Newsmakers: July 14-21

By Nancy MacDonald, Cigdem Iltan, Emma Teitel, Alex Ballingall and Richard Foot - Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 10:50 AM - 1 Comment

Kevin Winter/American Idol

He speeds for good deeds

When you imagine the record-holder for the fastest bicycle trip across Canada, you’re probably not picturing somebody’s grandpa. But as of this week, the title belongs to Winnipeg’s Arvid Loewen, proud grandfather of three. The 54-year-old, who has raised more than $1.5 million for Kenyan orphans by cycling, pedalled close to 500 km per day. After 13 days, six hours and 13 minutes, Loewen rolled into downtown Halifax, beating the previous record by more than three hours. In other speeding news this week, David Weber’s attempt to save his unborn baby was rewarded with a huge ticket and a licence suspension. The 32-year-old was driving in rural Manitoba with his wife Genevieve when she went into labour. Complications during her first birth meant natural labour could endanger future babies. Panicked, David hit speeds of up to 170 km/h to get to a hospital. But the RCMP pulled him over twice, earning him $1,000 in fines. “What would have happened if something happened to my wife, or my baby?” David told the Winnipeg Free Press. “It’s like there’s no compassion anymore.” Baby Anabela was born healthy via emergency C-section.

Shaq to work

It was a good week for retired athletes embroiled in controversy. Shaquille O’Neal was absolved of involvement in a titillating story about a group of gangsters who allegedly kidnapped, pistol-whipped and robbed a man claiming to be in possession of a Shaq sex tape. Court officials deemed the big man wasn’t involved in the incident. Shaq also inked a multi-year deal with broadcaster TNT. He’ll join Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnston on the network’s Inside the NBA program. Then there’s former baseball star Roger Clemens. After being charged with lying to Congress about steroid use, the former Yankee had his trial thrown out after the prosecution submitted evidence that violated a pretrial agreement. Judge Reggie Watson said afterwards a “first-year law student” wouldn’t have made the same mistake. Talk about dodging a knock-down pitch.

Continue…

‘Deathly Hallows, Part 2′ makes box office magic

By macleans.ca - Monday, July 18, 2011 at 11:59 AM - 0 Comments

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 broke first-day box office records this weekend, taking in more than $80 million in domestic sales. The last installment in the series also broke records outside the U.S. for first-day sales in countries such as Australia, Italy, Sweden and France. Box office analysts say North American ticket sales over the three-day weekend will reach $125 to $150 million. If predictions are correct, the final Harry Potter movie will be the highest grossing of the series, and will put the film within reach of the title of biggest opening weekend ever.

Daily Mail

Harry Potter’s final feat of magic

By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 10:31 PM - 4 Comments

(from left) Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2'

Finally, a great summer blockbuster! There was no question that the finale of the Harry Potter saga would be a massive commercial, and cultural, event. What comes as a surprise is that it has turned out to be an inspiring cinematic event, maybe not quite on the same scale as The Tree of Life—and at the opposite extreme of narrative convention—yet strangely akin to it. I was trying to think of a recent movie that pondered coming-of-age, death and cosmic gravity with as much conviction, and The Tree of Life was the only one that came to mind. I’m not a Harry Potter devotee. Haven’t read the books,  haven’t seen all the movies (our book guy, Brian Bethune, covered the phenomenon in the magazine). So I felt like an outsider amid the hysteria surrounding this week’s gala premiere. The upside is that I could watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 as a stand-alone movie. And I was knocked out. With me at the screening was Maclean’s web editor Claire Ward, who is less than half my age, and an avid fan of the books. So it seemed like a good idea that we should have a dialogue about the film:

BDJ: So Claire, I don’t think we need do to much plot summary here. For fans, it’s a given. And for the uninitiated, it’s too late to catch up. I had a pretty good idea of what was going on, though even with gobs of exposition, some of the plot flew over my head. But I didn’t care. After a glut of clunky Hollywood blockbusters about aliens and superheroes, this came as such a tonic. Ultimately it’s a war movie, with stupendous special effects, but it has dignity, grace and depth. Potterworld is still a foreign place to me, yet I found this film far more thrilling and moving than the others. What did you think?

CW: As a cinematic experience, it was probably my favourite in the series. I think the filmmaking has matured alongside the actors. Continue…

The afterlife of Harry Potter

By Brian Bethune and Patricia Treble - Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments

IStock; Getty Images;Warner Bros; Photo Illustration by Bradley Reinhardt

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The marketing slogan for the July 15 release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, four years after the last Harry Potter novel was published, was: “It all ends here.” The final film adaptation was set to close the door on perhaps the most far-reaching pop culture phenomenon of all time. After Harry’s 14-year march through worldwide public consciousness, the vast majority of the human race knows who the boy wizard is, not to mention his best friends (Ron and Hermione), arch-enemy (Lord Voldemort), school (Hogwarts) and favourite sport (quidditch), and his creator, British writer J. K. Rowling (who has 400,000 Twitter followers, despite having posted, as of last count, a total of six tweets). Academics have found references to every aspect of Harry’s world in sources as diverse as Turkish editorials and Swedish parliamentary debates.

If Harry has rivals for cultural influence—of the stature of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and, from the far past, Sherlock Holmes—there is none to match his pure cash-generating power. The seven novels of Harry’s adventures have sold a collective 400 million copies in more than 200 “territories,” as publishers call them (the UN counts only 192 member countries). Author Rowling is a billionaire, the first person to ever reach that level of wealth by writing stories. That’s without counting the value of massive merchandising rights (40 million Harry Potter video games sold for $1 billion, to name a single product) or the film royalties. The first seven movies, having pulled in almost $6.4 billion, already comprise the most successful franchise in cinematic history; each ranks among the top 30 highest-grossing films of all time.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 will surely join them there, and high up that list. Part 1 left Harry, Ron and Hermione almost two-thirds of the way through the 600-page novel, having just escaped Voldemort’s Death Eaters at the cost of the life of Dobby, Harry’s heroic elf friend. Most of the action, though, is yet to come, including far more deaths of familiar characters, good and bad. Cramming most of the set-up to the entire series’ climax into Part 1 has left room—fully utilized, to judge by Part 2’s trailers—to ramp up the action in the series’ most cinematic storyline, including sequences that occur off-stage in the novel. And even though readers already know who lives and who dies, seeing it all come to pass will be a milestone moment for the emotionally invested Potter nation.

Continue…

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, January 7, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

All’s well that ends well
Shania Twain tied the knot on New Year’s Day in Rincon, Puerto Rico, with Frédéric Thiébaud, the ex-husband of her ex-best friend, who apparently was too friendly with her ex-husband, Mutt Lange. Twain was escorted down the aisle by her nine-year-old son, Eja. “I’m in love!” she wrote in her blog last month.

Drummers, they get no respect
It’s no surprise the birthplaces of the Beatles have a special place in their countrymen’s hearts. Oxford Street Maternity Hospital, where John Lennon was born, has been preserved and converted into apartments. Walton Hospital, Paul McCartney’s birthplace, has likewise been maintained and converted into luxury apartments. People still live in George Harrison’s birthplace, 12 Arnold Grove. Then there’s Ringo Starr, whose childhood home faces the wrecking ball. British Housing Minister Grant Shapps has urged Liverpool council to reconsider plans to raze the rundown row house at 9 Madryn Street, where the former Richard Starkey was born, as part of a redevelopment plan. Ringo has said the house should be “done up” rather than knocked down. The campaign is on behalf of fans, who contribute millions to the local economy, says the group Save Madrin Street. It’s not for Ringo, “who has enough homes of his own.”

Continue…

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, November 12, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Doggone it
Cesar Millan, TV’s “Dog Whisperer,” was a hit with the crowd at sold-out Scotiabank Place in Ottawa last week, even though Ontario law deprived him of a key cast mate—Junior, the two-year-old American pit bull that recently took over from the dearly departed Daddy as Millan’s “right-hand man.” Millan, halfway through a tour of Canada, demonstrated training techniques on local dogs and expounded on his philosophy of calm assertiveness, but took time to criticize Ontario’s 2005 ban on pit bulls. “In the ’70s, the breed that people were afraid of was the Doberman,” he told the audience. “In the 2000s, it’s the pit bull. It’s not the breed, it’s the human behind the dog.”

Absolute powers of persuasion
Chinese authorities may not have much success persuading European governments to boycott the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honouring jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, but they’re having better luck at home. Author Yu Jie, a friend of Liu’s, said he and his wife have been stopped from leaving their Beijing home by security officers, for fear they plan to go to Oslo. Meanwhile, Guo Xianliang, an engineer from Yunnan province, disappeared while on a business trip in Guangzhou. He’d been detained for distributing flyers about Liu, according to fellow activist Ye Du. Police have also reportedly detained a young woman, Mou Yanxi, who tweeted her support for Liu. “If such behaviour goes on,” her friend Zhang Shijie tweeted last week, “it will eventually happen to all of us.”

Continue…

Harry Potter and the trial by fire

By Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 11:20 AM - 2 Comments

Photograph by Marianne Helm

In November 2008, Kim Baryluk, lead singer for the band the Wyrd Sisters, sat down at her computer in her Ponemah, Man., home on Lake Winnipeg’s shores. There, she happened upon a story in the Globe and Mail describing a lawsuit filed in her name. As she read on, her jaw hit the floor—the suit was news to her. Her lawyer had, without her consent, she claims, sued two Ontario judges for $21 million for conspiracy, a case so bizarre (ever hear of a lawyer suing a judge?) even the Times of London reported it.

Baryluk had hired Toronto intellectual property lawyer Kimberly Townley-Smith in 2005 to sue Warner Bros. over the use of the band’s name in a Harry Potter movie. The case was tossed and the judge ordered Baryluk, who earns a modest income running a group home for teenagers, to pay $140,000 in costs. That was just the start. In the four years Townley-Smith represented her, Baryluk, 51, launched multiple court proceedings—most of which, she claims, she was never even informed of; costs awarded against her have reached hundreds of thousands of dollars, in a legal file so complex it makes Bleak House look like a pamphlet. In the recent conspiracy case, Townley-Smith was accusing the judges of case fixing, abuse of public office and fraud.

Continue…

Opening Weekend: ‘Micmacs’ and ‘Sex and the City 2′

By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 8:25 PM - 0 Comments

(from left) Dany Boon, Marie-Julie Baup and Omar Sy in 'Micmacs'

Fresh from the art-house bubble of  Cannes, it was a rude awakening to get back to the Hollywood grind with the mindless excess of Sex and the City 2, which opened Wednesday. (Sorry, sisters, but this is not a gender bias against chick-flick porn; it’s a just a bad movie. To read more, go to my online review posted earlier.) For me, this epic adventure of Girls Gone Wild in Abu Dhabi was quite enough ersatz Arabian nights for one week. So I’m afraid you’re on your own if you want to take a chance with Jake Gyllenhaal in the weekend’s other flying-carpet blockbuster, The Prince of Persia. Maybe I was just pining for another dose of subtitled French dialogue, but I did take the time to watch Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, and although I’m not a huge fan of the director—who is best known for Amélie—I found it delightful.

The serendipitous chain of events that led Jeunet to make this French farce is as whimsical as one of his scripts. Jeunet had been asked to shoot the fifth Harry Potter movie but says he turned it down because its prefab world of witches and warlocks struck him as just too humdrum. He was also asked to direct the screen version of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, and that did appeal to him. But after he’d immersed himself in pre-production and location scouting, Jeunet decided it was impossible to make the movie under the restrictions of 20th Century Fox’s US$60 million budget cap. So, turning his back on two Hollywood blockbusters, off he went to make another of his intricate and idiosyncratic French comedies. And voilà, we have Micmacs—a picaresque caper movie about a ragtag cirque of junk dealers who plot some very complicated vengeance against a couple of nefarious arms merchants. Continue…

Things you always wanted to know but had no one wise enough to ask

By Scott Feschuk - Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 8:20 AM - 4 Comments

Photo Illustration by Taylor Shute

To make it as a columnist in the 21st century, you need to be willing to tackle the tough questions that confront modern society. Or you can be a white, middle-aged male.

I am all two of those things. Let’s do this.

Continue…

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, May 14, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 2 Comments

Prince Harry takes flight
The Apache attack helicopter is a nasty piece of weaponry, bristling with rockets, a 30-mm machine gun and 16 Hellfire missiles. It may soon be in the hands of a member of the British Royal Family. Last week, Prince Harry got his wings from the colonel in chief of the Army Air Corps, who happens to be his father, Prince Charles. Harry also received the Peter Adams Trophy for the student showing the best tactical ability. That, and the decision of Air Corps brass to train him on the challenging Apache—an assignment awarded the top two per cent of the class—show the army has considerable faith in the 25-year-old prince. Next up, eight months of intense training and perhaps a ticket back to Afghanistan. “There is still a huge mountain for me to climb if I am to pass the Apache training course,” he said.

Will we see less of Oprah’s fans?
The latest issue of Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, O, has Victoria dermatologist Dr. Mark Lupin’s phone ringing off the hook. Lupin is one of a handful of Canadian doctors offering the UltraShape treatment, a “non-invasive” technique that uses ultrasound waves to break up fat cells beneath the skin. UltraShape is cleared for use in 57 countries, but it has yet to receive FDA approval in the U.S. Patients feel “just a slight tingly sensation,” Lupin told O  magazine. The treated fat cells are burned as calories or eliminated from the body as waste.

Continue…

Harry Potter: The Exhibition (PHOTOS)

By Andrew Tolson - Friday, April 9, 2010 at 1:46 PM - 0 Comments

Heaven for Harry Potter fans

By Patricia Treble - Friday, April 9, 2010 at 1:43 PM - 2 Comments

The Weasley Twins (James and Oliver Phelps) ‘sort’ a young fan. Photograph by Andrew Tolson

Picking a favourite item from the myriad movie artifacts in the new Harry Potter exhibit at Toronto’s Ontario Science Centre is difficult, even for an actor in the series. James Phelps, who plays the mischievous Fred Weasley, paused for a while before deciding on the Gryffindor displays near the beginning of the exhibit, “mainly because it has the Marauder’s Map, which was a big part of Fred and George’s influence in the movie when they gave it to Harry.” Then he mentions the tiny four-poster beds used by Harry Potter and best friend Ron Weasley in the first few films. “See how small Ron and Harry were,” he comments. “They couldn’t get in them now.”

PHOTO GALLERY
Harry Potter: The Exhibition — Inside the exhibition that brings Hogwarts to life

This is the only Canadian stop for “Harry Potter: The Exhibition,” which offers Muggles an up-close look at the magical world created by J.K. Rowling and so beloved by millions. What will amaze visitors to the exhibit, which opens on April 9 and runs through Aug. 22, is the detail that went into every prop. Harry’s bed has a faded “G XXV” stenciled on it, signifying that it was the 25th bed in the Gryffindor dorm. Ron’s bed is covered by a knitted patchwork blanket. Nearby is Ron’s collection of Chudley Cannon souvenirs, including a T-shirt signed by members of the famous Quidditch team. And in front, in a glass case, is the famous Marauder’s Map.

There are so many items, large and small, in the exhibit—including 17 wands and 25 sets of wizarding robes—that going back to take a second or third look at the displays is a necessity. Otherwise fans might miss the sound of a tiny beak pecking on the inside of a dragon’s egg in Hagrid’s hut. Or a note pinned to Hogwarts’ notice board announcing that a student had found a false Merlin’s beard.

Eddie Newquist, who created the exhibit, explains that the layering of artifact upon artifact was deliberate. Even chandeliers, hidden high up in the rafters, were those used in Gryffindor common area. After Warner Bros. agreed to a traveling exhibit of movie props from the first six movies—they are still shooting the two-part Deathly Hallows conclusion—Newquist, who’d already read all the books, sat down with his staff to outline what they, as fans, would like to see. And their fantasies came true in the exhibit. The attention to detail extends even to smells. While the outdoor area, which houses Hagrid’s hut and Quidditch memorabilia, has the scent of grass, the Dark Arts section, with ‘Wanted’ posters of Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort’s robes blowing in the wind, is musty and dank. Even the exhibit workers, all OSC employees, were picked for their British accents. The fact they’d all read the series is a bonus.

Alas, those hoping to catch a behind the scenes look at the movies, will be disappointed. While the exhibit, put on with the approval of Warner Bros., will have Harry Potter fans squealing with delight, the series’ scientific and technical prowess isn’t on display. Even Lesley Lewis, CEO of the Ontario Science Centre, falls back on “craftsmanship” as a reason for its presence at a scientific educational centre. And, in an era in which interaction is key to any exhibit, there isn’t much to do but ogle, reminisce and dream, though fans can get “sorted” at the beginning, and will inevitably end up in Gryffindor. And, if the security at the exhibit’s stop in Chicago, is any indication, don’t even think of taking a picture. In the windy city, workers, apparently channeling Dolores Umbridge’s pink-camouflaged dark soul, were observed confiscating phones and deleting pictures. Those caveats aside, “Harry Potter: The Exhibit,” is going to be a smash hit. The gift shop, dressed up as Diagon Alley, will sell out of wands and mugs, and every Harry Potter fan will leave the science centre in a good mood. Because, let’s face it, that’s the magic of Hogwarts.

Latin lovers abound in university

By Kate Lunau - Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 1:00 PM - 5 Comments

Who said Latin was a dead language? Like the Roman army invading Britain, hordes of university students are flooding classics departments, intent on learning Caesar’s tongue. At York, enrolment in beginners’ Latin has doubled over the past few years, while the University of Ottawa has opened more spaces due to demand.

Alison Keith, chair of classics at the University of Toronto, thinks Latin’s popularity has to do with “media interest in the ancients,” as typified in movies like Gladiator. “I’ve spent time looking at the ruins, but they’re down around my knees,” she says, which makes seeing ancient Rome on screen all the more exciting. The Harry Potter books, too, have made an impression: “Lots of the code words have a Latin base,” she says. (Take the lumos spell, close to lumen, Latin for “light.”) Continue…

Real theme of Harry Potter lost in all that snogging

By Patricia Treble - Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 3:48 PM - 3 Comments

Forget that Harry Potter snogs Ginny Weasley in the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The most interesting part of the film occurs at the beginning and revolves around the overwhelming idiocy of Muggles, those unfortunate folk who possess no ability to stun, charm or otherwise commit magical acts. They see acts that defy the laws of physics and logic yet never ask, “Hey, who are you? “Why are you wearing those bizarre clothes? What’s that stick for? What’s going on?”

Sure enough, humans are oblivious as three Evil Death Eaters swoop through the skies of  London, leaving black entrails in their wake. There is only mild curiosity before Lord Foster’s streamlined elegant Millennium Bridge is pulled and twisted apart. Finally it collapses, plunging hapless Muggle pedestrians into the Thames River. Similarly, pedestrians in London’s busy subway system pay no attention to Dumbledore—and his floor-length satin robes and long grey hair and beard.

The message is clear: Muggles are totally reliant on good wizards and witches to keep them safe from Lord Voldemort and his minions. And this theme isn’t just a big-screen liberty. Muggles are idiots in the books too. For example, the Minister of Magic enters 10 Downing Street at his leisure to update the befuddled PM on all the chaos in the magical world. And the supercilious wizard doesn’t even think to ask for Muggle help.

So while the series is about good magical folk battling evil, the subtext is that Muggles just aren’t up to the task. The Harry Potter moral may be that every one can chose their own path and must decide what side they are on, but Muggles are denied that opportunity. They just aren’t worthy.

Potter interruptus in a Twilight era

By Brian D. Johnson - Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 9:00 AM - 4 Comments

For the fans, it was like having a magic carpet pulled out from under them. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth instalment of the most successful franchise in film history, was due to hit theatres last November, unleashing a perfect storm of Potter-mania. The fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, had come out the previous summer, the same month author J.K. Rowling published the seventh and final book of her blockbuster saga. After waiting more than a year for a fresh fix, the fans were primed. And toy stores had ordered a glut of movie-related Christmas merchandise. But then Warner Bros. pulled the plug. Because of the screenwriters’ strike, studio executives fretted they wouldn’t have a 2009 summer blockbuster, so they postponed the movie’s release for eight months—to July 15.

The fans felt blindsided. That kind of bald commercial manoeuvre seemed to violate basic notions of trust and loyalty that are embedded in the Potter property. It also upset the tempo by which the movies were being churned out to keep up with the books—which becomes an issue when the actors, and the audience, are aging faster than Rowling’s characters. And during Potter interruptus, some of Harry’s fans (mostly girls) fell under the spell of a sexier, less bookish hero—Edward, the vampire dreamboat in Twilight. The first movie based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels grossed almost US$382 million worldwide, less than half what the last Potter movie made, but it cost a quarter as much. And its star, Robert Pattinson, has become the world’s reigning teenage heartthrob. Continue…

No room for gifted kids

By Rachel Mendleson - Monday, February 23, 2009 at 9:40 AM - 87 Comments

Jenn Marshall hadn’t started teaching her son to read. So she was surprised when she overheard Jeremy, barely four, sounding out words on a page in their basement apartment in Mississauga, Ont. Apparently, he had figured it out himself. Only when he started school did she realize how different he was. As his classmates learned phonics, Marshall says her son, who by five had graduated to the Harry Potter series, sat alone with a novel.

Despite Jeremy’s abilities, his overall performance was poor. Still, at the end of Grade 1, his teacher suggested he might be gifted, and thus eligible for a place in a specialized class. But when Marshall, who asked that her real name not be used, approached the principal, she was told that because of Jeremy’s poor handwriting and social skills, “he would never become a priority for testing.” Desperate, she cut off the family’s Internet service to save for a private assessment. But when she presented the results—Jeremy was found to possess profound giftedness as well as signs of a learning disability—his Grade 2 teacher piled on extra work, and chastised him when he encountered difficulties. “She was always saying things like ‘Aren’t you supposed to be smart?’ ” says Marshall.

Continue…

The Bard who saved Christmas

By Brian Bethune - Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

J.K. Rowling’s writing career is a series of one first after another, from being the first author to hold simultaneous worldwide midnight launches to the most remarkable first of all: becoming the first billionaire storyteller. Now, after setting her normal precedent en route—highest purchase price ($4 million) for a modern literary manuscript sold at auction—Harry Potter’s creator is about to provide more millions for a children’s charity she co-founded and, incidentally, brighten Christmas for booksellers anxious about economic hard times.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard began as a plot device in the seventh and final Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In his will, murdered Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore left Hermione Granger a copy of the children’s classic—a story collection familiar to Ron Weasley but unknown to Muggle-raised Harry and Hermione. Dumbledore’s bequest gave the trio their first knowledge of the Hallows, information that would later prove crucial in the struggle against Lord Voldemort.

As soon as she’d published Deathly Hallows in July 2007, Rowling began working on the five stories told in Tales. It was typical of her. In the rich Dickensian stew that is Harry’s fictional world, minor characters are a dime a dozen. Rowling may have refused to engage seriously in what fantasy writers call world-building, a detailed explanation of the social, economic and political structures of their settings—for all a reader can glean from the Potter novels, adult jobs in the magical world seem pretty much limited to teaching, the civil service, or dragon wrangling. But she’s almost compulsive in filling in the personal details of the most peripheral of characters. Nor did she ever forget them, even when hundreds of pages passed without an appearance. And while there was no point in fleshing out Beedle, a semi-mythical Mother Goose figure long dead before the events of Harry’s lifetime, there was good reason to write his five tales.

The stories are “The Tale of the Three Brothers” (already included in full in Deathly Hallows), “Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump” (the very mention of which makes Hermione giggle), “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot” and “The Fountain of Fair Fortune”—all mentioned in the novel—and “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart.” They are purportedly freshly translated from the original Runic by Hermione, with learned commentary by Dumbledore himself. Rowling made six handwritten and personally illustrated (in pen and ink) copies, each bound in leather with five hand-chased silver ornaments (each representing a tale), and different semiprecious stones.

They were made, the author said, “to thank six key people who have been very closely connected to the series, and these were people for whom a piece of jewellery wasn’t going to cut it.” (Two of those six have since identified themselves: Barry Cunningham, Rowling’s first editor at Bloomsbury in Britain, and Arthur Levine, her U.S. editor at Scholastic.) And, Rowling added, in reference both to the Potter series and to a key magical number, “If I’m doing six I really have to do seven, and the seventh book will be for this cause, which is so close to my heart.”

It was for that cause—the Children’s High Level Group charity—that the seventh copy went on the auction block in December 2007. Co-founded in 2005 by Rowling and Baroness Emma Nicholson, a member of the European Parliament, the charity aims to improve the welfare of children living in large residential institutions, primarily in eastern Europe. The consensus pre-sale estimate was about $100,000; Amazon.com eventually prevailed for $4 million. That money went to the CHLG, as did ownership of the story rights. On July 31, Harry’s birthday, the CHLG announced it would publish on Dec. 4 three English-language editions, printed and distributed by Bloomsbury (Penguin Books will carry its version in Canada), Scholastic and Amazon.

Although the Canadian and British publishers have declined to disclose their print runs, they will be proportional to the 3.5 million copies (at $12.95 each) Scholastic will distribute in the U.S. market. Given those figures, and the 100,000 collector’s editions (with more of Rowling’s drawings and other extras) to be published by Amazon and sold for $100 each—and the size of the story-bereft Potter nation—it seems likely the charity will end up with more than $8 million, and booksellers with a very Merry Christmas.