Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix

by J.K. Rowling

Having kept to a schedule of one book a year for the first four books in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix took JK Rowling a little longer to get out, with the book finally appearing in 2003. At nearly 900 pages, it would end up being the longest book in the series, following the lives of the three friends, Harry, Hermione and Ron, as they experience their 5th year at Hogwarts.

Despite the centrality to the plot of magic/wizards and the battle between good and evil, the deeper appeal of the book is that it’s a boarding school novel: about wonderful teachers you love and horrible ones who treat you unfairly; about the ups and downs of relationships with friends and with kids who don’t seem to like you—or those who you don’t yet know how they feel about you. Age 15/16 is also the year kids in the UK have to deal with the stress of sitting important exams: GCSEs or ‘General Certificate of Secondary Education,’ known as O or Ordinary Levels in JK Rowling’s day. It’s no surprise that teenage wizards aren’t off the hook and have to sit stressful OWLs or ‘Ordinary Wizarding Level’ exams in the summer term at Hogwarts.