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Featured Author: J. K. Rowling
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Featured Author: J. K. Rowling
With News and Reviews From the Archives of The New York Times
In This FeatureReviews of J. K. Rowling’s Earlier Books Articles About J. K. Rowling Related Links
Janet Maslin Reviews ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ (July 10, 2000) Stephen King Reviews ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ (July 23, 2000)
The Associated PressJ. K. Rowling
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone‘
(February 14, 1999)
“The book is full of wonderful, sly humor. . . . Throughout most of the book, the characters are impressively three-dimensional . . . However, a few times in the last four chapters, the storytelling
begins to sputter . . . These are minor criticisms. On the whole, ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ is as funny, moving and impressive as the story behind its writing.”‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‘
(June 20, 1999)
“Harry Potter returns to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, and disaster looms.”‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban‘
(September 5, 1999)
“In terms of plot, the books do nothing very new, but they do it brilliantly . . . Maybe Rowling will achieve what people who love the best children’s books have long labored after: breaking
the spell of adult condescension that brands as merely cute, insignificant, second-rate the heartiest and best of children’s literature.”Children’s Book Casts a Spell Over Adults
(April 1, 1999)
Devoted fans of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” bought up copies of its sequel through on-line bookstores before it had been published in the United States, a development that
alarmed Scholastic Press, the American publisher.Book’s Quirky Hero and Fantasy Win the Young
(July 12, 1999)
Harry Potter battled with Hannibal Lecter for the top spot on the summer’s best-seller lists.The Tales of an Adolescent Wizard Take On a Magical Life of Their Own
(September 11, 1999)
In an editorial written after finishing “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” Verlyn Klinkenborg writes that the Potter books “are delightful reading for anyone whose soul is
not utterly clotted with Muggled thinking.”The Playing Fields of Hogwarts
(October 10, 1999)
In an essay for the Book Review, Pico Iyer writes that “the classical boarding-school process favored by the English middle classes is esoteric — in fact, mad — to the point of resembling some
Charms School for apprentice mages.”Is Harry Potter Evil?
(October 22, 1999)
In an editorial, Judy Blume says that the real danger is not in books such as Harry Potter, but in laughing off those who would ban them.Don’t Give Us Little Wizards, the Anti-Potter Parents Cry
(November 1, 1999)
Some parents are protesting against the use of the Harry Potter series in a classroom setting, saying that the the books are dangerous because of their themes of witchcraft and evil.The Reality of the Fantasy in the Harry Potter Stories
(November 30, 1999)
Bruno Bettelheim’s classic study of children’s literature, “The Uses of Enchantment,” may help account for the huge success of the Harry Potter series.Besotted With Potter
(January 27, 2000)
In an op-ed, William Safire writes, “Getting children to read is no small blessing, and Rowling has provided them with a key to literacy. These are not, however, books for adults.”Booksellers Grab a
Young Wizard’s Cloaktails
(February 28, 2000)
Such is the literary halo effect of J. K. Rowling’s best-selling fantasy series that it has turned knobby-kneed Harry Potter into the Medici patron of children’s literature, giving a big
sales boost to authors like C. S. Lewis and Brian Jacques.Waiting for Harry Potter in Long Lines on the Net
(April 27, 2000)
Led by Amazon, which took advance orders last year before the publication of the third Harry Potter book, a number of Internet booksellers are following suit this time around.Publishers Use Secrecy in Harry Potter Promotion
(May 22, 2000)
A substantial degree of effort is going into ensuring that as little as possible is known about the highly anticipated fourth volume in the Harry Potter series’s contents in advance.New Harry Potter Book Title Announced
(June 28, 2000)
The British publisher of the Harry Potter series let the wizard out of the bag by revealing the title of the latest book.New Harry Potter Book Becoming a Publishing Phenomenon
(July 3, 2000)
Since the first “Harry Potter” was published in 1998, the series has sold nearly 21 million copies and been translated into 35 languages. The fourth installation comes into the world with even
more hoopla than its predecessors.Moby Dick on a Broom
(July 7, 2000)
In an op-ed piece, Gail Collins says that where the first three Harry Potter novels taught kids the joys of reading, the new one may teach them the important adult skill of carrying around large and trendy
volumes of literature so you can say “I just started it” whenever the topic comes up in conversation.Harry Potter Frenzy Begins in England and Continues Across Atlantic
(July 7, 2000)
Finally, after months of finely tuned, obsessively orchestrated preparation by publishers in Britain and the United States, the fourth Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,”
went on sale at midnight in London.Harry Potter Magic Halts Bedtime for Youngsters
(July 9, 2000)
It was a night of bedtime amnesty across the country as children and parents made treks to bookstores opening around midnight to capitalize on the enormous pent-up demand for the new title with Harry
Potter parties, gimmicks and stunts.Vanishing Off the Shelves
(July 10, 2000)
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” set records in its first weekend of sales, leaving many bookstores around the country already out of stock. The book’s first printing was the largest
ever and has already proven insufficient.All Aboard the Potter Express
(July 10, 2000)
Aboard a 57-year-old steam engine named after the train in the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling talked to a reporter about the success of the series. “I would do anything to prevent Harry from
turning up in fast-food boxes everywhere,” she told Alan Cowell.Harry Potter, Minus a Certain Flavour
(July 10, 2000)
In an editorial, Peter H. Gleick comments on the decision of Scholastic, the publisher of the American edition of the Harry Potter books, to translate the books from “English” into “American.”
A Novel That Is a Midsummer Night’s Dream
(July 11, 2000)
In an editorial, Steven R. Weisman writes that “the context of the book is magic, but its subject is society.”The Magical Voice of Harry Potter and Friends
(July 13, 2000)
Jim Dale was perfectly cast to narrate the Harry Potter series’s audiobooks, including the latest, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” for which Mr. Dale created 125 speaking voices.
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