Yet another Scholastic Winner profiled in their local paper. Thomas Pardee’s essay stood apart from the rest because it injected a bit of humor – which was needed to offset some of the other more serious and emotional essays.

Sudipta Bandyopadhyay, who won the Scholastic essay contest for his paragraph on “compelling a wicked man to experience the painful suffering of his victims and the tragic consequences of his actions”, was profiled in NJ.com today. Here’s an interesting quote: “I absolutely loved this kid’s essay,” said Arthur Levine editor of the Harry Potter books …read more!

An interesting article looking at how fans are anticipating the next book quoting Melissa Anelli from TLC.

(SPOILER ALERT) An article in this morning’s LA Times (Free registration required) looks at all the miscommunication surrounding yesterday’s release of an audio clip for Order of the Phoenix. Fans first stumbled across the audio excerpt Wednesday through America Online and the Leaky Cauldron site, then began posting comments on the clip, Anelli said. The …read more!

The St. Petersburg Times profiled Scholastic Contest Winner David Dawson, who wrote a heartwarming – and wrenching – essay about wishing he had the power to cure a broken heart after the death of his mother.

A release from AScribe touches upon a new book written by University of Colorado at Boulder journalism professor Lynn Schofield Clark titled “From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural”. For teenagers who are skeptical of religious institutions, films and television shows featuring supernatural themes may offer deeper religious reflection than conventional churches. …read more!

The Chicago Tribune has a very interesting article about what other authors and writers think of the Harry Potter books from Mary Higgins Clark to David McCullough to Julia Alvarez to Louis Sachar. Fascinating.

The Ellsworth American has some suggestions for developing your costumes for Harry Potter events and parades from hot glue to sequins to maché.

Constant Vigilance. I dislike posting these links because I disagree with what they represent. But the reason I post WorldNetDaily’s rabble-rousing that Harry Potter is a method of recruiting for the occult. J.K. Rowling has said time and time again that her story has nothing to do with neo-Pagan theology. It is fiction and is …read more!

According to Reuters Financial News, the magic of the boy wizard will not be enough to carry the book industry.