Laura Dempsey of the Dayton

Laura Dempsey of the Dayton Daily News fears that J.K. Rowling may not have even started Book 5.

IT’S HARD TO BE TICKED off at someone who took a little time from their day job to donate millions to charity.

But I’m nonetheless slightly peeved at J.K. Rowling, who is said to have taken a month to write two little books whose proceeds will benefit British Comic Relief, a fund for children’s causes worldwide.

Rowling is supposed to be hard at work writing Harry Potter V, next in her seven-book series that stalled last summer with the release and immediate consumption of Harry Potter IV, also known as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We’ve been waiting since August (the book came out in July) for word of the follow-up. How are we supposed to react to news that she spent valuable thought and energy on stories that don’t move Harry’s story forward an inch?

With patience, as always.

The books in question do, however, add to the Potter canon. They come from the world of wizards and muggles, and in that world they qualify as nonfiction. Rowling wrote them under pseudonyms, giving Kennilworthy Whisp credit for Quidditch Through the Ages, and Newt Scamander authorship of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them . They’re 60-some pages apiece, published by Potter’s U.S. powerhouse Scholastic, and cost just $ 3.99 each.

As the story goes, Richard Curtis, a co-founder of British Comic Relief, contacted Rowling for some sort of donation. He was more than likely seeking an autographed set or two, but Rowling had another idea. Lucky Curtis: The charity is expected to get about $ 36 million.

It may well be that Rowling is all done with Book V, and that some well-intentioned adviser told her to wait a while before launching another literary assault. It may be that she hasn’t even started yet – heaven forbid. Imagine it: There she sits in damp, cold Edinburg, surrounded by millions that can’t buy a cure for writer’s block.

Let’s hope not. Whatever the case, whatever her reasons, Rowling has enough imagination for all of us, and the two little charity books simply prove it again.

Quidditch Through the Ages purports to be a facsimile of a copy found in the library at Hogwarts; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is actually a textbook required for Harry’s studies there. The books are little wanderings off the beaten Potter path, and they add to the ever-growing mythology.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll deflect a little attention from all the Harry Potter movie that’s coming up; perhaps they’ll siphon a little cash from the Harry Potter stuff that’s taken over some store’s shelves.

That’s hardly a pipe dream. As huge as the hype for the movie, games, statues, stationery, beach towels, and T-shirts has been, Rowling’s real world is most alive in one’s head, having been placed there by words on a page.

There’s no substitute for a book, and there’s no use expecting a movie or a keychain will make a difference. And if Rowling wants to give something back to a world that’s embraced her so tightly, let’s be glad she let us in on the offering.

One can’t know too much about Quidditch, after all.

* Laura Dempsey‘s column runs Thursdays in Life.