Throwfire

I am deeply amazed by the tremendous universal popularity of the Harry Potter novels. The Harry Potter stories were written by the UK author J.K. Rowling. She saw the light of day on 31 July 1965. Her name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling because in the beginning her publishing house considered it was a beneficial idea not to reveal the matter that she is a woman. The publisher thought it might have a negative effect on the sales figures if everybody instantly recognizes that the writer was a woman. Thus, instead of showing her first name she used two initials. As she has no middle name she took Kathleen as basis for the K. in her abbreviation. Kathleen is the name of her grandma.

The initial Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - was publicized in June 1997 in the UK. Quite interesting is the fact that only thousand units of the first story were released at that time. The original title of the story was not Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, but Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. But when the story was published to the US market in September 1998, it was named Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.

After that Joanne Rowling invented some additional Harry Potter stories. Now the Harry Potter series consists of a total of 7 novels. These are:

• Vol. 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
• Vol. 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Vol. 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Vol. 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Vol. 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Vol. 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Vol. 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter stories have been translated into at least 55 languages and have been publicized in many countries. Besides the big success in the United States and Great Britain, Harry Potter is also quite popular in Europe. The Harry Potter novels have been publicized to German readers under those headers:

• Book 1: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
• Book 2: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens
• Book 3: Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
• Book 4: Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
• Book 5: Harry Potter und der Orden des Phoenix
• Book 6: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz
• Book 7: Harry Potter und die Heiligtuemer des Todes

I must admit that I did not have the time to read all those novels. But there are kids who know them all, which is quite remarkable and contributes to the tremendous success.

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