In an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, Patricia Edgar, founder of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, writes that the Harry Potter books help children cope with certain fears. The original fairytales and the Harry Potter stories give children much-needed hope that the gremlins under their beds and the monsters in their cupboards have …read more!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, read by Jim Dale, was named Audiobook of the Year at the Audies – the spoken word’s version of a Grammy or an Emmy.

The Lexicon has been updated with information that JK Rowling has provided to her translators. So far she has sent out a list of two small changes to book three which fix minor errors in the text; the changes will now become the official version of the story; one corrects Mr. Weasley’s statement about the …read more!

J.K. Rowling has moved up from fifteen last year to sixth place this year on U.S. magazine Forbes’ most powerful celebrities list. The number one position was given to Mel Gibson. Last year’s number one, Jennifer Aniston, is now ranked seventeen. Thanks to Sirius Kase for the link!

Worldwide money exhange company Travelex has released an online Wizard-to-Muggle currency converter, that calculates the value of the dollar, pound, euro, rupee and other local monies into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. While Travelex says it has no plans to offer Wizarding currency at any of their worldwide locations, they have calculated various costs associated with …read more!

James Cook University PhD student Natasha Giardina says most modern children’s literature promotes the idea that kids should listen to their elders, and be “meek, mild and obedient”: On the surface the text seems to say, ‘Look kids! This is your culture. We’re on your side, especially against adult authority figures.’ But a closer analysis …read more!

The Watley Review, which is a satirical “news” site, posted a story this week about an Americanized version of Harry Potter. The series, provisionally entitled “HP,” will be an Americanized adaptation of the original books, more in keeping with the typical teen dramas which are the trademark of the WB. “The first two movies did …read more!

The New York Times says the most significant new Harry Potter development is JK Rowling’s website, launched last month. Every revelation, however, is being parsed closely, creating yet more theories and rumors (why does she confirm that Harry’s mother is dead but not mention his father?). In its way, the site is a dare. The …read more!

Many TLC readers have emailed that mock newspaper The Onion reports that author J.K. Rowling has abandoned the Harry Potter series because she has discovered – puberty: According to [publicist] Knowles, instead of working on the as-yet-untitled sixth installment in her series, Rowling has spent the past two months sunning herself at the beach, reading …read more!

Some pre-teens who loved the first two Harry Potter films claim not to be particularly interested in the third. Industry experts, however, says there’s nothing to worry about: “Harry Potter has proven to be a mainstay and not a fad, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Power Rangers and other kid crazes,” said Brandon …read more!