J.K. Rowling!!!! (a.k.a. the longest blog ever)

For those who don't know, J.K. Rowling is on a three city book tour. It began yesterday in L.A. and will conclude in New York on the 19th. Rowling decided when she finished book seven of the Harry Potter series that she wanted to come to the States and thank her fans. To avoid the mayhem of trying to sell tickets (my speculation) to this event Scholastic set up sorting hats in local schools. 1,600 school children were invited to attend. When I arrived at the Kodak theatre there was a group of students in Hogwarts robes and scarves, their chaperone appropriately dressed as a Hogwarts teacher. No joke. It was a surprising - and perfect - touch.

J.K. was introduced by the superintendent of L.A. school district - who was introduced by the president of Scholastic (I think it was the president, but I didn’t have a pen to write down his name, so I’m not 100% certain). Both mentioned how Rowling has had such an impact on students. Harry Potter is the first book that many students have wanted to read for fun. It has also given students the confidence to read bigger books. It is an impact that I hadn't really thought of before, but it’s huge! J.K. mentioned that fact has meant so much to her.

There was Harry Potter soundtrack music playing while we waited for the event to start. There was a starlit backdrop and giant posters of the seven American book covers. In the middle of the otherwise bare stage was a giant rug, a giant throne like chair and a table with tea on it- I'm assuming it was tea because she's British.


When Ms. Rowling was introduced and came on stage she was met by a standing ovation (I'm embarrassed to admit I totally got chills). Ms. Rowling began by reading from chapter two (page 30) of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She mentioned the page number and to my surprise tons of people flipped open their books to follow along. Also to my surprise, she did voices! She had amazingly good voices for each individual character. Who knew?! Chapter two is when the Dursleys and Harry part ways. There's a part in the chapter where Dudley says 'I don't think you're a waste of space Harry', and the whole audience awed. J.K. replied, "I know! I felt that way when I wrote it." It was adorable.

After the reading she answered questions from the audience. I was surprised that many of the questions were about J.K. rather than the plot, but there ended up being a good balance. An eight year old girl asked if J.K. had as big of an imagination when she was young as she does now, and another child asked what inspiration she had growing up. She answered that her parents did not think being a professional writer was very steady, so she got inspiration from various teachers along the way, concluding that “a good teacher is worth her weight in gold”.

When asked about all the deaths in the book Rowling apologized for putting us through that, but pointed out that if someone we don't care about dies we won't really care. She mentioned the (SPOILER) death of Doby and said that it was necessary, but understandably sad, primarily because Doby was so innocent. The saddest deaths to her were Tonks and Lupin (sigh). She said that it was the saddest because they left behind Teddy, but that it was important because it closed a circle in the story. Harry grew up as an orphan and as Teddy's godfather he will be able to relate to Teddy and give him all the things he missed out on growing up. She talked about Snape. Snape! Rowling said she knew all along why Snape was the way he was, and all the history between him and Lily, and that he is not cut and dry and not necessarily all good.

OH! A student asked if any characters were based on real people, and J.K. explained that Hermione was an exaggerated version of herself (isn't that fun?), and that there are pieces of different people she knows in some characters. Gilderoy Lockheart IS entirely based on someone real. Rowling said that she did not need to embellish anything, and that he would never in a million years guess that he was the mold. "He probably thinks that he is my Dumbledore." Loved it.

When asked if she would rather be the Queen of England or write more Harry Potter books, Rowling replied that she would rather write more Harry Potter books because being the Queen is a really hard job. She also explained that the next thing she works on will have to be something she loves just as much as Harry Potter because otherwise it just wouldn't work.

The whole event went by way too quickly, but it's understandable because she was going to sign 1,600 copies of the book for the students present. Scholastic is giving away 5,000 copies of the Deathly Hallows. Running along the width of the stage were the 1,600 copies of the book. It was impressive, and amazing that
1. Scholastic would do that
2. J.K. could sign that many books in one sitting

Since she was entirely busy signing books for children I did not get to take her out for coffee - I mean tea - and hang out. I'm sure she would have wanted to given the opportunity.

It was an amazing experience. It was like Christmas and I felt like Cinderella going to a ball - yes I'm mixing my metaphors, but that's how it felt.

Since I was at the Kodak theatre I'm going to thank people like I just won an Oscar,
I would like to thank:

• our Scholastic rep for inviting Randy
• Randy for liking me enough to let me go
• Lisa, Jane and Robyn liking me enough to agree to let me go
• Patrick for not reading the Harry Potter series, so I didn't have to arm wrestle him
• And you the reader for listening to my ramblings about the best day I've had as a bookseller.

Good night!

-Kristiana