Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As I continue my introductory journey through Harry Potter, I continue to be appreciative of the compelling writing and excellent characters. It is also very revealing to me of what interests me most in books, which is character development and relationships, much more than plot, so I am not very excited by the constant peril of the books. I also find, so far at least, that the plots follow a pretty consistent formula: Harry's miserable summer with the Dursleys, adventures in Daigon Alley, adventures getting to Hogwarts, introduction to this year's classes, struggles with teachers, a few Quidditch matches, and then DANGER, with a wink-wink from Dumbledore, who always seems to actually know what's going on but leaves it to Harry and his friends to take care of it.

On that note, I think it's interesting to examine Dumbledore from the perspective of an educator. As an adult reading these books, it has sort of bothered me that Dumbledore leaves his students to take on these potentially deadly situations, especially when it seems like he knows what's going on. But when I think about it more, I know that as an educator myself, I'm often trying to give my students the space to try things out and learn for themselves without my always stepping in to fix things. That's a perspective I want to keep in mind as I continue with the series.