This superb series Who was…? provides an interesting book about British author and philanthropist J.K. Rowling, who writes books for children and for adults as well. She is best known for seven-volume children’s fantasy series Harry Potter. In this book we can find interesting facts about her life and books.
Her real name is Joanne Rowling. What does J.K. mean? Publishers asked Jo to use only initials, because boys might not want to read a book written by a woman. She added a middle name Kathleen after her grandmother.
She was born on July 31, 1965 in Gloucestershire, England and studied French, Latin and Greek at University.
She had always wanted to be a writer and started to write stories in her spare moment working as a secretary. She has always loved trains and even her parents met on a train. On the train to London a boy popped into her head. The boy´s name was Harry Potter.
Almost everyone loves Harry Potter books, but there are also some people, who think that these books are bad for children. The hero is a wizard, the novels promote witchcraft etc. So the books have been challenged in some countries like the UK and Australia.
Rowling’s books have made her very rich. She was the second highest-earning female entertainer in the world after Oprah Winfrey. However, she has donated her money to several charities.
In this book we can see interesting illustrations and at the end of the book is a timeline of J.K. Rowling`s life events and timeline of the world events.
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Published: Grosset & Dunlap, 2012
Illustrated: Stephen Marchesi
Check from the e-catalogue ESTER
Katrin Antonenko
Department of Literature in Foreign Languages