About Me
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous adolescent wizard Harry Potter, together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his best friends. The central story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world, after which he seeks to subjugate the Muggle (non-magical) world to his rule.Since the release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1997, which was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. The series has spawned films, video games and Potter-themed merchandise. As of April 2007, the first six books in the seven book series have sold more than 400 million copies and have been translated into more than 64 languages. The seventh and last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released on 21 July 2007.[5] Publishers announced a record-breaking 12 million copies for the first print run in the U.S. alone.The success of the novels has made Rowling the highest-earning novelist in history. English language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic Press in the United States, Allen & Unwin in Australia, and Raincoast Books in Canada.Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring the fictional character Harry Potter, a young wizard. It was published 30 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London, and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name. This is also the most popular of the books in terms of number sold — an estimated 120 million copies worldwide. As of January 2008, the book is number twelve on the best selling book list of all time, and is the third best-selling non-religious, non-political work of fiction of all time.In 1990, J. K. Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry suddenly formed in her mind. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying: “ I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. â€In 1995, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was completed and the manuscript was sent off to prospective agents. The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury. After eight other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury offered Rowling a £2,500 advance for its publication.Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted them at children age nine to eleven. On the eve of publishing, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name, in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name, because she has no middle name.The first Harry Potter book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury in July 1997 and in the United States by Scholastic in September 1998, but not before Rowling had received $105,000 for the American rights – an unprecedented amount for a children's book by a then unknown author. Fearing that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with a magical theme (as a Philosopher's Stone is alchemy-related), Scholastic insisted that the book be given the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the American market.Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets it was originally published the 2 of 1998 July, and in Spanish in October of 1999.In the second year of Harry in Howgarts introduces the figure of house elf, besides to reveal a little more the past of Voldemort through its personal newspaper. This object will have an important paper in the development of the argument.Many of the elements of the first sketch of this book were eliminated so much by their author as by the publisher. In addition, the book has an important thematic relation with the sixth book. Much of the information that was going to be revealed in this volume was displaced to the sixth delivery. As a result of this, many of the elements that appear in a daily form in the secret camera appear again in the racially mixed prince with their true relevance.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won both the 1999 Costa Book Awards and the Bram Stoker Award, and was short-listed for other awards, placing it among the most-honoured works of fantasy in recent history.[1]. A film based on the book was released on 31 May 2004, in the United Kingdom and June 4, 2004 in the U.S. and many other countries.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. Published on 8 July 2000, the release of this book was surrounded by more hype than any other book in recent times[citation needed]—outdone only by its successors, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book attracted additional attention because of a pre-publication warning from J. K. Rowling that one of the characters would be murdered in the book.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. It is the longest book in the series, and was released on 21 June 2003. The novel features Harry's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts, including the surreptitious return of Harry's nemesis Lord Voldemort, O.W.L. exams, awkward teenage love and an obstructive Ministry of Magic. The book has been made into a film, which was released in 2007.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on July 16, 2005, is the sixth of seven novels in J. K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series. Set during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores Lord Voldemort's past, and Harry's preparations for the final battle amidst emerging romantic relationships and the emotional confusions and conflict resolutions characteristic of mid-adolescence.Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by English author J. K. Rowling to benefit the charity Comic Relief. Over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world. According to Comic Relief, sales from this book and its companion Quidditch Through the Ages have raised £15.7 million. In a 2001 interview with publisher Scholastic, Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she had already developed a lot of information. Rowling's name does not appear on the cover of the book, the work being credited under the pseudonym "Newt Scamander".Quidditch Through the Ages is both a fictional book described in the Harry Potter series of novels by the English author J. K. Rowling, and a real book by that author, although her name is only stated in the book as the copyright holder of the "Harry Potter"-name. The real book purports to be a reproduction of a copy of the fictional book held in the Hogwarts library, written by Kennilworthy Whisp.Within the fictional world of Harry Potter, Quidditch Through the Ages is written by Kennilworthy Whisp, a renowned Quidditch expert. The book traces the history of Quidditch, as well as the earliest broom-based games. According to Madam Pince, the copy in the Hogwarts library is "pawed about, dribbled on, and generally maltreated" nearly every day, which Albus Dumbledore says is high praise for any book. Harry Potter enjoyed this book. When Severus Snape caught Harry outside the school with this book in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he invented the rule that no library books were allowed outside the school, and took it.The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book of children's stories mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After the publication of Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling authored and published a limited edition of a work of the same name, purportedly the same storybook as portrayed in Deathly Hallows; a copy of this work fetched £1.95 million at auction. The book contains children's stories that children from wizarding families such as Ron Weasley are familiar with. Having been raised by Muggles, neither Harry Potter nor Hermione had heard of these stories before. The book contains a fairy tale called "The Tale of the Three Brothers". Above the story is a mysterious symbol, which is the marking of "The Deathly Hallows". Harry and Hermione notice it on the grave of one of the Peverells. Xenophilius Lovegood explains that the Deathly Hallows were gifts to the Peverell brothers from Death.
