Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

When Harry Potter began to be the daily word in our household I decided, as a parent, I needed to read the series to see what all the excitement was about. I was pleased and excited to find that HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE by J.K. Rowlings was one of the best books I had read in years. The plot is complex enough to hold the interest of an adult and fanciful enough to grab the interest of any child.

The bad guys are really bad with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The good guys are just that. It is a pleasure for me to read a series that I have no reservations about letting my children read. The moral lessons in the story are cloaked in magic with mystery enough to instill them into the heads and hearts of young readers.

I would urge all those who are cautious about letting their children read the books to read them for themselves. There is content that promotes good, moral, behavior. There is excitement enough to hold the attention of non-readers. And most important, this book series makes reading fun!

i happen to think that this book is quite good. It starts off a bit slow but then gets a lot better. I love the parts about Harry and Cho, but hate it when Harry keeps losing it and says the wrong thing. He surely can't be that bad when it comes to girls! When I read it. I find that I got sort-of addicted to it and couldn't put it down. Sometimes it's because I am really into it, and have to read on! Other times its just because I just want to get the book over and done with and read the next book (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). I think J.K. Rowling is a superb author and has written the books very well, but I would prefer it if the books had a bit more romance in them.

I was, I confess, disappointed in Order of the Phoenix. True, I raced through it in a couple of days and I recently read it again, but it seemed she'd lost some of the things I loved about the earlier Harry Potter books. She was still funny, quirky and creative, but her characterization was off with Harry. All right, he's fifteen and he's had a hard time, but he could not have changed so much in a few weeks (end GoF to start OP). He's so aggressive and moody it just doesn't correlate with old Harry. Also, the ending was weaker than usual, both plotwise but mostly just her writing. She simply tried to hard to make it tragic enough, what with Dumbledore's lamentations etc.

On the whole, I can still recommend it. The Harry Potter series remains the one and only Harry Potter series, but I sincerely hope she gets her act together for the Half-Blood Prince.