Deborah Hanson pulled the invisibility cloak off our minds and revealed to us all the secrets of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. She bewitched us with information about Rowling's life and the process she went through to get her series published. Deborah shared with us a multitude of facts including that Rowling was paid $10,000 for the rights to Harry Potter from the British publisher and later Scholastic paid her $105,000 for the American publication. This was the highest amount ever paid to a first time children's book author.
One of the most fun parts of Deborah's lesson was learning about the names in the books. One of the most popular characters is Minerva McGonagall. Minerva was the Roman goddess of war and wisdom. Minerva also happens to have a famed reputation for morphing herself and others into clever disguises.
We also learned that Rowling is a fan of anagrams. The most important is, of course, Tom Marvolo Riddle is I Am Lord Voldemort. But we all agree that Dursley is rude and sly!
Natalie McDonald is the only real person named in the entire Harry Potter series. In the summer of 1999, the books provided an escape from the nine year old girl’s struggles with leukemia. Knowing how much Natalie loved Harry Potter, a friend of the McDonald family contacted JKR’s publisher who passed along the message. The author wrote an email to Natalie and her mother, including not-yet-known details about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but sadly, it arrived the day after Natalie died. Her mother wrote back to thank JKR for her kindness and the two struck up a friendship. In the book, JKR paid tribute to Natalie by making her a first year and sorting her into Gryffindor.
The Harry Potter series brought the muggle world together and revived our love of reading and sharing what we read.
By the way, did you know that so many fans visited King’s Cross station to take a photo of platforms nine and ten, that they erected a bricked in archway that reads Platform 9-3/4?
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