Rowling's Wizard Fairy Tales Coming in December
Jennifer Pinkowski -- School Library Journal, 8/2/2008 8:42:00 PM
Professor Dumbledore may have met his demise, but the book of fairy tales he gave to Hermione Granger in the final Harry Potter book will be released in December in a version illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself.The Tales From the Beedle Bard compiles five fairy tales from the world of wizards and muggles that reproduces the ornate original edition that Rowling made only seven copies of, each one bound in leather and adorned with moonstones.
According to Reuters, all but one were given to intimates connected to the Harry Potter series, while the remaining one sold on an Amazon auction for $4 million. Aside from the Bloomsbury/Scholastic mass release of the tales—only one of which was previously published in a Potter book—another 100,000 collector's editions will be produced by Amazon for nearly $100 a pop.
All proceeds will be donated to Rowling's charity, the Children's High Level Group, which aims to help more than a million children living in residential institutions across Europe.
In a statement that melds reality and fiction, Rowling described the fairy tales this way: "The new edition will include the Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive."
