J.K. Rowling was a struggling single mother when she finished her first Harry Potter book with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council. That children’s novel, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” earned the author a six-figure advance in the United States and quickly became a national bestseller.
About Book 3, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”: For 12 long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing 13 people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts … he’s at Hogwarts.”
Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.
Listen to an excerpt from “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” [Listening Library], read by Jim Dale.
