Our Lady of Syntax

I highly recommend #6. It's far and away the strongest in the series, writing-wise, and the fact that Rowling is in desperate need of a merciless editor is far less apparent than in #5.

See my comment to iconoclam for my analysis of Rowling's strengths and weaknesses as a writer, but what it comes down to is that, shallow and media-fueled as the craze may be (and I don't dispute that), it's single-handedly responsible for getting millions of kids excited about reading. I like to think of it as kind of a literature gateway drug: kids who devour the Harry Potter books will, hopefully, be more likely to fall in love with better books down the road. There's no doubt in my mind that a whole lot of kids are going to become lifetime readers because of these books, and I wouldn't be able to condemn that even if I thought the books were utter tripe. As it happens, I think they're wonderful, though flawed, and I'm glad that I live in a world where a series of children's books can generate this much loyalty and angst and passion.