Smitten with Harry Potter, Some Americans Aren't Waiting for U.S. Publication

Staff -- School Library Journal, 4/1/1999

Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books, the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling'smega-seller, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, plans to publishRowling's wildly anticipated sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber ofSecrets, in September. Problem is, some U.S. readers won't wait and havebeen buying the British edition, which has been available via U.K. Web sitesand in English bookstores since July.

Scholastic has responded by asking U.S. retailers who are selling theBritish edition to cease immediately and has requested that U.K.distributors stop supplying American bookstores with the "contraband." Sofar, there's been near-unanimous compliance.