The Harry Potter books and movies have an avid group of followers in and outside the USA

July 4, 2009 in General Interest by admin | No comments

I am always amazed by the ample international success of the Harry Potter novels. The Harry Potter novels were written by the English author J.K. Rowling. She was born on 31 July 1965. Her full name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the alias J.K. Rowling because initially her publishing house considered it was a beneficial idea not to reveal the aspect that she is a woman. The publisher feared it might have a negative effect on the sales numbers if everybody promptly sees that the author is female. Thus, instead of using her first name she used two letters. As she has no middle name she took Kathleen as basis for the K. in her short form. Kathleen is the name of her grandmother.

The first Harry Potter novel - Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - was publicized in the year 1997 in in Great Britain. Very interesting is the fact that only 1,000 pieces of the first book were published at that time. The original title of the book was not Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, but Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. But when the story was publicized to the American marketplace in September 1998, it was released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.

After that J.K. Rowling invented 6 more Harry Potter stories. Now the Harry Potter series is made of a total of seven books. These are:

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

The Harry Potter books have been translated into at least 50 languages and have been released in various countries. Besides the big success in the United States and Britain, Harry Potter is also quite favored in Europe. The Harry Potter stories have been released to German readers under these headers:

I must admit that I did not have the opportunity to read all the stories. But there are people who know them all, which is quite fascinating and is part of the huge success.