Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) Decide Now

Rowling could have written 6 adventure stories like Chamber of Secrets and people would still have loved Harry Potter. Azkhaban let people know that she had something extra in mind. Harry-Ron-Hermione-Hagrid, Harry-Lupin, Harry-Sirius, Harry-Dumbledore, James-Sirus-Lupin-Pettigrew. The book leaves behind the 'I'm a wizard!' focus of book 1 and the 'life at Hogwarts' focus of book 2, and turns to a real focus on friendship and love. These themes are continued in the later books, of course, though with an added element of death and loss. Here we get just the good stuff. Hard not to like that.

Somewhat surprisingly, the movie for book 3 actually improves the experience of reading the book. The time-travel sequence at the end is much better in the movie than in the book and, having seen the movie, the book's missteps can be overlooked. Get more detail about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3).