"J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life" on ABC!

Talk about Must-See TV! Right on the heels of the paperback release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (in stores as of July 7^th) comes the American premiere of "J. K. Rowling: A Year in the Life," a special documentary of the world-famous Harry Potter author’s life. This film follows Rowling during October 2006–October 2007, the year she finished the final Harry Potter book. We get a peek into her world as she was actually typing the last words of the book! Rowling also takes us back to the apartment where she wrote the first book, and even into her childhood hometown to see the inspirations for many of her characters.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, you won’t want to miss this! Tune in to ABC on Thursday, July 16 at 8 p.m. ET!

For a video preview of the documentary, visit the Leaky Cauldron.

So, are you guys going to watch? I know I am!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Harry Potter Movie Premiere!

Can you imagine being the luckiest person in the world? Well, Scholastic  Kid Reporter, Danielle Azzolina can. The sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will open in theaters nationwide on July 15 (with a PG rating), but the New York City premiere was on July 9 and she was there to interview the actors on the red carpet! 

Can you imagine?! There were tons of reporters and fans screaming for their attention, but Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and other actors in the movie all stopped to talk to Danielle and answer her questions. To find out what they had to say about their roles in Half-Blood Prince, read her article. Apparently, Daniel was especially nice.

Celebrating a Softer Side of Harry

What were you doing July 21, 2007? Even though it was two years ago, I can tell you exactly what I was doing: reading my copy of the just-released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Since then I've read the book all over again, cover-to-cover, plus listened to the audio book twice. So, do you think I was excited when the book came out in paperback earlier this week? Even a troll would know the answer to that question: YES!

And I wasn't the only one celebrating the paperback release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big day (July 7th) — Muggles throughout our Scholastic headquarters got into the action. Check out my photos from the festivities — and don't be surprised if some of them start to move . . .

Trivia Answer: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Hey all you Pottermaniacs! Lots of you got the answer to last week's trivia question, "What's the name of Beatrix Bloxam's book? What is in her book?" but the very first person to get both parts right was Warriorgurl -- so congrats to Warriorgurl and to everyone else who knew the answer.

For everyone who could use a good re-read of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Beatrix Bloxam's infamous book is titled Toadstool Tales. This book contains re-written versions of old wizarding stories, including some of Beedle's tales. When re-writing the tales, Bloxam took out anything she found objectionable or offensive, replacing the content with her own cutesy inventions. In his notes on The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Dumbledore tells us that Mrs. Bloxam's version of “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” “has met the same response from generations of Wizarding children: uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into pulp."

Hearing that sure makes me glad that J. K. Rowling gave us Beedle's version of the stories, and not Mrs. Bloxam's!

— Carly H. STACKS Staffer

Trivia: The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Since the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie release was pushed back to July 17th, it's been a while since we Harry Potter fans have had anything new to go gaga over. But this lull in Pottermania should have given you all a chance to get super-familiar with your copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

So, today I have a trivia question from this book of wizarding fairy tales:

What's the name of Beatrix Bloxam's book? What is in her book?

Leave a comment with your answer. Good luck guessing!

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

The Real Harry Potter - Trivia Answer

A big thanks to those of you who answered my trivia question from last week!

The question was: In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, who are all the people involved in the "Seven Potters" plan for moving Harry to safety? Who pretends to be Harry? And who pairs up with whom?

The answer:

1. Harry (as himself) + Hagrid
2. Mundungus (as Harry) + Mad-Eye
3. Hermione (as Harry) + Kingsley
4. Ron (as Harry) + Tonks
5. Fred (as Harry) + Mr. Weasley
6. George (as Harry) + Lupin
7. Fleur (as Harry) + Bill

And, of course, a Hagrid-sized CONGRATULATIONS to Kate for being the first commenter to get it right. Great job, Kate!

— Karen, STACKS Staffer

Illustration by Mary GrandPré © 1998-2008 Warner Bros

Trivia: Will the Real Harry Potter Please Stand Up?

I don't know if it was too many Christmas cookies or what, but I found myself in bed with a fever just before New Year's. Too tired and fuzzy-headed to concentrate on reading or even TV, I turned to an old standby: the audiobook for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Nothing like the magical voice of Jim Dale to soothe a roaring headache. AND listening to the audiobook inspired me to come up with a new trivia question for you guys!

Towards the beginning of the book, members of the Order and friends of Harry's arrive at the Dursley's to help move Harry to safety. The plan involved six people drinking Polyjuice Potion in order to transform into copies of Harry. Each "Harry" then couples up with a member of the Order, and the seven pairs head off to seven different safe houses.

My question is: Who are all the people involved in this plan? Who pretends to be Harry? And who pairs up with whom?

Leave a comment with your answer! And don't forget to include who travels with the real Harry!

— Karen, STACKS Staffer

Edited 1/19: The answer is up!

Don't Call Emma Watson "Hermione"

Hermione Granger Emma Watson gave an interview to Scholastic and gabbed about The Tale of Despereaux (and more, of course), which I thought was pretty cool considering I recently posted my 3 Questions for Hermione. And, while Emma isn't Hermione, she's still just as interesting!

Marie (Scholastic's resident celeb schmoozer) managed to score a pretty cool interview with her, just like she did with Harry Treadaway (from the City of Ember movie) and the cast of High School Musical 3.

Note to self: Find out how to get Marie's job. Interviewing movie stars all day? Awesome!

Regarding The Tale of Despereaux, her animated movie based on Kate DiCamillo's book:

Q: This was your first animation experience. Were you nervous the first time you recorded?
Emma: A little bit, yeah, I was. I'd never done it before. I was a bit nervous. I felt a bit unprepared. But it was fun, really.

Q: You got to record with Matthew Broderick. Did that help?
Emma: Yes, it was lovely. You realize how important it is to have other actors to play off. It was really nice to have that.

[Nancy] I've noticed that the use of the word "lovely" is much more common with British people. How quaint! Me, I would have said, "Yes, it was AWESOME!" Anyone who reads my blog entries will notice I overuse that word, though. Not awesome.

Transfiguration Trivia - Answer!

I guess my Transfiguration Trivia question was a difficult question, as no one really guessed everything I was looking for.

But congratulations are in order for Emma who was the first and only person to answer the first question: What are the rules that govern transfiguration? The correct response is Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. And Emma was right about when they are mentioned in the Harry Potter series: Hermione tells Harry and Ron about them in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

As for my second question (What things cannot be created through transfiguration?) — more simply put: what are the five exceptions to Gamp's Law? Most of you guessed food, which was Hermione's point when talking about Gamp's Law with Harry and Ron. As for the other four, well, I guess I have to admit this is a bit of a trick question, as we don't know for sure. Most people agree that true love is probably one of these exceptions. And I've seen human life and money guessed time and time again. If those guesses are right, that gives us four exceptions, but there should be five.

That means technically, anyone who makes a guess is a winner! So, what do you think the fifth exception is?

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - Video!

Hey, Harry Potter fans! I bet some of you have already finished reading J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard (available to the public as of yesterday). But if you haven't gotten to the bookstore or library yet, here's a sneak peek!

Arthur Levine (co-editor of the Harry Potter series) reads "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" (btw, there's about 40 seconds of silence at the beginning of the video; don't worry, the story is coming):

More videos after the page break!

Tales of Beedle the Bard at the NY Library, Part 2

If you saw Carly's earlier entry, then you know that yesterday, she and I were at the New York Public Library for a very special event: the unveiling of one of only seven original copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard — handwritten and illustrated by J. K. Rowling herself.

It will be on display at the library starting today, which just so happens to be the same day that the public version of the book became available to Harry Potter fans worldwide. My, what a coincidence! :-)

The original copy at the library belongs to Arthur A. Levine, co-editor of the Harry Potter series. And folks in the New York area can check it out from December 4th through January 4th. But if you can’t make it to NYC, don’t worry — Carly and I got plenty of photos, including some super duper close-ups of the original book’s interior pages.

Check them out:

And if you haven’t already, you can watch Carly’s footage of the unveiling. It was so much fun to be there alongside TV cameras, professional photographers, and reporters. (And standing right in front of us was Melissa Anelli, the webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron!)

Here are some highlights from the event:

Tales of Beedle the Bard at the NY Public Library

You probably already know that tomorrow, J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard will finally be available to the public. But you might not know that one of the original seven copies of the book — handwritten and illustrated by Rowling herself — will be on display at the New York Public Library for the next month.

This morning, Karen and I went to see the unveiling of the book. Check it out:

Click to view photos larger.

 

There are more photos and event coverage still to come, so check back later. And don't forget to pick up a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard tomorrow!

— Carly H., STACKS Staffer