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Rowling Returns With New Potter-y Book

Proceeds for Collection of Short Stories Going to Charity

Reuters
posted: 212 DAYS 17 HOURS AGO
comments: 46
filed under: Highbrow, Movie News
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LONDON (Dec. 2) - A new book by British author J.K. Rowling, her unofficial farewell to the adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter which made her the world's wealthiest writer, goes on sale on Thursday.
Proceeds from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," expected to become an international bestseller even though the seven-book Potter series is over, will go to a charity for vulnerable children in Eastern Europe co-founded by Rowling.
"Beedle the Bard" is a collection of five fairy tales and is mentioned in the final Potter book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as having been left to the boy wizard's friend Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school.
Only one of the five stories -- "The Tale of the Three Brothers" -- was recounted in the Potter book, and the volume contains clues that were to prove crucial to Potter's final mission to destroy Lord Voldemort.
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Indicating the interest the new book is likely to generate with Potter fans young and old, one of seven hand-written, illustrated copies of Beedle the Bard made by Rowling fetched $4 million at auction a year ago.
Online book store Amazon, which bought that copy, is printing up to 100,000 collector's' editions costing $100, and the global print run will be around 7.5 million copies.
Bloomsbury will distribute the book in Britain and Scholastic in the United States.
Publishers and retailers give all net profits to the chosen charity once their costs are covered, and retailers who sell the book at a discount -- a common practice with the Potter series as stores fought for market share -- do so at a loss.
CHARITY BOOST
In the sale catalogue for the auctioned copy, Rowling wrote:
"'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I loved and lived in for 17 years."
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She is hoping "Beedle the Bard" will live up to expectations and make millions of pounds for The Children's High Level Group (CHLG) (www.chlg.org) which she co-founded with European parliamentarian Emma Nicholson.
The charity campaigns to protect and promote children's rights across Europe. It began work in Romania before moving to Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and the Czech Republic.
In July 2007, "Deathly Hallows" became the fastest selling book ever. Between them the Harry Potter books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 67 languages.
They have also spawned a successful movie franchise which has earned around $4.5 billion at the box office with five films released. A further three are planned, with "Deathly Hallows" being divided into two parts.
"Beedle the Bard" may not be Rowling's final word on the world of Harry Potter. She has said she plans an encyclopedia on the series and will donate the proceeds to charity.
Rowling, 43, went to court in New York earlier this year to sue an independent U.S. publisher which planned to bring out a 400-page Harry Potter reference book. A judge ruled in her favor in September.
Copyright 2008, Reuters
2008-12-02 14:34:50
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Makilgore06

08:21 PMDec 04 2008

Bowziie.. 1) As a Stephanie Meyers fan, I'll defend the series by saying first and foremost it is a LOVE STORY.. the choice of characters and setting is only secondary, even complementary (since by the end of the series, their love is eternal). 2) This article is about JKR and the HP series. Not Stephanie Meyers and Twilight. "Fuc" that, huh?

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Bowziie

06:19 PMDec 03 2008

I saw Twilight it was the worst! fuc.......vampire movie ever made! I'm old school, but even if I'm not this was not a vampire movie it gave the notion of trying to be a vampire movie. It was horribly terrible. Christopher Lee was and always will be the greatest Vampire that every lived! and the handsome Brad Pitt wasn't bad either. Who the hell want's to see a vampire movie that doesn't have the teeth bared! going down into the skin and blood! Come on people, whoever wrote this movie, what the hell were they thinking! Obviously you weren't! and get this, there is already a sequeal in the making as I'm typing. what a fuc...........waste of FILM!

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Ana21banana

02:36 PMDec 03 2008

i cant believe u guys are so immature about this! the book(s) is/are already written and there is nothing u can do about it. there is nothing to do with obama, or christianity, or other stuff. so i dont know why ppl are making such a big deal ! the reason ppl put the comment box here is so that they can comment about the book, not ur religion or who the president is or about any fights or anything like that. gosh.

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Erixbid1

02:29 PMDec 03 2008

To everyone who claims "Harry Potter" or "Twilight" will send their children, their families, their country or the whole world to hell in a handbasket; calm down.As someone who has taken Jesus Christ as his Savior, I know not to tell God who He can smite, curse, or send to hell. Please remember, when judgement comes, whatever is decided for me, I know it will be fair. However, I doubt my library will come into question.

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JustSwissy

02:18 PMDec 03 2008

I was involved in a huge fight with a visiting minister who come to our church on a one man crusade to rid the world of Harry Potter. Being a Harry Potter fan, I didn't attend any of his sermons the three nights he was there. On the morning of the third day, I had things to do down at the church, and I ran into him and our two ministers. He wanted to know why I hadn't been to his meetings. I told him he would never convince me Harry Potter was bad. He about had a heart attack! I said to him...."Did you ever read Snow White to your children?....Did you ever watch the Star Wars seriers?...How about Cinderella? Ever read that to your child? I could go on and on.....So...let me say this. I believe good always over rules all these stories. There are witches and "forces" in all of the stories we watch and love. So, when you stop reading and telling and watching everything that does't have a force in it...an evil witch in it <wizard of oz> or anything like that.., .you can tell me how b...

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Makilgore06

12:53 PMDec 03 2008

Pgsr1: ScottaRica is like many "Christians"... only Christian in words, not in actions. It is sad to see Christians judge, especially pastors *cough*, when the word of Christ is that it's HIS duty to judge, not ours... "Yeah, I'm a Christian, but **** what Christ said. You read Harry Potter so I SAY you're going to hell.".... Yeah, real Christian. Let God decide, I don't need anyone to tell me where my journey will take me -- I'm sure where I'm headed.

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Pgsr1

12:42 PMDec 03 2008

ScottaRican526 if you are Christian why do you curse?

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Potter6233

12:40 PMDec 03 2008

"ROWLING GETTING AS MUCH MONEY AS SHE CAN .........I'M NOT ADDING TO HER BANK ACCTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ...........IT'S FUNNY , THE POOR GIVING TO THE RICH ........INSTEAD THE RICH SHOULD BE HELPING THE POOR OR GIVING BACK ..............IM NOT GOING TO MAKE HER ANY RICHER .......YOU DON'T SEE HER HELPING YOU FINANCIALLY ..............ALL CELEBRITIES ARE LIKE THIS .GIVE ME , GIVE ME ........"If you actually read the article you'd notice the book is being published FOR CHARITY. She's already published two other books that were for charity and the Encyclopedia is set to do the same. JK Rowling is a fantastic woman who has not been corrupted by her success. I have a great deal of respect for her because of how genuine she truly is. It irks me to no end when I see people like you trash her when you know nothing about her other than the fact that she has money.

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FatherDJohnson

12:37 PMDec 03 2008

To GerriHan65, Your daughter sounds like she is wise beyond her years (a chip off the old block?), and her reading list is impressive. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Potter books (I don't freak out over the magical content, alleged syncretistic heresies, or any latent diabolism in them), and I certainly read my fair share of them growing up, but that whole fantasy genre I no longer find very fascinating and, when it comes to sheer creativity, craftful writing, and a real conceptual daring, certain science-fiction writers are where it is at--Philip Dick, for example. And this should come as no surprise--I found the Harry Potter movies to be boringly awful.....

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User174305

12:31 PMDec 03 2008

When is a billion dollars not enough money? When it belongs to J K Rowlings.

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