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Spotlight On: J.K. Rowling

© Alessia Cowee

It's spring in my neck of the woods, and in honor of that wonderful feeling one has when settling under an apple tree with a terrific read, Award-winning Children's Authors and Illustrators is taking a break from our series on Children with Disabilities in Fiction and changing gears. We are beginning an open-ended group of articles on author J.K. Rowling and her marvelous sequence of Harry Potter books. Look for this series to be interspersed with our ongoing and future articles and be sure to pick up the books at your local library or bookseller! Settle under your tree of preference and prepare to be whisked away!

Up until about three years ago, J.K. Rowling of Scotland was not so different from you or I. She was a single mother of a preschool-aged daughter; an aspiring writer trying to make ends meet. In fact, times had become so hard, that she was forced to go on public assistance in order to survive. But Jo Rowling had a secret weapon lurking in her writer's notebook, and his name was Harry Potter!

Harry Potter first appeared on the scene when a small United Kingdom publisher contracted to publish Rowling's first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". It wasn't until Scholastic, Inc., the mega-publisher of the children's book industry, bought the rights to the first two books, however, that Harry Potter became a household name. The first and second titles in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" were released almost simultaneously here in the United States. The books struck a chord with children and adults alike and soon were rocketing to the top of the bestseller lists.

The release of the third book, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" late last year fueled both controversy and elation. The controversy arose when parent and teacher groups began demanding that the books be removed from school libraries, claiming the magical content of the books was subversive and harmful to children. Though some schools in the United States and the United Kingdom have censored the books, most have allowed the series to remain on the shelves.

Trouble for Rowling seems to have come in threes. In addition to the censorship uproar, some parents and critics were up-in-arms after a book-signing tour in the U.S. which left several hundred children waiting out in the cold without a chance to meet their hero's creator. This incident was picked up by several major news agencies and left a bad taste in the mouths of many who saw Rowling as insensitive to her fans. It should be noted here, though, that authors rarely have control of their own schedules during book tours and that it is entirely possible that Ms. Rowling knew nothing of those waiting outside until the incident hit the newstands.

The copyright of the article Spotlight On: J.K. Rowling in Children's Authors is owned by Alessia Cowee. Permission to republish Spotlight On: J.K. Rowling in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.