HORMONAL HARRY

Meet Harry Potter at 15: girl trouble, hormones, death and anger (Ann Treneman, June 20, 2003 , Times of London)

HARRY POTTER is a “very angry” teenager who has his first relationship with a girl in the new book, the author J. K. Rowling says in an interview with The Times.

Her fans have waited three long years for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is 766 pages long and goes on sale at midnight tonight. In the interview, she talks frankly about fame and the wealth that she has gained through the books. [...]

Harry, who is now 15, has some excruciatingly embarrassing scenes in the new book. “He is very much in puberty,” she says. “I just think it is a very confusing time. Yes, he’s very confused in a boy way. He doesn’t understand how girls’ minds work.”

Apparently, though, Hermione has no shortage of advice for him on that subject. Rowling adds: “Harry, for the first time, does have a relationship of sorts. The emphasis is very much on ‘of sorts’ . . . That was really fun to write actually. I think you will find it painful. You should find it painful. It is painful but it was such fun to write. Poor Harry! What I put him through.”

If you have a child age three or over, your house is likely at a fever pitch of anticipation by now. If you don't, read the books yourself and it will be. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 20, 2003 8:30 AM