Harry Potter books become a Best-selling children’s fantasy series
The Harry Potter book series, created by J.K. Rowling, emerged as a monumental phenomenon in children's fantasy literature. The concept for the series ignited during a train journey in 1990, leading to the publication of the first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," in 1997. Following its success, the series rapidly gained acclaim, producing multiple best-sellers and receiving numerous awards. Notably, the books achieved significant milestones in the U.S. market, where they became the first children's titles to top the New York Times Best Seller List since 1952.
By 2013, over 450 million copies of the series had been sold globally, translated into 73 languages, and adapted into an eight-part film series that grossed nearly $8 billion worldwide. The books have sparked discussions around literacy, with many educators noting their role in encouraging children to read. However, they have also faced criticism from certain conservative groups for perceived themes of sorcery, leading to censorship debates. Despite this, the series has left a lasting impact on popular culture, including the introduction of terms like "muggles" into common vernacular. Overall, the Harry Potter series stands as a significant cultural milestone that has shaped modern children's literature and sparked diverse viewpoints on its themes and messages.
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Subject Terms
Harry Potter books become a Best-selling children’s fantasy series
Identification Best-selling children’s fantasy series
Author J. K. Rowling (1965– )
Date Published from 1997 to 2007
These titles became the best-selling children’s books of all time, rekindling interest in reading among grade-school children while sparking protest from some Christians.
The idea for the Harry Potter books came to J. K. Rowling in the summer of 1990 while she was riding a train from Manchester to London. That year, she outlined the plots of the first two books, developed the background details, and wrote what eventually became the final book’s epilogue. In 1991, she moved to Oporto, Portugal, to teach English. There she wrote the first three chapters of the first book, was married, gave birth to a daughter, and was divorced. Rowling and her daughter moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, in December 1993. Rowling finished the first book in 1994 while living on welfare. Twelve publishers turned down drafts of the first book in the series. In 1996, it was purchased by Bloomsbury for a small advance, and Rowling also received a grant from the Scottish Arts Council to complete the second book. The original edition of the first book was published in a run of just five hundred books, of which most were distributed to public libraries.
The first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom in July 1997, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in July 1998, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in July 1999. They all won awards, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, received mostly positive reviews, and became best sellers. Although it did not win, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated for the prestigious Whitbread Award. In February 2000, Rowling was named author of the year at the British Book Awards.
With some minor revisions and a new title, the first book, renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published in the United States by Scholastic Press in September 1998. The second book was published in the United States in June 1999, and the third in September 1999. On September 26, 1999, the three books occupied the top three spots on the New York Times Best Seller List. They were the first children’s books listed there since E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web in 1952. The American editions also won awards, as well as a Grammy Award for the audio version of the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000), as read by Jim Dale, and have been the subject of mostly favorable reviews.
The other books in the series are Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). The final book in the series became the fastest-selling book in history, moving more than 11 million copies in the first twenty-four hours of its release on July 21, 2007. By 2013, there were more than 450 million Harry Potter books in print, with seventy-three foreign-language translations. The eight-part film adaptations of the Harry Potter books were released between 2001 and 2011. The films generated a combined worldwide gross of nearly $8 billion. In 2016, a new Harry Potter story by Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne was adapted into a play by Thorne and staged at the Palace Theatre in London as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Impact
Many librarians and teachers testified that the Harry Potter books were responsible for getting many children to read. In addition, many words coined or used by Rowling, called “potterisms,” have entered the English language. Examples are “muggles” and “dementors.”
Some conservative Christian groups protested the books on the grounds that they glorify sorcery and the occult and promote the practice of witchcraft, which is forbidden by the Bible. As a result, the Harry Potter books were consistently the most censored children’s books in the United States throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Other Christians defended the books as harmless or as having the potential for teaching Christian lessons to children, such as the power of love and sacrifice.
Bibliography
"Because It's His Birthday: Harry Potter, by the Numbers." Time, 31 July 2013, entertainment.time.com/2013/07/31/because-its-his-birthday-harry-potter-by-the-numbers. Accessed 18 Nov. 2016.
Heilman, Elizabeth E., ed. Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. Falmer Press, 2002.
Kozlowska, Hanna. "Can 'Harry Potter' Change the World?" The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2014, op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/can-harry-potter-change-the-world. Accessed 18 Nov. 2016.
Lebrecht, Norman. "How Harry Saved Reading." The Wall Street Journal, 9 July 2011, www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304584004576419742308635716. Accessed 18 Nov. 2016.
Neal, Connie. What’s a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? Waterbrook Press, 2001.
Nel, Philip. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels: A Reader’s Guide. Continuum, 2001.