And the idea of just wandering off into a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for a while is just a bliss.

-J.K. Rowling

Introduction

Do you know what a 'Muggle' is? Do you know what '93/4' is? Do you know what 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean' is? Well, if not, this is the perfect book for you!

Chapter 1

Joanne Rowling was born on July 31,1965 in Yate General Hospital, Gloucestershire. Two years later, Diana, or Di, came to earth. Most people called Joanne, Jo. Jo loved trains. May be because her parents met each other in a train. It all started like this. Anne, her mother, was cold. Peter, Jo's father, offered his coat. A year later they were married. Jo could make up stories all the time to entertain her sister. They played games too.

Their favorite game was the 'Cliff Game'. It is where one of the sisters dangle down a stair pretending it was a cliff. The sister dangling would shout "Help, help!" but the other sis would not help. Then finally the sister dangling would fall 'dead'. Then they would do the same thing all over again, except they switch roles. Other times they often fought with each other. Once Jo threw a battery at her sister, leaving a scar right above her eye.

Chapter 2

When Jo was nine, she moved to a small village called Tutshill. The only thing she didn't like was her school - Tutshill Primary. Her teacher, Mrs. Morgan, was strict. On the first day of the school she gave every student a fractions test. Jo had never learned about fractions, so she failed. The students she thought were dull sat on right. The kids who she thought were smart sat on the left. As Jo remembered, she sat in the far right. That was her inspiration of a character called 'Severus Snape'. At age eleven she went to Wyedean Comprehensive School. She was at first scared. She had heard some people stuck new kid's faces into toilets.

But no one did that to her. Jo's only problem was the toughest girl in the school bullying her. Plus the bully was older. Even though Jo was a good student, she fought back. She became famous for standing up to others. Jo didn't like fighting in real life. However, in the imaginary world, YES! She made up stories in which her friends were heroes.

+

=

Chapter 3

Jo had lots in common with Harry's brainy friend, Hermonie. In Montclair, New Jersey she told a group of students that she was neither as smart as Hermonie nor as nutty as her. She may be smart on the outside but insecure in the inside. Just then Jo found a new author - Jane Austen. At the age of fifteen her mother grew weak. Anne had lots of sclerosis or MS. There was no cure for MS back then. It was hard to see Jo's mother so sick. Mostly for Jo because she was dependent on her mother. Her father was too busy for Di and Jo. But luckily Jo had a friend named Se'an Harris who could always cheer Jo up.

He was the first friend of Jo that had a drivers license. He was the real life Ron! Soon Jo got a teacher named John Nettleship, who was her science teacher and was exactly like Mrs. Morgan. Science was far from her favorite subjects. In her last year, Jo was chosen to be Head Girl. It was the highest honor of the school.

Chapter 4

Jo left Wyedean in 1983. She went to University of Exeter. There she practiced French, Latin, and Greek thinking it would get her a good job even though her favorite subject is English literature. She even spent a year in Paris as a teaching assistant. Her favorite part of all this was learning new words for names of her characters like Voldemort or Draco Malfoy. Jo graduated college and moved to Clapham, a neighborhood in South London. For a while, Jo worked as a secretary at Amnesty International, which fights for peoples rights all over the world. Jo felt good.

But still Jo's favorite time was lunch hour. That was her time to write books. Back at Tutshill, Anne wasn't getting any better. Jo decided to have a change. She would leave London to some place new. Jo chose Manchester, a place little far away from home, and in the northern part of England. But Jo could visit her family often. On the weekends she took the train to visit her family. One day Jo was looking out the window thinking of nothing. Suddenly a picture of a boy came into her mind. He had round glasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his head. He was a wizard but he didn't know it. His name was Harry Potter. She reached into her bag for a pen but didn't find one.

She would write more about him back in her hotel. Jo kept on thinking about the wizard boy. One evening Jo had a huge fight with her boyfriend. She wished she could hit him with some thing. May be a big black iron ball. May be on a broomstick! That's where the idea of quidditch came from. A little while after Jo got the idea of Harry Potter, Jo's mother died. It was devastating. Even though Anne had been badly sick, Jo's family never expected this.

Chapter 5

Jo took a job as an English teacher in Oporto, Portugal to lift her spirits up. She hoped it would leave time for her book. During her first couple of weeks Jo got time to write the first chapter. Finally Jo wrote the chapter which would become her favorite of the whole series. It was called 'The Mirror of Erised'. If you read it backwards it would be DESIRE. It is a mirror where it could show your greatest want. Harry's was his parents. Jo thought if she looked in 'The Mirror of Erised', it would be seeing her mother again. While Jo was in Portugal, teaching, she met a journalist named Jorge Arantes. They fell in love and got married.

Soon enough a baby girl was born to the Arantes. They named her Jessica. Jo loved Jessica, but her marrige was not a happy one. Jo and Jorge often fought. So Jo left Jorge and went away with baby Jessica and the Harry Potter chapters. Jo and Jessica went to live with Di and her husband in Edinburgh, Scotland. In a cafe whenever Jessica slept Jo pulled out her paper and pen and started writing. Because she did not have a job yet, Jo lived on with public assistance. That meant the government had to send a check each month for food and rent. Sometimes Jo only had money for Jessica and had to go

hungry. While Jo was making ends meet, the government started a group called 'Back to Basics'. It meant people like Jo in the country should be ashamed of. Jo promised that if she had some spare money she would help people like her. Jo luckily had friends to help her. She went to Nicolson's Restaurant where the owner, Di's husband, let her sit for hours. She went to other cafes like 'The Elephent's House'. With the help of some encouragement from her family, Jo finally finished 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. Jo's friend,Se'an, gave some money for a flat or apartment. It was only the first draft. Jo knew she had to make many changes before it is published.

Chapter 6

Jo wanted the story as good as it could be. After seven years of story writing Jo was ready to show her book to the world. She shared it with Di. Di loved it. Jo got a job as a French teacher. When she wasn't teaching, she worked on her manuscript. Jo worked very hard. She printed 3 chapters and put it in a folder. If the agent liked it she would send the rest. If he didn't, Jo didn't know. The reply came back a few days later. The agent didn't want the rest. Jo was sad but did not give up. She found another agent named Christofer Little. Jo thought his name was fascinating. The story landed in a slush pile. Christofer just picked up a story which was Jo's!

He had meeting with publishers and other agents. Christofer was early so he started reading. He loved it! Jo send the rest and he loved it still. Christofer sold it to Bloomsbury Publishers. Jo just couldn't wait to tell her family, especially Di who was always ready to hear anything. With money from the sales, Jo left teaching French and started working on the next Harry Potter book.

Harry Potter

Chapter 7

After days of dreaming and years of hard work, Jo was finally a published author. One evening after being a published author, more exciting news came. In the U.S., there was an auction going on for her book. At first Jo was confused. She thought 'Aren't auctions for only for jewelry or expensive furniture?' Yes and no. At auctions people call out prices that they are willing to pay for things. Those offers are called bids. That was her question. How could anyone bid for her book? Christopher explained that some publishers are very interested in Harry Potter. So that meant they were competing with each other to buy it. Publisher were

trying to outbid each other. The price went up to five figures. That meant over $10,000. Two hours later, Christofer called and said that it was up to six figures. That meant $100,000! Arthur A. Levine from Scholastic was the winner. Arthur was a little scared on spending so much money on a first time author. But he loved books so much. With so much money Jo bought a jacket randomly. It was strange for her to do that because she rarely ever did that.

Chapter 8

In June 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the U.K. Bloomsbury had asked Jo if they could use her initials. They worried that boys won't read it because it was written by a woman, so Jo said to keep J.K. The K comes from her grandmother's name, Kathleen. The secret wasn't kept long. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a big hit. Jessica, who was now four, was still to young to read it but other children loved it. Jo won the award for the Smarties Book Prize by children all over England. Children all over England could hardly wait for the second book which was almost done.The second book's name is Harry Potter and

the Chamber of Secrets. It was published in July 1998. Meanwhile, back in America Jo was becoming even more famous. Scholastic had changed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, into Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone so people knew it had magic. Both Americans and British speak English so it was easy. But they speak in different ways. Scholastic made many changes so Americans could understand the book. In 1998, J.K. Rowling {!} traveled to America and was surprised that many people had already read the second book. It was not even published in the US. She found out that they couldn't wait so they ordered it from the England on the internet.

Jo was super successful. But things were just getting started. Every book landed on the New York Times Best Seller. Even popular authors like Dr.Seuss (The Cat and the Hat), R.L Stine (Goosebumps),and C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) did not sell as many books. When Jo went back to U.K. to write the third book, Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there were not only crowds of children, but adults. Why were adults reading kids books? It is because a really good story appeals to people of all ages. The press is called Pottermania. Jo traveled around the world staying in the best hotels and wearing clothes made by famous fashion designers. Once in a movie premiere, she wore gold shoes with six

inches heels that cost one thousand dollars! Jo was turning out to be everywhere, TV, newspapers, and even radios! Reporters kept on showing up at her house. Perhaps one of the reporters she met was her inspiration of Rita Skeeter. In an article called Independent newspaper, she said,"I imagined being a famous writer would be like being Jane Austen, being able to sit at home in the parsonage and your books would be very famous. I never dreamed it would impact my daughter's life negatively, which at times it did."

Chapter 9

Jessica was now seven and still hadn't read her mother's books. Jo thought Jessica should be at least eight years old. But Jessica couldn't stand being the only one not reading them. So Jo finally agreed and they read the books - Jessica loved them all. Jo and Jessica were becoming too famous. They did not like strangers click pictures of them. They were not the only ones. Jo's new boyfriend was too. Jo's boyfriend's name was Dr. Neil Murray. A friend introduced them to each other in the year 2000. With the dark hair and glasses, he looked like grown up Harry Potter. Jo and Neil were planning to spend their life together with Jessica. Jo and Neil bought

a nineteenth-century mansion on the banks of the River Tay in Scotland. The house was close to Castle Menzies. Castle Menzies is about five hundred years old. People thought it looked a lot like Hogwarts. Pottermania was getting bigger every minute. It was just about time till Hollywood got in the game.

Chapter 10

Four books were already published. Harry Potter was world wide known by now. When a new book came out, bookstores held parties, fans lined up for hours, and people would even dress up as Harry Potter characters! By not everybody loved Harry Potter. In America, Harry Potter was a challenged book series. It meant that a group of people demand that this certain book or book series should not be in public libraries and schools. Why did people think it was bad for children? It was because parents thought it was promoting witchcraft in real life. Suddenly Harry Potter was becoming challenged every where. But that didn't stop the kids from reading it.