The Great Sniping to Date

Wow. Just when you thought they couldn't come up with any other Harry Potterish books. This one really takes the cake. As described in the press release:

The Great Snape Debate by Amy Berner, Orson Scott Card and Joyce Millman explores whether Hogwarts professor Severus Snape, one of J.K. Rowling's most complicated characters, is a friend or foe of boy wizard Harry Potter. The book's design allows it to make cases for both sides. One half of the book supports Snape, but flip it over and the other half portrays him as a minion for He Who Shall Not Be Named, and a true enemy of Harry's.

Once I've gotten past the Orson Scott Card elements of this announcement, there's something else I'm wondering about. Go look this up on Amazon. See anything odd? Say... the date of publication perhaps? Am I reading this wrong or is this book speculating on something that will have already been resolved come July?

And He Has 3,370 Friends on MySpace

A wonderful article appeared in the L.A. Times (that and The Washington Post seem to be vying for my kidlit affections) regarding J.K. Rowling's most interesting character: Snape. Good old Snape. Can I tell you how odd it is to sit near Cheryl Klein, a woman who has read the final Harry Potter book and is currently in the midst of editing it? Will she tell you whether everyone's favorite Potion Master is dead? Nooo. Not even when you ply her with wine in the hopes it may "loosen her tongue"? Noooo. Frustrating doesn't begin to describe it.

The article helps, though. And I was happy to read this:

Fans have started at least two online petitions begging Rowling not to do away with Snape. Neither well-publicized, the pair nevertheless together have more than 1,000 signatures. They sound quite desperate, as if Snape were truly real — and as if his fate is a foregone conclusion.

Oh, sweethearts. It is. The man is undoubtedly going to die. Remember when Rowling said he'd be "redeemed"? Yeah. There's only one way guys like Snape get redeemed in books.

Thanks to Big A little a for the link.

J.L. Bell Does Some Harry Potter Research

As I mentioned before, on Friday night I finally met the infamous J.L. Bell, which was awesome. Seems appropriate then that I should link to his recent research on Harry Potter. On a recent link, Mr. Bell proffered the following query regarding Scholastic's HP marketing techniques:

...the US rights deal occurred and was publicized just as HP1 hit stores in the UK. Those news stories brought unusual attention to this unknown author and her new book. How much, I wonder, did that attention itself influence the first book’s early success? In other words, how much did Scholastic's big gamble on US rights turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy?

He has some hot-topic thoughts. And regarding that whole single mom story that came out in tandem with the books ...

Why is this significant? Because Harry Potter came out with an aura of magic. Not the physical magic that appears in many other fairy tales for kids. Rather, the financial magic that people dream of when they play the lottery. Harry Potter had made someone rich overnight (or so the articles implied, not noting how slowly money moves in publishing).

I would point out that I loved the books in London long before I heard Rowling's tales. Bell's points are valid, though, when you want to consider how the Harry Potter origin story contributed to the meteoric rise in popularity. Worth checking out in any case.