J.K. Rowling: Die Zauberin hinter Harry Potter [Eine unautorisierte Biografie]

by Marc Shapiro

Harry Potter liebt man überall auf der ganzen Welt heiß und innig - und seine geistige Mutter genauso. Joanne Kathleen (J. K.) Rowling ist eine echte Zauberin, eine Frau, die es schafft, sich in ihre eigene Kinderzeit zurückzuversetzen und diese wilde, wunderbare und schwere Zeit in ihren Geschichten einzufangen und gerade das macht ihren Helden Harry Potter so lebendig.

In diesem zauberhaften Buch lernen die Fans der Harry-Potter-Bücher ihre Lieblingsautorin besser kennen - die Frau, die hinter all diesen herrlichen Geschichten steckt. Aus dem kleinen Mädchen mit der lebhaften Fantasie, das sich nie richtig anpasste, wurde eine allein erziehende Mutter mit beinahe überwältigender Verantwortung.

J. K. Rowlings Leben war niemals langweilig und immer faszinierend. Diese rührende, zauberhafte und immer spannende Geschichte können Kinder und Erwachsene hier gemeinsam erkunden.

Genres: Harry Potter, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Childrens, Middle Grade, Memoir

141 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Marc Shapiro is the author of the New York Times bestselling biography, J.K. Rowling: The Wizard behind Harry Potter, and more than a dozen other celebrity biographies. He has been a freelance entertainment journalist for more than twenty-five years, covering film, television, and music for a number of national and international newspapers and magazines.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/marcsh...

Reviews

[Fahim · Rating 2 out of 5]

این کتاب تحلیل داستانهای هری پاتر نیست.(برعکس اون چیزی که از اسمش برمیاد!). یک زندگینامه ی مختصر و جمع و جور از جی. کی.رولینگ نویسنده ی هری پاتر هست و خوندنش برای کسانی که تحت تاثیر این سری کتابها و قوه تخیل نویسنده ش قرار گرفتن میتونه جذاب باشه.
جوآن از کودکی در دنیای کتابها و قصه ها غوطه ور بوده!کتابخونه ای داشته پر از کتاب و پدر و مادر فرهیخته ای که دائم براش کتاب میخوندن. (تاثیر پدر و مادر فرهیخته رو در شکل گیری شخصیت و موفقیت خیلی از بزرگانی که زندگی نامه هاشون رو خوندم به وضوح میشه دید. حتی قُدَما!)
جوآن در بازی های کودکانه ش همیشه برای دوستان و خواهر کوچکترش قصه گویی میکرده و اونها رو با داستانهای فانتزیش سرگرم میکرده...
در همون سنین کودکی شروع به نوشتن قصه هاش کرده و اغلب اونها رو برای خواهرش که بزرگترین مشوقش هم بوده میخونده و این نوشتن رو بصورت پیوسته همیشه به موازات همه ی بالا و پایین های زندگیش داشته و هیچوقت رهاش نکرده...
این یعنی هیچ موفقیتی یکشبه و اتفاقی به دست نمیاد ...تلاشش برای نویسندگی که از کودکی بزرگترین آرزوش بوده، تحسین برانگیزه!

[Sina & Ilona Glimmerfee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wenn man an Harry Potter denkt, dann sieht man meist nicht nur den Blitznarbigen Jungen vor sich sondern auch seine geistige Mutter J. K. Rowling. Sie ist eine Frau, die von den Medien geliebt wurde und noch immer wird. Ein wenig scheu, doch durchaus unbeugsam. Eine Frau die einem Leben in Armut entkommen ist, durch ihre Fantasie und einer gewaltigen Menge an Disziplin.
Diese Biografie kommt in meinen Augen, ein wenig flach daher. Es scheint mir als sei auf dem Harry Potter Hype aufgesprungen worden, so als habe man schnell noch eine Biografie veröffentlichen wollen, um noch ein wenig Geld mitzunehmen.
Obwohl es sich jedoch eher wie ein Zeitungsartikel liest, war ich erfreut wie viel Respekt und Sympathien eingeflossen sind für die Frau, die mir so viele schöne Stunden in Hogwarts bescherte. Der Autor Marc Shapiro schafft es Wärme durch die Zeilen sickern zu lassen. Das Buch ist eindeutig für Fans geschrieben.
Insgesamt die die Biografie schnell weggelesen und dürfte auch Leute die sonst nicht zu dem Genre greife überfordern oder langweilen.
Mir hat es, trotz anfänglicher Enttäuschung doch noch gut gefallen. Man sollte es vielleicht weniger als Biografie sehen, sondern eher als eine Verneigung vor einer Autorin, die so viele Menschen glücklich gemacht hat.

3 Gründe dieses Buch zu lesen
1. Wenn man sich zurückerinnern will wie es damals war, als der Name Harry Potter auch in unserer Welt mehr als ein Flüstern war, man sich zum gemeinsamen Verkleiden traf und vor den Buchhandlungen auf den nächsten Band wartete.

2. Man vielleicht gerade dringend ein wahres Märchen braucht, dass auch in einem selbst das Licht der Hoffnung entzünden kann, dass es manchmal nur ein wenig Magie braucht, damit sich das eigene Leben wieder dreht - So wie bei J. K. Rowling

3. Man einfach Lust hat mehr über J.K. Rowling zu erfahren und wissen will wie es kam, dass plötzlich ein fiktiver Junge zu Weltruhm kam.

[S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hilariously and unintentionally awful.

[Ashlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yesterday when I was leaving the library with my son (the youth room to be exact) I saw this book on display and immediately picked it up. I am a big HP fan and I love Jo Rowling so I was excited to read it. The book is not by her though, it's by a guy named Marc Shapiro, and I really don't think he had any right to write this book. Most of his sources were big magazines or newspaper articles with interviews with Jo in them...but he never talked/interviewed her himself. What got me the most angry in just the first 20 pages:

1. He continued to refer to Harry Potter as being a 13 year old boy wizard who receives a letter to go to Hogwarts. UM, NO. Harry was 10 when the book first starts, and he celebrates his 11th birthday in a beat down old shack, and in the early morning of his 11th birthday, Hagrid breaks into the shack and gives Harry his letter. He is not 13 until the third book- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. You get your letter to Hogwarts when you are 11, NOT 13.

2. They referred to "CHO CHANG" as "Cho Chan" I don't know if it was just a typo, but considering this guys lack of correct information throughout the book, I'm pretty sure he just had the name wrong. Did he even read the books? I have to ask myself.

3. He keeps referring to her as Joanne Kathleen Rowling as if "Kathleen" is really a part of her name/middle name. It is not. She does not HAVE a middle name. Before the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (or Philosophers Stone which was the original name) they told Jo that because she was a woman she probably wouldn't appeal to young boy readers, so they wanted to give her a different name that was more neutral. "J.K Rowling" sounded more neutral. The "K" for Kathleen came from a family member, Jo decided to take it and put it in her name for the books, it is not her real middle name and in the book the author kept referring to her as "Joanne Kathleen Rowling" and it was frustrating.

After I noticed those three mistakes, I almost put the book down. But I then decided to lightly pencil in all of the correct info. Overall the book wasn't horrid. I loved reading about Jo's home life and all the struggles and good times she went through (It's fun to see that side of your favorite author) but then again I don't know much of that information was false. I have only gone into deeply reading the Harry Potter books, but not too much material on Jo. So I am unable to catch some wrong info about her. That part does bug me a bit, wondering how much of the book was rubbish and how much was true (in terms of Jo's life and struggles.) I did see a lifetime-made movie about her called "Behind the Magic, the JK Rowling story" (Think that was the name.) So other than a few things that really frustrated me, it was an okay read. I think they should have waited until all the HP books were out before writing this. They only outlined the first book and briefly mentioned titles up until the 5th book. They didn't mention anything about her knowing the ending of the story before she finished writing the first (that bummed me out!) but I suppose for what it was- a biography in the children's section of the library- it wasn't horrendous. It just didn't have all the correct facts.

A few other little indiscrepancies I noticed in the book:

Jo's parents are described as very supportive in some parts, but in others they seem to be the parents who say "Oh that's nice, but where is the pension in that?" so there wasn't much of an accurate read on her parents. Also, there was a mention that she knew/didn't plan to make money off of the book, but then later she mentioned she just wanted to make enough to support her writing. Well, it's one or the other. I can't tell if these are just things Jo has said that seem to cross one another or just the way the author is...but either way it bugged me. Lastly, in the beginning of the book it is said that she has a dreamy childhood who easily made friends and had fun being a tomboy and enjoyed sharing her stories, but later on an interview was quoted where she said she would never do childhood over because it was horrible. HUH? Maybe her teen years before she blossomed and she just felt awkward, I could understand that. But that's not her 'childhood' so yea. That is my review of this book. Wish I could have given it 2.5 stars. 3 seems too high but 2 seems too low, I did enjoy chunks of the book, just not the wrong or misleading info.

[Farideh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a short summary of Rowling's biography, but there weren't any special details about her beliefs, ideas, feelings, etc. I hope Rowling writes an autobiography.

[Mloy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has more conjuring in it than all of J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter novels put together. One has to question the credibility of an author, and the publishing house, that would publish a book chock full of inaccuracies. I got so tired of listing everything that was wrong with this book because (A) there was so much of it and (B) it was hindering my reading because I constantly had to stop and make a note for my review. The only good part of this book was the last Chapter where the "author" states that Rowling said in order to write a book, one has to actually sit down and write it, and write what you know; unfortunately, as great as an advice that is, it's nothing that any other author hasn't said before and an advice that Marc Shapiro should have also taken. How can you take anything he wrote about Rowling seriously when he didn't even get her birth year right? It's a shame this was passed off as a legitimate "novel" (I mean, seriously the guy is making money off of this! You should be ashamed of yourself for ripping people off) because it's more like a high school book report than a real novel, whose "information" seemed to have been copied and pasted from the internet (which Mr. Shapiro basically admitted in the preface of the book); but another disturbing part of this book is that the "author" also conveniently failed to cite which information came from what source. Isn't that called plagiarism?

With so many glaring mistakes, one has to wonder whether Mr. Shapiro has actually ever read a single Harry Potter book and/or call to question his ability to research a subject, any subject. Here's the list of mistakes I found and I'm just your every day Harry Potter fan:

- On page xii,
o Mr.Shapiro states: “learning the fine arts of charms, spells, and magic, alongside good friends Ron and Hermione, at the feet of Professor Dumbledore.”; when in fact, by the time Harry, Ron and Hermione attend Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore was already the headmaster of the school. In “Chamber of Secrets”, Tom Riddle’s diary shows that Professor Dumbledore taught “Transfiguration” when Tom was still attending Hogwarts, which was more than forty years prior the trio attending the school. Although, I suppose, one can argue that Professor Dumbledore “taught” Harry, Ron and Hermione valuable life lessons. Ok, I’ll give Mr. Shapiro that one.

- On page 5:
o Mr.Shapiro mentions that “the portraits of long-dead ancestors who come alive at night to primp and curl their hair.” During the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 15, 2004, Rowling explained that the portraits were enchanted imprints left behind by the subject of the portrait and are only capable of very limited interaction. Mostly, they would repeat catchphrases they were known to have said when they were alive. So in essence, once a spell was cast on the portraits, they become animated from that point on and could interact with the living all the time, not just at night.
o Mr.Shapiro mistakenly states, “…the moment when Harry discovers Cho Chan on the Quidditch field”. Cho’s last name is “Chang” (with a “g”), not “Chan” like the martial-arts actor, Jackie or the fictional Chinese-American detective, Charlie. Maybe that was a typo, but judging from the kerning, I would venture to say this was a serious oversight of facts by the writer, and who ever proofread this book.

- On page 7:
o Perhaps the most erroneous statement Mr.Shapiro makes in this book was that, “In the world of Harry Potter, owls run banks”. WRONG! (“Owl Post”-- it’s even the title of the first chapter in “Prisoner of Azkaban” for goodness sake!) Owls deliver the post, goblins runs the banks. Ok, this one can’t be attributed to being a typo, but the person charged with the task of checking out the facts for this book seriously needs to think about a career change.
o Mr.Shapiro also states, “But finally it is Harry Potter, a skinny thirteen-year-old with glasses, green eyes, and a head of unruly black hair who is the heart of J.K. Rowling’s adventures”. Thirteen? Sure, by the third book! But if you want to get technical about it, in the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first time we meet Harry, he was only a year old. By the time we are introduced to a spectacled Harry Potter, “nearly ten years has passed” (according to the opening sentence in chapter two), that would make the glasses-wearing Harry Potter eleven-years-old.

- On page 17:
o Mr.Shapiro states, “Rowling’s parents met on a train in 1963”. Her parents met in 1964.
o Mr.Shapiro wrote, “Ann worked as a lab technician”. J.K.’s mother’s name is misspelled. It’s Anne (with an “e”) and not Ann.

-On page 19:
o The author lists J.K. Rowling’s birth date as, “July 31, 1966”; when in fact, her birth year was 1965.

- On page 22:
o Mr.Shapiro refers to J.K. sister as “Di” all throughout the book. The younger sister’s name is “Dianne”. Close but still...

- On page 29:
o Mr.Shapiro wrote on page 17 that J.K.’s father was a manager of an aircraft factory, but then states on page 29 that “Peter moved up in his job as a mechanic for an automobile factory”. But according to the September 2012 issue of The New Yorker, Mr. Rowling was a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer. I’m pretty sure “mechanic” ≠ “engineer”.

- On page 35:
o Mr.Shapiro states that “Joanne successfully graduated from Tutshill Primary”. J.K. attended St. Michael's Primary School.

- On page 49:
o Mr.Shapiro incorrectly wrote, “…the train stopped at Knight’s Cross station in London”. Knight’s Cross station does not exist. King’s Cross station, however, does.

- On page 74:
o Mr.Shapiro claims that “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was completed early in 1994”. Actually the manuscript wasn’t completed until 1995.
o Mr.Shapiro also writes that J.K. received a grant in 1994, after which she started teaching at the Moray House Training College. However, J.K. started teaching at Moray House in 1995 and did not receive the grant until 1997.

- On page 96:
o Mr. Shapiro stated that the fourth book's title was Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. Any one else familiar with that one?

[Rana Heshmati · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی وقت بود که کتابی رو یک روزه شروع و تموم نکرده بودم. :)

[Bine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein ganz interessantes und kurzweiliges Buch über die Autorin der weltberühmten Harry Potter-Bücher. Am besten haben mir die Einblicke zur Entstehung von Harry Potter gefallen. Wie J.K. die Idee gekommen ist und wie sie sie verfolgt hat. Die Anfänge von Harry Potter eben. Denn leider ist man nicht allzu tief in J.K.s Persönlichkeit eingedrungen. Dies ist eine natürliche Sache bei Biografien, die keine Autobiografien sind, aber dadurch hatte ich oft das Gefühl, dass der Autor J.K. nicht wirklich nahe stand oder sich nicht allzu sehr mit ihr beschäftigt hat. Gerade der Anfang war gespickt mit Allgemeinplätzen über Harry Potter. Wie gut man in eine andere Welt hineintauchen kann und wie magisch die Welt ist etc. So waren die ersten Kapitel nicht wirklich spannend. Und auch J.K.s Kindheit und Jugend wurde nur sehr oberflächlich geschildert und war sehr unaufregend. Doch der Autor wusste eben keine besonderen Details aus der Kindheit und musste eben mit den wenigen Informationen klarkommen, die er hatte. Das Buch ist aber dann mit der Zeit immer besser und interessanter geworden und lies sich dann auch besser lesen. Denn anfangs empfand ich den Schreibstil auch als sehr anstrengend. Nicht weil er besonders trocken oder kompliziert wäre, sondern weil er extrem kindlich und verniedlichend war und sich nach heiler Welt anhörte (so wurde es dann am Ende auch wieder). Ich kam mir dabei extrem unterfordert vor und teilweise auch nicht für voll genommen.
Ich bin froh, es gelesen und v.a. durchgehalten zu haben, denn am Ende war es schon recht interessant. Denke aber auch, dass es bessere Biografien zu J.K. Rowling gibt.

[PurplyCookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has just one thing going for it: it's the first biography for youngsters about the popular author. The only other sources of information are articles in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet.

Unfortunately, the text reads like a rough draft of a junior-high research paper. Incomplete and fragmented sentences abound as Shapiro rambles on in a confusing manner. Quotations are loosely traced to articles and interviews in their sentences, but are not properly documented. Shapiro writes in absolutes without noting sources; events appear out of nowhere as if they'd been previously mentioned. It's a shame that the book is too inaccurate, unsubstantiated, and poorly written to be suitable for research purposes.

Also, the book must have been in production before the name of Harry Potter Book 4 was changed from the Doomspell Tournament to Goblet of Fire, but the mistake will jump out at readers.

What was unforgivable was that the author was a little confused with some of the details in the books when he stated that owls run banks (when the books clearly say that goblins run Gringotts) he also states a few incorrect names (Shapiro wrote Cho Chan instead of Cho Chang as the name of Harry's first girlfriend).


More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie


Book Details:

Title J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter
Author Marc Shapiro
Reviewed By Purplycookie

[Sky آسمان · Rating 2 out of 5]

جالب نبود. خیلی حوصله سربر بود.
یکسری اطلاعات راجب خود رولینگ و نگارش سری هری پاتر بود.

[Erin Attenborough · Rating 1 out of 5]

It looked self-published to me, which is rarely a good sign. It wasn’t, but it might as well have been as I’m sure no self-respecting JKR fan would deign to submit it for publishing. First of all was the fact that the blurb included dot points stating what FAQs would be answered within. Incidentally, few were. The “about the author” section spelt his daughter’s name “Rachael” though in the dedications her name was “Rachel”. I strongly suspected that an author who couldn’t decide on the spelling of his daughter’s name may not be the world’s greatest authority on anyone else. Indeed, I was correct. At one point he writes, “Joanne Kathleen Rowling came kicking and screaming into the world…” and fortunately for me, I had a fellow Potterhead on standby to share in my outrage. As just about every fan of the books would know, she doesn’t have a middle name. After being told by her publishers to choose a middle name so she could use the initial as part of a professional pseudonym, she chose her favourite grandma’s name. So she did NOT come kicking and screaming into the world as Joanne Kathleen Rowling and didn’t take on the name until many years later.

Marc Shapiro, the offending author in question, describes how he would not like to meet Voldemort or “the Dementor” on a dark night, as if there is only one. He goes on to say that “banks are run by owls,” which is an obvious and glaring error. Unless post is actually delivered by goblins and I’ve had the wrong end of the stick all this time. The character of Nearly Headless Nick is referred to as “Nick the Nearly Headless Ghost,” which, while not technically incorrect, is a title that never appears in the series. And don't get me started on "Cho Chan". For all the “research” Shapiro supposedly did, there was not a single interview or piece of information passed on to him first hand: it all came from previous interviews and public appearances, many of which I had already read transcripts of myself. I’m not sure I learnt a single thing from this book I didn’t already know. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Hardly surprising given his other published titles include biographies of Justin Bieber, E. L. James (infamous she-devil known for the “Fifty Shades” series), Selena Gomez and Katie Holmes.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love it because it has something to do with Harry Potter & I'm fascinated with the life of JK Rowling -BUT I don't trust that the information is 100 percent correct. How can I when on page 7 it claims that owls run the bank in the Harry Potter world? Obviously, this author hasn't paid close attention to the Harry Potter books. GOBLINS RUN THE BANK. Who can read the books and not know that?!

[Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad that I read this book. There were lots of interesting facts I didn't know about Rowling, which was very surprising. Poverty,failed marriage, it also tells about her rise to fame when she created the Harry Potter books. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Harry Potter or the Author herself!

[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essendo stato scritto nel 2000, ovvero poco dopo la pubblicazione di Harry Potter e il calice di fuoco e prima della realizzazione del film Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale (si parla solo dei primi attori selezionati per il cast) si tratta di un saggio piuttosto incompleto; tuttavia è interessante la biografia di J.K. Rowling dalla nascita fino al 2000, la sua passione per la scrittura, gli anni da segretaria e il matrimonio fallito, la disoccupazione fino all'asta a Bologna per i diritti di pubblicazione di Harry Potter in tutto il mondo e la celebrità con bambini e adulti che quasi sfiora la beatlesmania. E ancora si era a metà percorso... anzi, neanche, visto che ancora non erano usciti i film, che hanno fatto crescere la sua celebrità in maniera esponenziale.

[فرفری موی غزل ساز · Rating 5 out of 5]

همیشه شنیده بودم که جی‌کی.رولینگ زندگی سختی داشته ولی واقعا نه تا این حد. توی این کتاب به دوران کودکیش، عشقش به نویسندگی، ازدواج، طلاقش، مسئولیت‌ها و سختی‌های بزرگ کردن دخترش صحبت شده.
واقعا خوشحالم که اون همه علاقه‌ی نویسندگیش به ثمر نشست، خوشحالم که جرات پیدا کرد تا هری پاتر رو منتشر کنه و از همه مهم‌تر، خوشحالم خواهری داشت که همدم روزهای تنهایی و دوران سخت زندگیش باشه.

[Matthew Largo · Rating 3 out of 5]

J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter was ok. As the book progressed it got a little boring as the book only had evidence from magazines and news articles. I would have thought this book would give more information on Joanne and less of her books but that was not the case. Half of the book was mainly Joanne working and publishing the Harry Potter books. I would have thought this book would give more information on Joanne and less of her books but that was not the case. I would recommend this book to people who like biographies, learning more about the author of the Harry Potter series, or just others in general.

[Chris Gager · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a lot of content here - more like a quickie money grab by the author aimed(large print!) at about an age ten reader. Skimmed my way through it while listening to the Steelers-Browns game on the radio at work. I think I got all the "high" points.

- Nice cover photo!

- mentions "the" Dementor instead of "a" Dementor. Anyone proof read this book?

- Says he wrote this book to answer some fan-ish questions. Seems to me that the primary purpose was to make a few cheap bucks.

1.75* rounds up to 2*.

[Zoey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book " J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter " By Marc Shapiro is an amazing book. I love getting to read about one of my favorite authors who got me to start actually liking books but mainly fantasy. J.K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling was born on July 31, 1966. At 6 years old, she wrote her first story about a rabbit named Rabbit and a giant bee named Miss Bee. After that, she apparently already knew she wanted to be a writer. When she grew older, she came up with Harry Potter while on a train when the idea of Harry suddenly popped up to her. After that train ride, she started writing down notes and ideas on Harry's adventures. Some of the struggles she's faced while writing ideas and notes for the world of Harry Potter is when her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis then died at the age of 45. She was distressed. Fast forward, she has finished " Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone" and she has sent 2 copies to her agents. A letter arrives from one of her agents and she assumes that it's a rejection note; he assumption was incorrect. After that, she started writing the rest of the series, like " Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire", etc. I would recommend this book to those who have read the Harry Potter series because reading about the person behind the story helps understand why somethings happen in the books.
Book Lover,
Zoey Chase

[J.J. Lair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 2000 before she made herself unpopular. This is before the first movie and the fourth Harry Potter book. It actually has an early title name that wasn’t used- The Doomsday Tournament.
Short book, unauthorized so I get the impression that the author created scenes based on info he had.

[Elisewin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il libro (che in realtà ha 206 pag) è scorrevole e leggero, si legge molto bene. Purtroppo è anche piuttosto ripetitivo e particolarmente romanzato e stucchevole.
C'è da dire che si ferma alla pubblicazione di Harry Potter e l'Ordine della Fenice, quindi mi piacerebbe in futuro leggere qualcosa di più aggiornato. Interessanti invece i fatti dietro alle varie pubblicazioni e eventi che danno una migliore idea su tempistiche, ritardi vari, difficoltà che si sono presentate negli anni, sia per le pubblicazioni che per le uscite in sala dei film.

[Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

B.R.7
J.K. Rowling: The wizard behind Harry Potter is by Marc Shapiro and is a heartwarming biography about J.K. Rowling. This book is perfect for Harry Potter fans because you get to see what the creator of that series life was and is like. For a large portion of this book it has a very sad and solemn tone, here is an example of that tone, “There were nights when there was barely enough food for mother and child, so Joanne would go to bed hungry.”

This book also has very good characterization, here is an example of the interesting characters, “I used to tell my equally quiet and studious friends long serial stories during lunchtime.”, she wrote in an essay. “They usually involved us all doing heroic and daring deeds we certainly would not have done in real life.” I would highly recommend fans of Harry potter to read this book it is very well written. It is only 228 pages, so a medium rate read and it is not too long. Even if you have not read Harry Potter it will not make as much sense to you but, I think that you will still love it. I think that this book is for all ages and that everyone should give this book a chance!

[hosemprevissutonelcastello · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ho ripescato questo libriccino dai bui e polverosi recessi della mia libreria. Mi è stato regalato anni fa, in quanto fan del mondo di Harry Potter. Premessa: è un libro che si trova frequentemente nella sezione dei libri usati del Libraccio. E ora ho capito perché.

Pubblicato dopo l'uscita del terzo capitolo della saga, prima ancora che uscisse il primo film, l'opera riassume la vita di Rowling prima della fama e racconta di come le sia nata l'idea di HP. Il problema è che scritto come un libro per bambini, e le uniche fonti dell'autore sono interviste fatte da altri e informazioni trovate online. Stando a varie recensioni poi ci sono anche molti errori nel nome di persone reali e personaggi creati da Rowling, che fortunatamente sono stati corretti nell'edizione italiana.

Comunque se siete dei fan di JK Rowling, la lettura di questo volumetto non aggiunge niente di nuovo. E lo stile di scrittura è davvero irritante. L'unica cosa che ci viene ripetuta costantemente è quanto ami la scrittura e quanto sia importante per lei. Insomma, si vede che Marc Shapiro ha scritto il libro sull'onda del successo di HP, e probabilmente ci ha anche guadagnato, ingannando i poveri fan che l'hanno comprato.

Se volete conoscere qualche retroscena sulla nascita di HP, consiglio piuttosto Harry Potter: a test, della grande Marina Lenti, una vera conoscitrice del mondo creato da Rowling.

[Ashley Kvasnicka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any book about the lovely J.K. Rowling is an automatic 5 star book <3

I got this for practically nothing at my local thrift shop a little bit ago. It's a tiny, fun and easy read. It's also old. The 1st movie had yet to be made and book 4 was just rollin out. Wowzers! A very nostalgic read for me. I grew up with Harry Potter. Everyone says that but I mean it. The first book came out when I was 8. If Harry and gang were in my school, we would've been in the same grade. I was around for all the mania and insanity that was and still is Harry Potter.

Back to the book - this was a fun, quick summary of the beginning and background of J.K. Rowling. If you're looking for a in-depth, need to know everything book on her, this is not the one. Not even close. But it does have a few pictures for you to swoon over!

[Chloe Resendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have to say that this book was pretty good but not amazing. Some parts were pretty crazy and then at one point I kind of started getting bored. In some parts, I liked the way Marc Shapiro made things get dramatic when they need to, but I think that the book could be a little bit more interesting. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading biographies such as this one. The good thing about this book is that it answered some of the questions I had about Harry Potter.

[Catherine⁷]

Back in Elementary School I used this book and dressed up as J.K Rowling for a biography project. I loved learning about her motives for writing Harry Potter, as well as the major events in her life that motivated her to do so.

[jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Harry Potter. Although I have watched all the movies multiple times, I have only read two of the books. J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro contained many intriguing facts that I wouldn’t have even imagined J.K. Rowling being inspired by, especially the striking fact that Rowling’s idea of Harry Potter came to her through a sight of cows on a train (who would have thought?!).

In reading reviews of this book, there are many reasons that other readers and I have rated this biography as an “I like it” or below. Despite the fact that I’m not deep into the Harry Potter series, I know that Marc Shapiro, the author, misspelled some words and names, including the name of Cho Chang, which he spelled as Cho Chan. An obvious fact that you don’t really need to be a die-hard fan of Harry to know is the fact that Harry Potter fans are referred to as “Potterheads,” not “Potterites” like Shapiro calls them. To add to the list of obvious errors, at one point in the book, he stated that the banks are ran by owls when they really are ran by goblins, and owls are one of a few choices that a student can select from to bring as a pet to Hogwarts.

Despite all these errors that keep the book from getting a 5 star rating, I loved how Shapiro included Rowling’s early life and later connected the facts to her writing Harry Potter. Her childhood best friend was named Ian Potter which she used as Harry’s last name. I think it is pretty cool how he incorporated the very dark times of her life such as when she was in an abusive relationship as well as when she had her first child but wasn’t exactly ready which lead her to depression. But out of all this, Shapiro related it to scenes in the Harry Potter books which I wouldn’t have even thought of as an idea to write this story.

I enjoyed reading this biography about someone who’s very famous. I just wish that there were not as many obvious inaccuracies that even a non-Potterhead can easily spot. Other than that, I think it’s still worthwhile to read this book, if only to learn about some of the back stories of the Harry Potter series and its author.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up from a little free library, but was underwhelmed. It read more like a school report than a biography, but I guess that’s the best you can do when all of your sources are secondhand.

I read a few stories I’d never heard before, but the author seriously needs a fact checker and a proofreader, or maybe he just needs to read the Harry Potter books. He stated that in the world of Harry Potter, banks are run by owls. Pretty sure the Gringotts goblins would be offended by that. Apparently Harry has a crush on Cho Chan.

Then there were the inaccuracies about J.K. Rowling herself, like the fact that he continually called her Joanne Kathleen, as if Kathleen were actually her middle name and not just sort of adopted from her grandmother to create her pen name of J.K. Rowling at the request of her publishers.

I get that this was written just after the 4th book and maybe knowledge about the topic wasn’t as prevalent, but, in my opinion, authors lose credibility when I find that many errors in the first few pages.

[Chelsea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boy was this terrible. Written like a middle school book report, Marc Shapiro barely scrapes enough information to make a chapter let alone a whole book. It felt repetitive like he was just padding the pages with the same info worded slightly differently as if readers wouldn't pick up on it. They gloss over the rough parts of her life like how bad her marriage had been, how terribly she was treated when on welfare, etc. They mention in text when JK said the quotes but there's no citation at the end of the book and all the quotes sound awkward. They paint JKR to be some blushing school girl throughout. And while there are pictures randomly in the book, there's no captions so good luck knowing what the pictures are of.
This was poorly researched and nothing new or revolutionary about this, just recycled facts found elsewhere and written better in other books.

[Brentman99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter books, so when I saw this for a $1 at a local bookstore, I had to buy it.

For an unauthorized biography, there seems to be a lot of insider information on how Rowling felt, what she thought, etc. As the sources for the book are interviews, writeups, news and other sources, I think there is enough info to believe that the book is at least mostly true.

The book was easy to read and I was able to go through it quicker than most books.

Overall, I thought it was a nice way to encapsulate all the books in the series and feel like you've gotten to know Joanne Kathleen Rowling better than you would from other sources. If you liked the Harry Potter books and want an inside look at the author, I think this would be a good source.

[Alexandra Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally absolutely love this book. For me I am a huge harry potter fan and so to read about J.K Rowling before all the magic and how Harry Potter came to be is pretty awesome. It is really crazy about her backstory and what her life was like before her fame. This book was not hard to kep reading through because it kept me entertained the whole time. J.K Rowling story is very inspirational and shows anything really is possible. I would definitely recommend this book to a classmate, but only if they enjoy Harry Potter. I feel that to really enjoy this book you have to like Harry Potter because it is really amazing to see how it all came to be.