Today’s poll, “What is the underlying theme of the HP series?” is up. This is part of our forum’s Poll-a-Day-till-HBP; you can see the other polls here. Severus Snape won yesterday’s “Favorite Villian” post by a landslide 37% of the vote. In second was Professor Dolores Umbridge (13%) and in third Lucius Malfoy (11%). Also, …read more!

Today’s Miami Herald has an article about HBP event planning, and some tips from kids, teens & parents planning Potter themed events – and yes, there’s a suggestion that planners visit PotterParties for more tips. There’s also a list of local HBP events including a discount day at the Seaquarium for those in costume.

Today’s Sydney Morning Herald (free registration required) offers a short piece on the publishing history of Harry, along with brief interviews from a variety of people on why the series is important: From writer/critic Kerryn Goldsworthy: In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hagrid the Giant is upset because there are people at Hogwarts …read more!

The “Ask Jo” contest is over, and the points stand thus: 1. theotherhermit, with 20% of the vote 2. RedMane, with 19% of the vote 3. hpmons, with 13% of the vote The three questions that TLC will definitely ask Jo Rowling on July 16 are, respectively: – Do memories in a Pensieve reflect reality …read more!

The Connecticut News and The Borowitz Report both publised parodies of the Potter series this week. The Connecticut one, written by the paper’s children’s books editor, reimagines aspects of the series as if it were written by authors as diverse as Dr Seuss and J.D. Salinger, while the Borowitz report takes a very dark perspective …read more!

A quick and fun announcement today: After being open less than six months, Leaky Lounge, our forum, registered its 10,000th member. We’re floored and wowed. And here comes the big massive Thank Yous, because we haven’t posted purely about the forum since it opened, and I have to say, it is really everything I hoped …read more!

The first Barnes & Noble HBP discussion group, scheduled to begin chatting on Tuesday led by our own Sue Upton, is full. Because of the tremendous response, a second one is now open for enrolllment; this one will be hosted by John Granger, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter, and our own Doris …read more!

SPOILER WARNING: Scholastic sent us the back cover of the book in beautiful green high quality glory: Here you go! Comments are off; post here in the Leaky Lounge! UPDATE: Scholastic has released some info about this art. Click the link below to read. “The back cover depicts Ron and Hermione as well as two …read more!

In conjunction with their 10th Anniversary, online retailer Amazon.com has announced their top selling authors. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series was named as the number one best-selling author. She was followed by “author was followed by Spencer Johnson of “Who Moved My Cheese?” fame, romance novelist Nora Roberts and “The Da Vinci …read more!

Seven days to go, and today’s Leaky Lounge poll, asking who your favorite villain is (Snape’s winning as of this posting) is right here; yesterday’s, “Will Harry use an Unforgivable,” is now closed. More than 34% of you said he will never use one; 21% thought he would use more than one, and 18% thought …read more!