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Um bruxo de palavras lança um feitiço nas crianças

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Tradução: Frede_Potter
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McGarrity, Mark. “A wizard of words puts a spell on kids – ‘Potter’ author visits school in Monclair,” The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), October 14, 1999

Chanting “Harry Potter rules!” and holding up signs proclaiming “Potter Power,” pupils at the Montclair Kimberley Academy greeted J. K. Rowling, the author of the wildly popular Harry Potter children’s books that have dominated best-seller lists nationwide for much of the year.

Yesterday’s reading, book-signing and question-and-answer session in Montclair was the only school stop on the 33-year-old British author’s North American publicity tour for her new book, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” the third novel in the series that is currently No. 1 on the USA Today best-selling fiction lists.

The three books of the series now rank numbers 1, 2 and 3 on both the Wall Street Journal list and New York Times list, where the first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” has spent 42 weeks.

Rowling’s choice of the private school caused a few pupils to wonder if Rowling – who sent her magical hero, Harry Potter, to a school for witchcraft and wizardry – “knows something about the academy that we don’t,” said fifth-grader Caroline Richardson, 10, of Upper Montclair.

”Actually, she chose to come here because the children of one of her editors attend Montclair Kimberley,” said Debbie Kozak, a spokeswoman for the school. Kozak also cited the school’s large book fair, which will begin Nov. 6, and its history of inviting children’s authors to speak there as reasons that convinced the reclusive author to visit the school.

Three pupils from each of Montclair’s other private and public schools and St. Philip’s Academy in Newark were also invited to attend. They received signed copies of the author’s three books for their school libraries.

Rowling was greeted with a standing ovation before reading from page 26 of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” a selection that describes a Harry Potter who is not yet aware of his magical powers.

Answering questions prepared by children from various grades, Rowling revealed that on “good days” she writes at least nine hours a day, breaking only for lunch and to care for her daughter at dinner time. Writer’s block only bothered her once, Rowling revealed, after her “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” came out.

”Suddenly, I was getting a lot of attention in the press, and I panicked,” she told the audience. “I felt like my writing was no longer my private world. It was like somebody was Rowling 13 Wizard of words casts spell on kids looking over my shoulder and saying, ‘Well, that’s not a very good word, is it?’ After a few weeks, it went away.”

As for favorite authors, Rowling said she admires Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis and Paul Gallico. But asked what “classic” children’s books she read in her youth, Rowling took exception with the word “classic” and replied, “James Bond. I was really very lucky growing up – my parents let me read anything and everything. Adult books. The works.”

Reading, for Rowling, is an active pastime. “You have to work with the author and make what he’s describing happen in your head,” she said. “You cast and direct the film in your mind, and nobody but you sees what you see. That’s why reading is irreplaceable.”

Asked if she ever thought her books would become so popular, Rowling said, “No, not really. Apart from the birth of my daughter, the happiest day of my life was when I got the letter telling me that a publisher had actually accepted my novel. I never dreamed it would be such a success.”

Fran Kurtis, who teaches second grade at Montclair Kimberley, knows why children love the character of Harry Potter, an eleven-year-old who was orphaned as an infant and grows to discover he is a wizard born of wizard parents. “They’re the archetype of the children’s novel,” said Kurtis, ” ‘foundling’ stories with an abandoned child triumphing over evil with the help of benevolent others and special powers.”

Schoolyard reviews for Rowling’s new novel are also positive.

”I’ve read all three books,” said Liz Kneuer, 10, a fifth-grader from Upper Montclair, “and I like ‘The Prisoner’ best because it’s not just a continuation of the other books. You don’t know what’s going to happen next, or who the good or bad guys are.”

Armando Tamargo, 7, a second-grader from Montclair has another take on the Harry Potter books. “I like them because they’re very interesting and long. I can make my parents read all night long.”

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The Rosie O’Donnell Show

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Revisão: Adriana Snape

O’Donnell, Rosie. Interview, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, 13 October 1999

Transcription courtesy Laurel of the Sugarquill’s Transcription Project

Rosie: Thanks to our first guest, children and adults all over the world, myself included, have fallen in love with a magical boy named Harry Potter. This is the third and latest adventure, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Please welcome back to the show, best selling author, JK Rowling.

Jo comes out, audience claps and cheers.

Rosie: Well, hi, JK, how are you?

Jo: I’m fine, thank you.

Rosie: Do you prefer Jo or JK?

Jo: Jo is good.

Rosie: Now, I just read that in an article recently that you put your initials instead of your name for a specific reason, why was that?

Jo: That was my British publisher. They told me that they thought this was a book boys would enjoy, but they thought maybe if they could see I was a girl they wouldn’t like it. And I was so grateful they were publishing my book they could have called me anything.

Rosie: Has anyone ever called you JK at all?

Jo: No, no one. My friends call me Jake, now, thinking it’s funny, and it’s not, by the way.

Rosie (laughing): Okay, I’ll just stick with Jo, then.

Jo: Thanks.

Rosie: First of all, congratulations, Time Magazine cover, for a fictional character in a children’s novel, pretty amazing. (Rosie is showing the Time cover “The Magic of Harry Potter”.) Where were you when you found out about that?

Jo: Someone from Scholastic phoned me and said, “There’s gonna be a Time cover,” and I said, “ha, ha, ha” and they said, “No, really” — they do that with me a lot, I laugh hysterically, and then they say, “No, please can you stop thinking we’re joking, ‘cause we’re not anymore.”

Rosie: It’s a tremendous success, number one, two, and three — there are three books in the series right now, a total of seven you’re going to do — the first three books are number one, two and three on the New York Times best seller list — that’s never happened with a children’s series before. Can you even take in the success?

Jo: No, you know what, maybe it’s good I can’t take it in. I’ve got a feeling in ten years time I’ll look back, ‘cause I try not to read about it, ‘cause it’s overwhelming and I just want to be getting on writing the books. And then in ten years time probably I’ll look back and say, “God, look what happened”. But at the moment it’s hard.

Rosie: It really is a phenomenon, it really is. Now I heard rumors that in book four someone dies.

Jo: Several people die, actually, but only one you’re really gonna give a damn about. (Audience laughs)

Rosie: Really? One dies. Now is it a child, or is it one of the adults?

Jo: I’m not going to tell you.

Rosie: You’re not gonna TELL me! ‘Cause I thought it could be Hagrid, you know?

Jo: I’m not going to tell you.

Rosie: Am I close?

Jo: Geographically close?

Rosie: Don’t make it Ron. Because I love Ron.

Jo: Kids are most worried about Ron, that’s really interesting you say that, they’re really worried about Ron, and my theory on that is — they’ve seen so many films where the hero’s best friend gets it, so then the hero — it’s personal.

Rosie: Exactly — right.

Jo: But I’m not telling you if it’s Ron, either.

Rosie: Exactly. Have you had them all planned out, do you know what’s going to happen in book five and book six —

Jo: Yeah, I’ve written the final chapter of book seven, I know where I’m going with this.

Rosie: Excellent. Now we’re going to, in book four, to meet other schools of witchcraft and wizardry.

Jo: Yeah, in book four for the first time you find out that there are other schools and you meet people from there.

Rosie: Are you surprised that adults love it as much as children?

Jo: It’s great. Am I surprised? I wrote this for me, you know, I never wrote it with a focus group of children in mind. I wrote it totally for me, and I’m obviously an adult, so maybe it’s not that surprising.

Rosie: What I loved so much about the third book is the whole thing of the dementors. And the dementors — if you would, ‘cause I love when authors read their own work — read what a dementor does to people. It really affected me — even as a metaphor for children.

Jo: Okay, I’ve never read this bit before, so if I start stammering, just be tolerant.

Rosie: You wrote it, so you can stammer all you want.

Jo: Thanks a lot. (She reads the bit on the train, with Harry describing the dementors.)

Rosie: And WHAT do the dementors do? They suck the life and the goodness out of you.

Jo: They take all happiness — all recollection of anything cheerful in your past out of you, so you’re just left with despair and your worst memories.

Rosie: And there was a part where you describe when they do that in the book that just really got to me, because there are people in my adult life who I feel ARE dementors. Do you know what I mean?

(Jo laughs hysterically at this.)

Rosie: There are people I know who are like that, they suck the soul out of you, you know? And it’s very — it’s a wonderful little moral and fable to give to kids. And tell us the worst thing that can happen. What happens when a dementor kisses you?

Jo: Oh, he takes your soul, sucks your soul out of you.

Rosie: And then you have to live the rest of your life soulless.

Jo: Yeah.

Rosie: It is a phenomenal book, and I’m very sad when I get to the end.

Jo: I’m writing as fast as I can.

Rosie: All right, because I literally feel like they’re my friends, and when something bad happens —

Jo: That’s so great.

Rosie: And can I just ask you about some of the pronunciations? Her-MO-ny? How do you say that?

Jo: Hermione. My favorite pronunciation though is Her-mee-won. A kid said to me, “You know Her-mee-won?” And I said, “What? Oh, Hermione”. And then I felt bad because if he wants to call her Her-mee-won who am I to say no?

Rosie: Well, when I read it aloud to my children I call her Her-mony, just so you know. And it’s Sirus Black? Or Sirius?

Jo: Sirius.

Rosie: It IS Sirius. Sirius Black. I love the twist that happens with him in this, I don’t want to give it away. We have a little nine-year-old boy who wrote me a letter, said that he thinks he can challenge me to Harry Potter trivia.

Jo: Okay — right.

Rosie: I was wondering if you would ask the questions —

Jo: No problem.

Rosie: I’ll be in a soundproof booth —

Jo: Oh, good, this is fun.

Rosie: — he’ll go first, but I’m not gonna give him any slack, because I will kick his sorry butt.

Jo: Okay.

Rosie: Is that a good deal, Jo? All right, we’re going to come back with Harry Potter trivia right after this.

Here are the trivia questions Dougie Wydick and Rosie were each given. They both got them all right, with one small exception. (Dougie, by the way, was Rosie’s announcer the day that Dan, Emma, Rupert, Robbie Coltrane and Richard Harris were on her show in November of 2001.)

1) What platform does the Hogwarts Express leave from?

2) Name any two of the four houses at Hogwarts. (Rosie said “Ravencliff,” costing her the contest.)

3) Who do you give the password to, in order to enter Gryffindor Tower?

4) In the game of Quidditch, what do you need to catch for 150 points?

5) What’s Prof. Snape’s first name? (Both of them mispronounced this, but she gave it to them anyway.)

6) How did Harry and Ron get to Hogwarts for their second year?

7) Name any one of the DADA teachers (Dougie said Lockhart, Rosie said Lupin).

What’s the name of the wizard newspaper?

9) Name any three members of the Weasley family. (Both Rosie and Dougie said Ron, Ginny and Percy.)

10) If a hippogriff bows to you, should you bow to it or pat it’s beak?

The audience won Cold Fusion Yoyos and the first three Harry Potter Books.

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A magia de Harry Potter atrai milhares

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Tradução: Frede-Potter
Revisão:

Bock, Linda. “‘Harry Potter’ magic draws thousands,” Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, MA), October 12, 1999

WORCESTER – J.K. “Jo” Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, started her three-week U.S. book signing tour here last night to the sheer delight of thousands of enchanted fans.

The English author, whose bestselling “Harry Potter” books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, signed hundreds of her books at Tatnuck Bookseller & Sons, 335 Chandler St.

“We’re absolutely overwhelmed by the turnout. We couldn’t believe that people were arriving so early. Nothing else we’ve ever done has approached this,” said Tatnuck Bookseller owner Larry J. Abramoff. “I’ve read all three “Harry Potter’ books myself, and I’m just like the kids: I wanted them to go on and on.”

Abramoff said people started lining up at 11 a.m., some with lawn chairs and picnic baskets. Crowds were so eager by late afternoon that the store had to distribute the allotted 500 tickets at 4:30 p.m., a bit earlier than planned. Rowling arrived right on time for her 7 p.m. appearance.

The crowd inside hushed as management made the announcement that Rowling had arrived. They began wildly cheering and applauding as soon as Rowling was spotted making her way through the packed store.

An entirely gracious Rowling barely had time to greet the crowd because a pen and book were thrust into her hand while she was approaching the table. She signed the first copy midair, and never stopped. She signed her first 100 copies in just about 10 minutes, and only looked up to smile warmly and thank each fan for coming.

“She’s like really funny. She’s also really nice, even though it was so short a time we had to meet her,” said Andrew M. Slowaski, 10.

The “Harry Potter” phenomenon is best described by many parents and teachers at the signing last night as “the books” that got their kids to read again.

“My dad read to me until I was 12, and then that’s when we got a TV,” said Anne K. Oehling. “Parents are reading to their kids again. That’s what “Harry Potter’ is all about.”

And many parents think that someone has cast a magical spell over their own communications between themselves and their spellbound children.

Mary C. Crompton of Worcester waited all day with Brittany M., her 14-year-old daughter, and Michael R., her 9-year-old son, to meet the celebrated author.

“It’s wonderful to talk to the kids about the books, and even more wonderful to hear the kids discussing the characters with each other,” Crompton said.

Brittany, a ninth-grader at St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic Junior & Senior High School, first heard about the fantasy books when Rowling appeared on the “Rosie O’Donnell Show” early this summer. Since reading all three books at least twice each, she has prepared a school report on Rowling as the public person she admires most.

Brittany most wanted to ask Rowling: “When’s the fourth book coming out?”

A series of seven “Harry Potter” books is planned; the fourth is tentatively scheduled for release next summer. The first three titles are: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

All of the books have topped all the major bestseller lists, including “The New York Times,” “Wall Street Journal” and “USA Today” on both the adult and children’s fiction lists.

Lisa A. Crowley, a fifth-grade teacher at Floral Street School, Shrewsbury, said that the enthusiasm for the books is growing. She’s thrilled most about the literary influence on the school-aged youngsters because of the amazing detail in the stories and the richly drawn characters.

“The whole class is reading them. During the silent reading period at the end of the day, everyone pulls out “Harry.” The kids even have the adults reading them. They’re so great,” Crowley said.

TEMPORARY TATTOO

For fans of all ages, part of the fun last night was wearing the trademark “Harry Potter” scar on their foreheads, a temporary tattoo each guest received. Harry got his scar – in the shape of a lightning bolt – in an accident caused by Voldemort, the villain of the stories.

Behind Rowling’s successful series is Harry Potter, her hero, an orphaned 11-year-old wizard, who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry lives in a magical world where letters are delivered by owls, diaries write back to you, and chess is played with living pieces. His adventures are what keeps his readers coming back for more.

Janine Rosenbaum of Worcester, a school librarian, has read all three of Rowling’s books. She said Rowling’s adventure series has conjured up whole new worlds for readers.

“Look at all these kids here. Imagine that they’ve spent their whole day-off to meet an author. An author: Think about it. It’s a miracle,” Rosenbaum said.

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