At 6:30pm on December 2nd, at the World Financial Center in New York City, Jim Dale will read a selection from A Christmas Carol at the Holiday Lighting Ceremony, part of the Festival of Light and Sound. Thanks to Becky for telling us about the flyer.

Reuters reports that sales of the first five Harry Potter books have now reached 250 million.

Dicentra from HPfGU attended Mary GrandPré’s talk with other fandomers from SugarQuill and HPfGU, and posted a report over on HPfGU’s off-topic list. She reported that when Mary gets a new HP book to illustrate, she makes three preliminary sketches and they choose one, “they” being the Scholastic editor and art director. She does not …read more!

Thanks to Molliee for letting us know that the new docudrama on BBC1 about Charles II features at least two HP actors in supporting roles. Sean Biggerstaff was in the episode that ran last night, and Christian Coulson is expected to be onscreen later in the series as James, Duke of Monmouth.

MGM has bought a movie script that spoofs both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. But even the title of this would-be comedy is crass, and it looks to be inappropriate for younger viewers and readers. Please pursue the link to Yahoo News with caution. Thanks.

If you live in or around Salt Lake City, then you can meet Mary GrandPré at the main public library on Saturday, November 15th. Her presentation will begin at 11am, and the book signing will be at 1pm. According to the site: “During GrandPré’s appearance, Scholastic Books will hold a Book Fair at the Main …read more!

The Daily Telegraph takes a look at the dark look of PoA. Thanks, Valerie!

As always, here is the TLC Shot-By-Shot book/movie comparison of the first Prisoner of Azkaban trailer! The entire team went to work on this one – and a big thanks goes out to ixchelmala, whose screencaps were wonderful…but ultimately too gigantic to use for this purpose. Enjoy!

To quote Petrea, who sent us the link: “In the category of Journalist Reporting on the Trailer Who Has Most Obviously Not Read the Book, I would like to nominate the author of the following (BBC article) for stating that the trailer shows Snape “turning into a woman”.”

E! Posted a pic of Emma Thompson as Trelawney – thanks so much for capturing it and sending it in, Kim!