Take Out Your Wands and Celebrate!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY POTTER! 

July 31st is Harry Potter's birthday. According to reports, he's 35 today. It also just happens to be J. K. Rowling's birthday; she's 50. Coincidence? Hardly. 

If you were unaware (if so, where have you been for the last 18 years?), J. K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter books for children. The fantastic series relates the story of a young orphan boy who discovers he's a wizard, following him through his adventures attending Hogwarts, a magical school for wizards and witches.

From 1997 through 2007, the tales of Harry Potter grabbed the imagination of not only children but adults as well. And this continued through 2011 as each book was filmed and made into a movie and just keeps going as the next generation of children discover Rowling's books or watch the films on DVD or Blu-ray.

With seven books in the series, each recorded in audiobook by the award-winning Jim Dale, three affiliated titles, and eight movies (with the seventh book made into Part 1 and Part 2), the character and author are a worldwide phenomenon. The titles brought about a renewed interest in reading across generations, inspiring children, teens and adults to pick up a book and read!

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (U.K., 1997) re-titled as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for release in the U.S (1998)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 

Affiliated titles:

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (currently in pre-production as a motion picture for release in November 2016, an further expansion into the world of Harry Potter)
• Quidditch Through the Ages
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Rowling developed a website, Pottermore.com, to focus on unexplored parts of the Harry Potter story, outside of the books. The author has even posted 'new' stories set in the world of Harry Potter on the site; New writing from J.K. Rowling