Just in case you have been living under a rock for the past few decades, be aware that this post contains spoilers for various Harry Potter books and The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, because that's how much of a nerd I am.
Everyone falls in love in college. My freshman year, I fell in love with Harry Potter - the books, anyway. I had been working in the book section of a Media Play for a year or two and had a vague notion of Harry Potter as "that kids' series about wizards." I had never thought much of it, except that it was "just for kids" and that it was probably a passing phase. My mom and her best friend - who was an Episcopal priest and middle school chaplain - had been trying to get me to read the first book, and I kept thinking I might, eventually. Then, Spring Break of freshman year, I went on a road trip (as one does on Spring Break in college). It's probably telling about both my personality and the kind of books I read that said road trip was not to a party scene on the beach, but a week-long, medieval re-enactment festival in in rural Mississippi.
On the way back from Mississippi, my friend who was driving asked if it was ok if he popped in one his Harry Potter tapes (yeah, remember those?). He said that he was at a really exciting part and he just had to know what was going on. My family had always been partial to Garrison Keillor tapes on road trips and, while I had not read Harry myself at that point, I had no aversion to it either. I said sure, and from the stereo of that ancient Oldsmobile came Jim Dale's voice and J.K.Rowling's incredible world.
I was suddenly locked in an office with Harry, mad-eye Moody, and questions. Who was this Mad-eye fellow, and why was he increasingly crazy? Who were these professors breaking down his door? Why was this poor Harry kid locked in an office with a crazy guy ranting about a dark lord anyway? I was suddenly intent on this world that I'd been thrown into, like being thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool, only to find it was full of dark chocolate pudding. Very cool choice - but why? I didn't find out any of the answers to those questions - at least not that rainy March evening - because my friend suddenly gasped in terror and said, "You can't listen to this! You haven't read the book!" I found out later he'd spoiled the climax and major reveal of the 4th book for me. But he made up for it by what he did next. He happened to have the first cassette of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and he put that in instead. The first paragraph of the book is what sold me on the series: "Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard."
That's it ladies and gentlemen - that's how to hook a reader.
I don't know if it was because of those first 3 chapters I listened to, or if it was just because of the way the story was crafted, but Prisoner of Azkaban became not just my favorite in the Harry Potter series, but one my favorite books ever. And for someone who if you ask for their favorite book will start listing off about a dozen, that's saying something. Seriously. Top five. Ever. It may be because it's what I think of as the boundary book - Azkaban is the book that separates a lot of things in the Harry Potter Universe. It's the book that everything before it is good family fun - great for all ages! - and everything after is darker, scarier, and solidly into Young Adult territory. It's the book where you realize Voldemort really could come back. It's the book where you realize the good guys don't win every battle. But it's also a book of hope. It's the book that has new friends accross generation lines. And it's the book that has my favourite reveal. Say what you will about Harry discovering he's a wizard in the first book, or finally defeating Voldemort in the final one, my favorite moment is when Harry discovers and accepts that Sirus, his parents' best friend, his godfather, is not an evil, double-crossing murderer after all. To me, that's right up there with Vader's "No, I am your father" - except on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.
And of course, if we're talking about boundary books here, it's the book that separates my pre-Harry Potter and post-Harry Potter life. Because even though I heard a few paragraphs of Goblet of Fire first, and even though I then went back and read the books in order, it was those first three chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban that captured me.
So there we go, readers - you just got Azka-banned!