IMAGE
September 9, 2007 | Melissa Magsaysay, Times Staff Writer
Private school is having a fashion moment. Buttoned blazers, knee socks, crested sweaters, university-striped scarves, rep ties -- all those stodgy restrictions of self-expression are looking like high style this fall. From the Balenciaga runway to the pages of theJ. Crew catalog, designers are turning the preppy uniform into something actually cool and wearable. Why do we feel so ready for it, after a summer of free-flowing style? Maybe it's the Harry Potter effect. Call it "Hogwarts Chic."
ENTERTAINMENT
August 4, 2007 | From the Associated Press
Scholastic Inc., the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, announced that the seventh and final installment, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," sold 11.5 million copies in its first 10 days and that an original printing of 12 million has been increased to 14 million. "Deathly Hallows," released July 21, continues to top best-seller lists and has revived interest in the previous books. Total sales for the series have topped 350 million copies worldwide.
NEWS
August 2, 2007
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Sometimes it's a hassle being Harry Potter. Especially when you're a 78-year-old man who happens to share the name of a certain fictional boy wizard who is famous the world over. Each time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out, Bradenton resident Harry Potter starts getting phone calls from children, interview requests from the TV networks and autograph requests. "The kids want to know if I'm Harry Potter," he said.
BOOKS
July 29, 2007 | Sonja Bolle, Sonja Bolle is a freelance book editor and children's book reviewer. Her "Word Play" column appears monthly at www.latimes.com/books.
For everyone in the business of getting kids into books, Harry Potter remains a phenomenon. It was a revelation that fourth- through seventh-graders would read 600- and 800-page books, let alone re-read them. That they would stand in line in the middle of the night -- in costume! -- to buy a book. That they would endlessly trade details of the lives of fictional characters, as if they were popular classmates or sports stars.
ENTERTAINMENT
July 25, 2007 | From Bloomberg News
J.K. Rowling, author of the "Harry Potter" series, said she plans to write an encyclopedia about the boy wizard and his magical world. Rowling, whose seventh and final Potter novel hit stores Saturday, plans to use 17 years of notes to supply details that didn't make it into the stories, she said in an interview with Meredith Vieira on NBC's "Today" show that begins airing today. NBC released excerpts Tuesday.
BUSINESS
July 23, 2007 | From the Associated Press
It is the richest going-away party in history. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume of J.K. Rowling's all-conquering fantasy series, sold a mountainous 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours on sale in the United States, according to Scholastic Inc. No other book, not even any of the six previous Potters, has disappeared so quickly. "Deathly Hallows" averaged more than 300,000 copies in sales an hour -- more than 5,000 a minute. The $34.