friendships with his closest comrades. He learns to become a leader, and is forced (again) to deal with a great emotional loss.

It is an excellent book. Of course, you do have to start at the beginning of the series and work your way up to this one. And please, do yourself a favor and read the book (don't just see the movie)!