The Story So Far, Book By Book

By Lev Grossman

Harry Potter is an orphan whose parents were killed by the evil sorcerer Voldemort when Harry was a baby. (Voldemort tried to kill Harry too but only scarred his forehead.) He finds another family in his professors and the students Ron and Hermione at Hogwarts, a school for young wizards

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

THE PROBLEM: Harry's archnemesis, Voldemort, is seeking the Sorcerer's Stone, a magical artifact that could make him immortal. Harry has to find it first--and get his homework done too

QUIDDITCH UPDATE! Harry makes his house team to play the broom-bound sport of wizards

SCARY MONSTER: Fluffy, a giant three-headed dog who guards the way to the stone

MAGICAL GADGET: The Mirror of Erised. Whoever gazes into it sees what he or she desires most in the whole world

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK-ARTS TEACHER: A position at Hogwarts with an extremely high turnover rate. This year it's Professor Quirrell, a meek, inoffensive man with a stutter--and a surprising dark side

NEW SPELL: Wingardium Leviosa. Your basic first-year levitation charm

NUMBER OF PAGES: 309

WHAT HARRY LEARNS: That wonderful, magical things lurk just beneath the ordinary

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

THE PROBLEM: Hogwarts students are being turned to stone. No one knows why or by whom, but Harry is the prime suspect

QUIDDITCH UPDATE! Harry breaks his arm in a match but wins anyway

SCARY MONSTER: The Whomping Willow, the Mike Tyson of the plant kingdom

MAGICAL GADGET: The Remembrall, a glass marble that turns red whenever its bearer is forgetting something

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK-ARTS TEACHER: Gilderoy Lockhart, a pompous, preening, headline-hogging, egotistical idiot

NEW SPELL: Tarantallegra. Causes uncontrollable dancing in its victims

NUMBER OF PAGES: 341

WHAT HARRY LEARNS: As Hogwarts headmaster Aldus Dumbledore puts it, "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

THE PROBLEM: An archcriminal named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, a high-security jail for wizards, and he's looking for Harry

QUIDDITCH UPDATE! Harry gets a Firebolt, the sweeping edge of high-performance flying brooms

SCARY MONSTER: Dementors, spectral prison guards that drain the hope and happiness out of everyone around them

MAGICAL GADGET: The Sneakoscope, a gyroscopic doohickey that spins and glows when untrustworthy people are nearby

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK-ARTS TEACHER: Remus Lupin, a sympathetic and skillful wizard with a magic--er, tragic flaw

NEW SPELL: The Patronus charm. It creates a silver spirit that dispels dementors

NUMBER OF PAGES: 435

WHAT HARRY LEARNS: That those we have lost are always with us, in particular when we need them the most

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

THE PROBLEM: Signs and portents suggest that Voldemort is marshaling his forces. And Harry must face his first school dance

QUIDDITCH UPDATE! Harry attends the Quidditch World Cup (Ireland wins)

SCARY MONSTER: The Hungarian Horntail, a particularly nasty breed of dragon

MAGICAL GADGET: Portkeys, everyday objects that instantly teleport wizards who touch them

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK-ARTS TEACHER: Mad-Eye Moody--scarred, wooden legged and generally scary looking. But his secret identity is even scarier ...

NEW SPELL: The Imperius Curse. Basically, magical mind control. Few people can resist its power, but Harry is one of them

NUMBER OF PAGES: 734

WHAT HARRY LEARNS: Doing the right thing usually means doing the hardest thing. Plus, girls are complicated

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

THE PROBLEM: The wizarding world will be divided between those who believe Voldemort has returned and those who don't, but Harry will know the threat is very real. The book will begin, "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive ..."

QUIDDITCH UPDATE! Ron will join Harry on the Gryffindor Quidditch team

SCARY MONSTER: The scariest ever. Harry will have to take his first standardized test

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK-ARTS TEACHER: Publisher Scholastic says to expect a teacher "with a personality like poisoned honey" who, Rowling has said, will be a woman

NUMBER OF PAGES: 896

WHAT HARRY LEARNS: A lot. At one point Dumbledore will say, "It is time ... for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything."