The Harry Potter Fan Zone has posted an extended promotional cutout of the HBP artwork (this was done in 2003, too, in the form of large cardboard phoenixes). You can see more detail about the fire coming out of Dumbledore’s wand. Thanks HPFZ!

Extra, extra: The aforementioned Harry Potter-themed crossword puzzle will appear in the New York Times‘ book review on Sunday, July 10 (subscribers should receive it Saturday). It was created by the New York Times marketing department in cooperation with Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic. And I hear it’s cool (though, can it stump Leaky readers? We’ll …read more!

UK channel ITV is set to broadcast a television show where four young Potter fans will be competing for a chance to be one of the lucky cub reporters at the Half-Blood Prince launch party. Chosen from a writing contest, these young finalists will be tested on their knowledge of the Harry Potter world. The …read more!

Today’s Leaky Lounge poll is up, dealing with the kind of things Arthur Weasley might enchant. You can see a list of our Countdown to HBP polls here; we’ll tell you each day when the new one goes up. Yesterday’s poll, Who Will Harry Kiss?, which seemed to inspire a frenzy over there, is closed: …read more!

Are your kids making your crazy, waiting for the 16th? Are you making your kids (your significant other, your friends, your co-workers, your pets) crazy, waiting for the 16th? Bella Online offers instructions for a weekend diversion – plant a theme garden, featuring plants used in the first five books of the series. Thanks to …read more!

Barnes & Noble.com has announced that it will be opening up, for the first time, free online Harry Potter Reading Groups, and we’re proud to announce that Leaky staff will be helping to moderate the discussions. The exhaustive forum will be moderated by staff from the main TLC page and moderators of our forum, including …read more!

Some more details today from Bloomsbury regarding the big Edinburgh release party: The cub reporters will arrive at the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle by horse-drawn carriage. About 2,000 Edinburgh school children and their parents will be seated in the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle to cheer on JK Rowling and the cub reporters as they make …read more!

Many of you have reported a not-found error when accessing our “Ask Jo” poll; it should be right here; be sure to look at the right side of your page! A lot of you are also asking why you can’t vote more than once here: we restrict by IP, which changes often if you’re an …read more!

Security continues to be tight as the publishers of the new Harry Potter book are determined to keep a tight lid on any possible leaks and spoilers getting out before the release date on July 16. While there are not any security trolls on patrol(that we muggles can see anyway 🙂 ), The New York …read more!

Hey all; we’ve been working with the incomparable Chad Everett of Everitz Consulting, who developed the system that sends you news notifications, to fix the bug where you’re getting multiple copies of each entry. That bug is fixed. Also, now, if you’re subscribed to more than one category and the news is filed in more …read more!