| Subject: Fifth Harry Potter Book Due on June 21 |
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Date Posted: 20:40:06 01/30/03 Thu
Harry Potter (news - web sites) publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. said on January 15, 2003 that the fifth book in J.K. Rowling (news - web sites)'s children's fantasy adventure series would be published on June 21. The long-awaited fifth book in the series, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', has become an instant best-seller less than 24 hours after the June publication date was announced online book stores said on January 16, 2003. Rowling is seen with her book 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' in this July 8, 2001 file photo. Photo by Ian Waldie/Reuters
Fifth Harry Potter Book Due on June 21
Wed Jan 15, 2:52 PM ET
By Dan Lalor
LONDON (Reuters) - "Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth tale of the boy wizard by author J.K. Rowling (news - web sites), will go on sale across the globe on June 21, her publishers said Wednesday.
Reuters Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Harry Potter
The book, which at 38 chapters and 255,000 words, will be a third longer than the last book -- "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" -- has been delivered to its English language publishers Bloomsbury of Britain and Scholastic of the United States.
Fans have had to wait three years for "Order of the Phoenix," which is to be released in Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia and in the English language in many other countries on the same day.
"Goblet of Fire" was published in July 2000 and was the fastest-selling book in history on the first weekend of its publication.
The British publishers, not surprisingly, said it would be worth the wait for a story to be published on midsummer's day.
The British booksellers Waterstone's said that within two hours of the announcement "the interest has been phenomenal."
The first few sentences of the new book are: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive ... The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four."
The book may have a darker side than the earlier escapades.
Bloomsbury said Rowling also writes: "Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. "It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.
"Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything."
GLOBAL APPEAL
All four Harry Potter books -- "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," as well as "Goblet of Fire" -- are still on bestseller lists around the world.
Rowling has gotten married since "Goblet of Fire" was published and is pregnant. Her baby is due this spring.
The Potter sagas have been a publishing triumph on both sides of the Atlantic, proving a huge success with children and adults alike. Bloomsbury shares rose by more than three percent on news of the latest book.
For New York-based Scholastic Corp., a publisher of children's and educational books and the top operator of book fairs in U.S. schools, Potter has been a huge success.
The four titles generated combined U.S. hardcover and paperback sales of about 80 million copies, Scholastic spokeswoman Judy Corman said. It was their dominance of the U.S. fiction market that prompted the New York Times to launch a bestseller list for children's titles.
The success of the series has also been a significant driver for Scholastic's share price, which topped out at nearly $57 in April 2002, up nearly three-fold during the main run of the first four books.
But the company's bottom line and stock price have suffered in recent quarters as the Order of Phoenix launch was pushed back into Scholastic's fiscal year 2004, beginning this June 1.
Scholastic originally had budgeted the launch for the current year.
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