i think the way harry was portrayed in this book was quite pivotal. i mean now he's this angsty teenager who will yell his head off at his headmaster.( and i say angsty in the most endearing was possible)
one of my absolute faves for sure.

Are you kidding? ALLCAPS!HARRY was awesome and necessary to the series. We needed to see that side of him. I think it would have cheapened his character if he wasn't an angry 15 year old. I would expect Harry to be that angry after the events in GOF, on top of the events in POA, CoS and SS, and for being put in the dark about important events that directly affected his future.

The confrontation at the end with Dumbledore was long overdue and about time. I was waiting for him to explode and by doing that he got answers.

I actually thought GOF was the darkest, but now that I think about it, I can see where some would think OoTP was the darkest.

i somehow missed this little extra before christmas hmmmm...

anyway, i'll admit i wasn't quite as anti book five as you were melissa but then again i was only thirteen at the time and i wasn't brooding on the dark stuff

true it wasn't my favorite book either infact until 6 came out 3 was my favourite

but over the whole story i think we needed book five because otherwise he would come across as this happy go larry teen who had trouble with accepting that he needed help

and besides it's grown on me oveer time... what about you?

I'll just say this... like Melissa, I was not happy with OotP upon reading it; "Too dark," I said. "And Harry's too moody." But I've just re-read the series... and now, OotP might be my favorite. It's up there with GoF and DH, vying for the top spot. I think OotP might just be the best-written of the series.

I read book 5 when I was 16, and it's probably my favorite of the series (except for parts near the end of 7, mainly "The Prince's Tale" and "The Forest Again"). It was the one that led to my transition from a regular Harry Potter fan to a Harry Potter superfan who posted theories on forums and checked Mugglenet or the Leaky Cauldron several times a day. I did feel like Harry sometimes overreacted to things (especially when he yelled at Ron and Hermione right after meeting them at Grimmauld Place). However, for most of the book the hatred for Umbridge and the ministry aligned my emotions with Harry's, allowing me to feel more connected with Harry and emotional about his world in this book than in any other book.

By the way Melissa, I really enjoyed reading "Harry a History" and reflecting on my own experiences with the fandom. Thank you.

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http://www.paranormalknowledge.com

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President, Paranormalknowledge.com

Thank you for the Vault entries!

I have had caffeine this morning forgive me.

I loved book three the best until book five came out then it was a struggle, I didn't know which I liked better. But I would have to say its a tie between 3 and 5. Though we could look at it like the Chronicles of Narnia or the Prydain Chronicles, and call it one book, which happens to have 7 Volumes, in that case Harry Potter is my favorite with the Prydain chronicles fighting for second place in fantasy novels, lol.

1 & 7 The end goes back to the beginning
2 & 6 are about Ginny and Riddle
3 & 5 are both involve Sirius
4 is a transition book

I think I like 1 because its the start and has that magic, and 7 because it ties up everything.

2 and 6 are special because of the Ginny bits, and I really am a big fan of Harry and Ginny.

4 is my least fav, but I like Moody, but still I don't love this one (I don't hate it either, its good just not my fav if we have to pick)

3 though, I just love how everything you think you know is wrong, (you get that in 4 but you already had that in three so its not really as special to me) And Sirius!! Completely rocks!!

5 as much as we have emo Harry its realistic, and Umbridge, I can't stand her, and I slam my book shut and walk off because I hate her so much, I love the time that is spent with Sirius, and the "family" that Harry gets at Grimwald Place. I am completely upset with Harry and Dumbledore for not communicating to each other and allow Harry to get tricked and then Sirius die, but life isn't perfect and JKR's writting is pretty realistic.

I shared a love of Harry Potter with my late grandmother, We ordered Deathly hallows together and waited the months nervously for its release. We had many discussions about who would live, who would die, Was Snape good or bad. No one else in my family understood our need to talk about it or our love for Harry.
We lined up together for an hour to purchase our books (My grandmother was 80 at the time and had cancer, this was not an easy task for her)But we were so excited. Then we went home to read. We read alone and sank into the wonderful world of wizards.

We cried and we laughed and my grandmother got to rub it in how she was right about Snape all along.

It was a wonderful time for me, to share Harry's journey from a boy, to see him accept life, face loss and receive love, to come through the other side a man.

Even more wonderful for me, is the fact that I have a special reminder of my grandmothers love of reading and that I shared her passion for escaping from the real world into the fantastic world of Harry Potter.
Thanks Jo
And thanks Mel for sharing all your info

"Order" is still my favourite, of the entire series. I love the length, the complexity, and the richness of the detail. Also, I think Umbridge is one of the best villains that Rowling created, and having run up against bureaucrats like her in the education system, I could really identify with the DA struggle.

Melissa,

Until DH was released, OOTP was my favorite of the series. I had the advantage, if you can call it that, of listening to it on CD instead of reading it as a book and Jim Dale added another dimension to the story with the voices he does. So Umbridge was really sickly sweet in a way that added evil to her character.

I LOVED the first chapter "Dudley Demented"! Talk about a kick in the pants to start off the book. Then to find out that Mrs. Figg was a squib (so much better in the book than the movie) and Aunt Petunia knowing about Azkaban and dementors WOW!

The feeling of helplessness that Harry had through the first half of the book is just right for people that age, where you feel that the world is against you. In Harry's case it was more true than for most people.

The book was so rich with detail and new Wizard locations I just thought it was amazing. It's now second to DH in my favorites.

Thank you for all the very interesting information in the vault entries. It's always great! I actually really love book five. Of course, while I was reading it, I was upset that Harry was so angry. I could understand why he was angry, but I just hoped that he would not stay that way for the rest of the series. Also, Sirius' death really upset me, since Sirius is one of my favorite characters.

I think the reason I enjoyed book five so much was that it was so easy to get passionate about it. Umbridge was so horribe that I was torn between continuing my reading and throwing the book across the room. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione started Dumbledore's Army, I was so happy I felt like cheering for them. When Percy wrote to Ron telling him not to be friends with Harry anymore, I think I felt almost as upset as Ron did. When Sirius died, I felt disbelief, just like Harry. When, in the end, the Order of the Phoenix members were with Harry to stand up to the Dursleys for him, I felt happy that, despite all the horrible things that were happening, Harry still had people who cared about him.

I like what Ms. Rowling said. I agree that it's the kind of thing most of us would do. The kind of things that happened to Harry would make anyone angry. It's reasonalbe that he had to take some time before accepting it.

Thanks again for the great information!

Thanks Melissa Keep the Vault entries coming!!

I actually loved the 5th I think I have never been let down by any of the books at all, in fact I haven't I was older when I got to the OOP and I had been through that phase already so I knew that was real, all of it even thinking why did Ron get the badge? sure you are sickened with yourself when that happens but sometimes you do see thins like that, specially when you're different, and Harry is..

Harry did have to ask himself why? why does trouble usually find me? He was a marked man, and he had to really feel what that ment before he could go forward. The anger he feels I was actually glad for, he's human and shouts it, I love knowing that Jo understood it so deeply -what made the story real, too bad it partly is the reason she felt isolated too!

When I read Order, I was fourteen, and going through a similar situation at school; there was an Umbridge teaching us religion. I was the spokesperson in my class, and was nearly expelled (my teachers voted against it)- So Harry's mood and actions were not at all alien to me. Order felt more realistic than any other of the books- the frustration of feeling like an adult but being denied the opportunity to behave like one and to be treated like one- that was present everyday in my life. The ending was terrible. I liked it. It's a war, and it can NEVER end well.

But my favourite parts were all the provocations to the authorities- from the DA to the scenes where the Hogwarts teachers tried their best to piss off Umbridge. And it was SO filled with witty dialogues! No other book is so witty as this one.

OotP and DH will remain my top favourites. Dark and with terrible endings, that seems to be my thing.

Thanks for this extra info, Melissa! I love hearing more about Jo's motivations behind how she wrote things.

My problem with 5 was that it didn't seem to fit the series. Actually, I had more of a problem with 6 on that. Harry spent all 5 trying to figure out what the Order was doing and being so frustrated for being left out of the adults' plans, but 6 he barely spares a thought for the adults. This was jarring to me.

After reading this quote from Jo, however, I wonder if it's because at the end of 5 he saw the other kids as legitimate fighters against the DeathEaters. Yes, the Order showed up and helped save the day at the end of 5, but it was the first time the other kids had stood up and fought. And they made a good showing of themselves. Perhaps Harry wasn't so interested in what the adults were doing in 6 because he learned he could rely on the other kids.... Interesting....

Book five is my favorite book of the series. It has some of her best writing and the best plotting. Certainly having a villian like Umbridge was a great help.

One of my biggest beefs with Harry was his passive role in the stories. Things happen to him as opposed to him making something happen. The DA made him a hero in my eyes.

I will also be glad I read book 3 because it gave me the impetus to continue reading the series (1 & 2 were too childish.) Book 5 let me know it was going to be great.

Phoenix is in some ways my least favorite book. I think it dragged on for way too long and made it a very hard book to read. But once Harry got the false vision of Sirius, I think it is some of JKR's finest writing. Those last chapters are amazing!

Thanks for giving us JK Rowling's perspective on it, I love these vault updates!

Thanks for sharing this, Melissa. You had such a visceral reaction to Phoenix, which you shared in your book...and I had wondered if you still didn't care for it. Question answered!

I find the Phoenix my favorite of the lot. It was a hard read until Dumbledore came clean with Harry toward the end. That totally redeemed everything for me - a wonderful payoff. That chapter, and the chapter in which Hagrid tells Harry he's a wizard, are my two favorite chapters in the whole series.

Oh, I loved this interview, Jo's thought of the movie... indeed, I hadn't realized all that about the battle in the movie, but it makes perfect sense.

About the fifth book... after a while, it sunk in me and I started to like it a lot. But in my first reading, my feelings were pretty much like Melissa's. (it must have been shock, I suppose - as Harry, I didn't those awful things do happen so suddely as it does in the book)

Nevertheless, I agree with Melissa that the ending of OOTP is problematic. For me, the main problem is Umbridge. The book is difficult to read on the basis alone of how utterly foul she is, and your resentment of her builds and builds - but you never really do feel that she gets her comeupance (I thought that might come in DH, but it wasn't there either). Was she a misguided zealot or truly evil? Was she or wasn't she in league with Voldemort? You never really feel any catharsis, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. I really wanted to see her get what was coming to her!

As you mentioned in Harry, A History every teenager acts like Harry did in Phoenix and I was kind of at that point in my own life so Harry's behavior didn't shock me as much as it did others. The most depressing part for me was actually the prophecy- either Harry had to die or he had to kill. And right after Dumbledore's spider-ridden conversation with Harry outside the Burrow I felt better about this; so while Phoenix is clearly darker than the others it did not depress me as much as other fans, I think.

Wow, I really love reading all this extra stuff in Jo's own words!! Book five is actually my favorite in a lot of ways, even though it's so dark. There are so many moments in it that I just love, like Petunia's letter from Dumbledore, everything at Grimmauld Place, Hermione's "emotional range of a teaspoon" scene, the twins' big exit, and especially the scene where Lupin and Sirius talk about James and Lily. But it's also very frustrating, because sometimes Harry is so moody and negative about *everything*, but I also feel so sorry for him and I can't imagine ever going through anything like that.

I'd never really thought about the fact that the battle at the end of five is finally a team effort, but of course it fits perfectly. Maybe that's the best part of the book, and it's definitely something I've seen play out in my own life: No matter how terrible life seems, no matter what fight you're facing and how much it seems that nothing will ever be right again, you can get through it with the love and support of your friends.

Melissa, thanks again for sharing all of these vault entries!!

That's really interesting, I never realized the part about Harry being surrounded in book 5, but of course it makes so much sense now. From the Order picking him up at number four, Privet Drive to the DA, to the ride on thestrals to the Ministry, the fight, all of it. He's in a big group way more than he ever is in any other book. So obvious once she spells it out.

I also wonder what she meant about her feelings about her situation leaking in. I mean, I guess I know what she meant, but I wish she had elaborated on that point just a little more.

I agree that Order of the Phoenix is one of the darkest of the series. Like Jo says, it was crucial to keep credibility that Harry had a meltdown of some sort. At this point in his life he's been put through the ringer a few times already. Enough to push many over the edge. That he comes out of it a better, stronger person than before speaks volumes to his character. Harry is truly a hero after book five.

I like what Jo says about Harry usually being fighting alone but being surrounded by supporters at the end of five. I hadn't really noticed that before. It just goes to show how well thought out this series is. The fabric of the story stands up to microscopic examination.