‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ Final Cover Released!

At Scholastic’s NYC headquarters yesterday, illustrator Kazy Kibuishi presented the last of the new Harry Potter book editions. You can check out the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cover below. The event coincided with Harry Potter and author J.K. Rowling’s birthday! Happy belated birthday Harry and Jo!

At the same time the spines of each book were released. Together they create a photo of Hogwarts! I might just have to buy the set again.

The box set also includes a new photo of Hogsmeade:

You can check out all of the covers right here!

J.K. Rowling Speaks Out on Writing Real, Gritty Characters

Many readers of YABR will know about Goodreads but did you know that users had the opportunity to ask The Casual Vacancy author J.K. Rowling one question? The winning user asked Rowling about why she wrote a gritty reality in The Casual Vacancy instead of a fantasy like Harry Potter.

Some of you might not want to read her exhaustive answer so in summary Rowling writes that she felt her characters are all trapped by circumstances, whether forced upon them or created by themselves, and draws comparison to the fact that most adults feel like they are trapped and thus unable to change their lives once they are stuck in a situation. She goes into detail with a few characters so if you’ve read and managed to get all the way through The Casual Vacancy read the full question and answer below! (Beware of spoilers.)

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ New Cover Unveiled

Scholastic unveiled Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s new cover at San Diego Comic-Con. The illustrator, Kazu Kibuishi, attended the Scholastic party to celebrate his design. This might be the best one yet! Check it out below:

The Harry Potter hardbacks will retain their original art designed by Mary GrandPre. It is only the paperbacks that are receiving the new covers. They hit bookstores on August 27.

You can check out the previously released covers right here! Only one more to go now – Deathly Hallows! Which we should see pretty soon.

New Features Announced for Pottermore

Pottermore has announced that new features will be coming to the site once the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is released in the coming weeks. Two of those new features include the ability to comment on Moments, chapters, and J.K. Rowling’s entries, and Book Pages.

“You will not only have the ability to comment on Moments, but each book, each chapter, and each exclusive content entry from J.K. Rowling, so you can discuss your feelings and ideas about the Harry Potter stories and interact with the Pottermore community,” writes Pottermore on their Insider blog.

In addition, Pottermore will launch “Book Pages” which each share very basic information about the seven Harry Potter books. You will be able to leave comments about each book as well.

Comments have always been integrated into Pottermore at the end of each Chapter but as users get house points for each comment it is difficult to see how implementing comments elsewhere through the site will encourage readers to have a discussion. I wish that Pottermore would focus on the millions of Harry Potter fans rather than just new readers of the books, but at least they’re trying to improve the website! Do you still use Pottermore?

New HIGH-RES ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ Cover

At least we have the high-res version of the new cover for the Order of the Phoenix. Here we see Harry riding a thestral to the ministry of magic.

The entire Scholastic set with all new covers designed by Kazu Kibuishi will be available on August 27, 2013 as part of the 15th Anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

If you missed them check out the covers for the following Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

New ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ Paperback Cover

Scholastic has released Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’s new paperback cover, and it features Harry versus the Hungarian Horntail.

The cover was designed by Kazu Kibuishi. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was originally published July 8, 2000. It was the first time a Harry Potter book was published in the United States and United Kingdom on the same day.

Mary GrandPre’s original cover for the United States version of the fourth Harry Potter book featured Harry in front of the Goblet of Fire. But the British Bloomsbury version by Giles Greenfield, also depicts the First Task of the Triwizard Championship, with Harry on his Firebolt being chased by a Hungarian Horntail. Whose depiction looks better?

Prisoner of Azkaban’s cover was released on Thursday and depicted Harry sending a Patronus at dementors on the Black Lake. Chamber of Secrets‘ shows Harry and Ron arriving at The Burrow. Sorcerer’s Stone’s depicts Harry and Hagrid arriving at Diagon Alley.

The new Harry Potter book covers will hit store shelves on August 27 in the United States. The hardback copies of the Harry Potter books will not receive the new designs.

Scholastic will be pushing out the remaining new Harry Potter covers over the next few weeks. We have three left to go, plus the artwork for the box set’s case.

So far I think the Chamber of Secrets cover is my favorite! What’s yours? Let us know in the comments below!

Bloomsbury Unveils New ‘Harry Potter’ Adult Edition Covers

Hoping to entice a new generation of adult readers, Bloomsbury and J.K. Rowling announced today that the Harry Potter books will be re-published in paperback format with some new, and very different, covers.

The covers take on a modern and vibrant look with a sketch pertaining to an element within each book’s story. The first three covers for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban were unveiled today.

J.K. Rowling’s official Facebook page noted that the first three books with new covers will be available from July 18, 2013, followed by the next two on August 15, 2013, and the final two on September 26, 2013.

The jackets are illustrated by Andrew Davidson and “feature his beautiful woodcut style.”

While the modern look will certainly attract some new readers who may have been hesitant to jump on the Potter bandwagon in the past, I don’t think current fans will gain anything from purchasing these new editions. (Unless you really like the covers!)

Scholastic is in the midst of re-releasing the Harry Potter paperbacks with new covers as well. So far the new covers for Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets have been unveiled. The Prisoner of Azkaban cover was revealed last night. Check it out here!

New Scholastic ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ Paperback Cover Unveiled at LeakyCon

The new Scholastic cover for the paperback version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was set to be released during the opening ceremonies of LeakyCon, an annual Harry Potter convention, held this year in Portland, Oregon.

That ceremony has just taken place and  Cheryl Klein, Scholastic’s Content Editor for the Harry Potter book series, removed the cover and exposed the image you see below:

The image was drawn by talented artist Kazu Kibuishi, who also revealed his Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets covers earlier this year.

What do you think of the new cover celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Scholastic’s original release of Sorcerer’s Stone? This edition will go on sale August 27, 2013.

Harry Potter Hogwarts Library Book Set Gets Release Date

The Harry Potter Hogwarts Library boxset, which will include new-cover copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, all by J.K. Rowling, has been set for an October 29 release in the U.S. by Scholastic, as noted by Amazon. It will be retailing for $22.49.

The book set was originally released by Bloomsbury in the UK last year, and now will be made available for U.S. Harry Potter fans this fall.

Here are the summaries for the books:

Quidditch Through The Ages: “Did you know that : there are 700 ways of committing a foul in Quidditch? The game first began to evolve on Queerditch Marsh? What Bumphing is? That Puddlemere United is oldest team in the Britain and Ireland league? (founded 1163) All this information and much more could be yours once you have read this book: this is all you could ever need to know about the history, the rules – and the breaking of the rules – of the noble wizarding sport of Quidditch.”

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them: “A copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them resides on almost every wizarding household in the country. Now, for a limited period only, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl.”

The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore.”

Pottermore Plans Major Site Change to Attract New Fans

In a new interview, Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne has revealed that a complete overhaul of the website is in development to expand their audience.

Redmayne told The Bookseller that various changes are in the works that will appeal to more casual fans of the Harry Potter series. For example, the new Pottermore will allow you to cast spells, take part in wizard duels, and get sorted into your Hogwarts house before even registering for the website.

Another big change: You will no longer have to go through the chapters in sequential order. You will now be able to browse any chapter you want if it’s available for the public. (Not sure if this is really that great of an idea…)

In a clear attempt to appeal to even the most basic reader, the site will boast new, basic information like, “Who is Harry Potter?”

“As it stands, if you don’t know the books you won’t get much out of it,” Redmayne told The Bookseller. “What we want to do is open it out for those people who haven’t read the books, or who haven’t seen the films, but perhaps come to it via the Lego, or the Harry Potter computer games.”

Other new features include the ability to “interact with their houses, or visit specific areas such as Diagon Alley without becoming engaged with the story,” but at this time we’re not sure what that particularly means and how it’s an improvement over the current website.

Elsewhere in the interview Redmayne rattled off a few interesting numbers about Pottermore’s usage: The site has hosted 45 million unique users and users have cast/brewed 180 million spells/potions.

Pottermore is currently in the midst of unveiling the Prisoner of Azkaban chapters. The remaining batch of chapters in the third Harry Potter book will open sometime in the next couple months.

J.K. Rowling conceived Pottermore as a thank you to fans of the series. The website’s best feature is the new writing about the Harry Potter series from the author herself.

Personally I loved Pottermore when it was first opened, but I still feel like it’s missing the magic that the books had, but hopefully some of these changes will improve the site and its interactivity with fans!