nPostednon July 31, 2013
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nWhennlittle “Jo” was born in England, on this date in 1965, I bet hernmom didn’t tell her, “You’re the sweetest little baby, and you’rengoing to grow up to be really, really rich and famous!” n
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nIfnher mom had had any idea, when her baby was born, that her daughternwas going to write the best-selling book series in history, whichnwould become the highest-grossing film series in history—well, hernmom probably would’ve given her a middle name!
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Itnwould’ve been handy to have a middle name, since Rowling’s publishernfor the Harry Potter books didn’t want a female name on the covern(Joanne Rowling). Instead, they decided to put her first and middlenname as initials, along with Rowling.
Itnwould’ve been handy to have a middle name, since Rowling’s publishernfor the Harry Potter books didn’t want a female name on the covern(Joanne Rowling). Instead, they decided to put her first and middlenname as initials, along with Rowling.n
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nOnlynproblem: Rowling had no middle name. She had to make up a secondninitial. So the “J” stands for Joanne (nickname Jo), but the “K”ndoesn’t stand for anything at all!
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nThe British (top) and American (bottom) versions
of the Harry Potter books do not
always have the same cover art—
or even the same titles!
nThe British (top) and American (bottom) versions
of the Harry Potter books do not
always have the same cover art—
or even the same titles!
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nHow did she do it?
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nRowlingnhad written stuff ever since she was six, so she was used to gettingngood ideas and writing stories. However, when she was on a delayedntrain trip, one day, and she got the idea of Harry Potter, a boy whondidn’t know he was a wizard, she was really excited. It seemed like anreally good idea to her—maybe the best she’d ever had!
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nUnfortunately,nRowling didn’t have a pen that worked to write down her great idea!nShe reports that she was really frustrated with the no-pennscenario—but she was too shy to borrow one from a stranger.
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nFortunately,nRowling didn’t have a pen that worked to write down her great idea!nRowling now wonders, if she had slowed down her thoughts long enoughnto write them down, would she have lost some of the ideas and stiflednothers?
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nRowlingndid start writing the book that night—and so also wrote her ownnrags-to-riches story!
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nCelebrate!
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nEnternHarry Potter’s world, all over again, with the books or movies.
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nChecknout the Harry Potter activities at Activity Villagenor at iVillage. Therenare a whole lot of Harry Potter games and puzzles at Surf NetKids, andnthis Pinterest page has everything from wizard recipes to Harry Potter crafts to Hogwarts printables.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nUncommon Instruments Day
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nKevlarninventor Stephanie Kwolek’s birthday
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nHawaiiannFlag Day
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on Julynholidays, historicalnanniversaries in July,nand Julynbirthdays.
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest pages on Augustnholidays, historicalnanniversaries in August,nand Augustnbirthdays.
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