The Tales of Beedle the Bard: A New Book By J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the new book by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (pictured) hit Australian book stores on Thursday, 4 December 2008. The book is distributed in Australia by Allen & Unwin and it is anticipated that worldwide sales of the book will generate millions of dollars for the author’s UK based charity, the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG).

With more than 400 million books sold worldwide, including more than 9 million in Australia, the highly successful Harry Potter series by J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling was a publishing phenomenon, the likes of which we may never see again in our lifetime.  Since publication of the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, fans of the school boy wizard have been eagerly awaiting publication of Rowling’s next book.

Containing clues that were to prove crucial to Harry Potter’s final mission to destroy Lord Voldemort’s Horcuxes, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was left to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The new book includes five stories: The Tale of the Three Brothers; The Fountain of Fair Fortune; The Warlock’s Hairy Heart; The Wizard and the Hopping Pot; and Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself and also includes notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore.

The book first came to light in 2007 when Amazon successfully bid US$4 million for a handwritten copy of the book, one of only seven in existence, at Sotheby’s in London.

J.K. Rowling said: “There was understandable disappointment among Harry Potter fans when only one copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was offered to the public last December. I am therefore delighted to announce that, thanks to the generous support of Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Amazon – and the blessing of the wonderful people who own the other six original books – The Tales of Beedle the Bard will now be widely available to all Harry Potter fans.”

“Royalties will be donated to the Children’s High Level Group, to benefit institutionalised children in desperate need of a voice.”

The Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) works to make life better for vulnerable children across Europe, where over a million children and teenagers are growing up in unacceptable conditions in large residential institutions. In most cases they are without adequate human or emotional contact and stimulation, while many only just survive without life’s basics such as adequate food and shelter.

BUY THIS BOOK
International: Amazon.com
Australian retailer: QBD The Bookshop