Azkaban Now - Redux

In anticipation of the new Harry Potter book's release, the NYTimes has created an archive of their Potter-related articles. I greatly enjoyed reading this review of Prisoner of Azkaban (my favourite Potter episode). I love reviews that educate more than they describe:

Novels are best suited to focus attention on an individual, someone whose life seems genuinely novel, apart, unprecedented. But the needs of boys and girls are multiple and contradictory. While desiring heroic distinction, children also have to find their places in the herd. And novels that effectively celebrate tribal membership are rare. Harry Potter and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are dedicated to the triumphs of Gryffindor House as much as they are to their individual academic efforts. The competition among the four Houses of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry is practice jousting for the more serious battles against Sirius Black and other agents of Lord Voldemort. The earliest athletic games kept warriors in fighting trim. It's all part of a good education, for boy warriors and girl warriors.