Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by
J.K. Rowling (Read by Jim Dale) in CD Format.
Brand New (Brand New - still
shrink-wrapped): Unabridged. 23 hours 23CDs
As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable
Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or will it?
The fifth book in
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores
Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher--and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations
(O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black-and-white suddenly come out in shades of
gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energized as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the
marvellous, magical series. (Ages 9 and older)
Narrated by the fantastic British Actor Jim Dale -
who narrates more Harry Potter Audio Books sold worldwide than anyone else!
The
audio version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, narrated by Jim Dale,
has become the first book inducted into the Audio Publishers Association's
brand-new Hall of Fame.
About the Narrator Jim Dale
Jim became "The Toast of Broadway" [NY Times 1981] when he created
the flamboyant title role in the now world famous Cy Coleman musical
"Barnum", winning him the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award.
He started training for his career at the age of nine. For six years he studied
tap dancing, judo, National dancing, ballet and tumbling. During these years he
performed in many amateur shows and started to include comedy in his act.
At the age of seventeen he became the youngest professional comedian in Great
Britain, touring all the famous Variety Music Halls.
He joined the Royal Air Force at the age of eighteen and spent the next two
years entertaining troops in England and Germany.
At the age of 22, he became a very successful 'pop singer'. He first appeared
in, then hosted the top pop music show on BBC television, "6-5
Special." Later he became the first recording artist under the wing of the
now legendary Sir George Martin, who produced many hit records for him over the
next two years.
He was invited to join the BBC as a disc jockey, and hosted their top Saturday
morning two hour record show for over a year.
In 1966 he was asked to play the clown Autolycus in Shakespeare's, The Winter's
Tale at the Edinburgh Festival.
The next year he played Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream and the title role
in Scapino.
In 1970, at the request of Laurence Olivier, he joined The British National
Theatre as a leading actor.
Over the next two years he appeared in Loves Labours Lost, The Merchant
of Venice, The National Health, The Good Natured Man, The Captain of Kopenick,
and a two hander play with Anthony Hopkins, The Architect and the Emperor of
Assyria.
At the Young Vic, he re-created the title role in Scapino, which he co-adapted
with Frank Dunlop, and played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew.
His other West End theatre credits include The Burglar, The Wayward Way, The
Card, A Midsummer Nights Dream, A Winters' Tale, and most recently, the part of
Fagin in Cameron Mackintoshs Oliver! at the London Palladium.
Broadway saw Jim in the smash hit, Scapino (Drama Desk Award/ Outer Critics
Award / Tony nomination).
Other credits on and Off-Broadway include, Joe Egg, (Outer Critics Award / Tony
nomination). Travels With My Aunt, (Drama Desk Award / Outer Critics Award /
Lucille Lortel Award) Candide (Tony Nomination), The Comedians, (Lucille Lortel
Nomination) The Invisible Man, Privates On Parade, The Taming of the Shrew, Me
And My Girl , A Christmas Carol - The Musical, The Music Man and Address
Unknown.
Television
Huckleberry Finn for PBS, The American Clock by Arthur Miller, The Bill Cosby
Show, The Ellen Burstyn Show, The Dinah Shore Show, Sunday Night at the London
Palladium (Host), Six Five Special (Host), Thank Your Lucky Stars (Host), Meet
Jim Dale and The Jim Dale Show for ATV London.
Films
The National Health, Joseph Andrews, The Spaceman and King Arthur, Hot
Lead-Cold Feet, Petes Dragon, Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall, Lock
Up Your Daughters, Scandalous, The Winters Tale, Digby, The Hunchback, and
eleven films in the British "Carry On" series.
Song Writing
He won an Academy Award Nomination for writing the lyrics to Georgy Girl, and
has written songs for such films as Shalako, A Winter's Tale, Twinky and Joseph
Andrews.
Audio Books
Jim has recorded all six audio books in the "Harry Potter" series, winning
a Grammy Award 2000 and four Grammy Nominations.
He is also the recipient of seven Audie Awards, and seven Headphone
Awards.
2001
"Best Narrator - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire""
2004
"Audio Book of the Year - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix",
"Best Childrens Audio Book - Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix"
2005
"Best Classic Audio Book - A Christmas Carol",
"Best Childrens Audio Book - "Peter and the Starcatchers",
"Best Narrator - Peter and the Starcatchers"
About the Author J K Rowling:
Joanne Rowling was born in South Gloucestershire, England on 31 July
1965, on the outskirts of Bristol. There is some confusion as to exactly where; Rowling has said she was born in Chipping Sodbury, whereas her birth certificate apparently claims she was born in the Cottage Hospital at Yate. Her sister Di was born when Rowling was almost two
. The family moved to Winterbourne, Bristol when Rowling was four, and then to Tutshill, near Chepstow, Wales at the age of nine. She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College. In December 1990, Rowling's mother succumbed to a decade-long battle with multiple
sclerosis.
After studying French and Classics at the University of Exeter, with a year of study in Paris, she moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. During this period she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry while she was on a four-hour, delayed train trip between Manchester and
London. When she had reached her destination, she began writing immediately .
Rowling then moved to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. While there, she married Portuguese television journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October
1992. They had one child, Jessica Isabel, before divorcing in 1993. Their daughter was named after Rowling's heroine, Jessica
Mitford.
In December, 1994, she and her daughter moved to be near her sister in
Edinburgh. Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel, doing some of the work in local Edinburgh cafes whenever she could get Jessica to fall
asleep. There was a rumour that she wrote in local cafs in order to escape from her unheated flat, but in a 2001 BBC interview Rowling remarked, "I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat, in Edinburgh, in mid-winter; it had heating"
In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on an old manual
typewriter. Upon the enthusiastic response of Bryony Evans, a young reader who had been asked to review the book's first three chapters, the Fulham-based Christopher Little Literary Agents agreed to represent Rowling in her quest for a publisher. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it.
. A year later she was finally given the greenlight (and a 1500 advance) by the editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher
Bloomsbury. Although Cunningham happily agreed to publish the book, he claims he advised her to get a day job, as she had little chance of making money in children's
books. She then received an 8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Council to enable her to continue
writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc, who paid Rowling more than $100,000. Rowling has said she "nearly died" when she heard the
news. In June, 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an intial print run of only 1000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued at between 16,000 and 25,000 each.
Five months later it won its first award, a Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, and, later the Children's Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the States under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, a change Rowling now claims she regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time.
.
In December 1999, the third Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,won the Smarties Prize, in the process making Rowling the first person to win the award three times
running. She later withdrew the fourth Harry Potter novel from contention to allow other books a fair chance. In January, 2000, Prisoner of Azkaban won the inaugural Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award, though it narrowly lost the Book of the Year prize to Seamus Heaney's translation of
Beowulf. That June, the Queen honored Rowling by making her an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire.
To date, six of the seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, one for each of Harry's school years, have already been published and all have broken sales records. Upon its publication, both the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, were the fastest-selling books in
history.
Book
7 is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows click here for the AudioBook
