order of the phoenix

Book five, year five at Hogwarts for Harry and company. Now that the dung has hit the ventilator, its high time to put the band back together. Against the backdrop of Harry and his class of fifth years studying for their O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) lots to deal with has come to Hogwarts--and the magical community in general--and Dumbledore also appears to have his dance ticket full as well.

After struggling with Harry a number of times over the years, its seems as though Lord Baddy McBadguy (or he-who-must-not-be-named) may be taking a step back from openly trying to murder Harry in this one; it appears that sewing discord and infighting amongst his rivals is the newer, less risky course of action. Voldemort seems to be hanging back, and taking his time to catch up on some of his old unfinished homework. here's me winkin' at yer

Some of the members of the English Ministry of Magic appear to caught up in this discord, which manifests itself as the Ministry trying to strong arm those that don't agree with them. For our heroes, this comes in the form of a new teacher, sent by the Ministry, to bring the school into line with their views. A simpering, troll of a woman who tries to clamp down on those who disagree with the Ministry's take on the state of affairs surrounding Moldywart.

This, of course, pisses off Harry, Hermione and Ron (along with most everyone else) to no end. And you would expect, antics then ensue. But Boldysort isn't done, and by the time we reach the end of this book (another fat one, by the way) its pretty clear that there's going to need to be some ass kicking up in here real soon.

The Order of the Phoenix tees up the storyline for the last two books, and is not to be missed. Its a little long in the middle parts, and could have been trimmed a bit, but I'm sure the hardcore fans won't feel it. I know my kids ate it up when I read it to them years ago, and were only too happy to have the additional material to hold them over until the next volume came out, and a few more nights having it read to them.

Wondering what other differences the American version of these books may have from their English predecessors, I took a look around and found that the English books don't have the chapter head illustrations by Mary GrandPréas do the American books. No illustrations at all, other than the cover jacket and a map of the Hogwarts grounds.

They are in the process of releasing illustrated versions of the books now. Its a slow process; only three books have been released thus far. Jim Kay is doing the illustrations and they are really nice.