Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

Written by: Sci Fi Fan | Date: 23rd October 2008 | Category: Fantasy

JK Rowling is to launch her new novel, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, at a tea party at the National Library of Scotland in edinburgh, hosted by herself for school children.

The book was originally never intended for mass publication, with 6 copies being handwritten by JK Rowling as personal gifts with a seventh copy being aquired by amazon at auction for £1.95 million. The novel marks the farewell to the published world of Harry Potter.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the book which Albus Dumbledore left to Hermione in the seventh and final Harry Potter novel The Deathly Hallows and contained clues that helped Harry Potter in his fight against Lord Voldemort. Only one of the five tales "The Tale of the Three Brothers" was recounted in The Deathly Hallows with the remaining stories; "The Fountain of Fair Fortune", "The Warlock's Hairy Heart", "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot" and "Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump" have not been published before.

The book is being released on the 4th of December and JK Rowling is waiving any royalties, with net proceeds from any sales going to the charity "The Children's High Level Group", which she co-founded.

The Children's High Level Group works with vulnerable children in eastern Europe, of which hundreds of thousands are living in appalling conditions in large residential institutions.

When commenting about this JK Rowling stated: "Contrary to popular belief, fewer than 4% of them are orphans, but are in care because they are considered disabled or their families are poor or from ethnic minorities. The charity is publishing The Tales of Beedle the Bard to raise money to fund our work in helping these children out of institutions and in to loving families or community care homes"

"I hope that The Tales of Beedle the Bard will not only be a welcome present to Harry Potter fans, but an opportunity to give these abandoned children a voice. It will encourage young people across the world to think about those who are less fortunate and help change many young lives for the better."

The children that will be invited to the tea party will be randomly chosen though a ballot with 10 schools being given the chance to bring 20 pupils each between the ages of 8 and 11. There are also competitions at Amazon, Bloomsbury and Scholastic for places at the event.

There will also be a month long display of one of the original copies of the novel which has been loaned by JK Rowlings first editor Barry Cunningham.

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