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IT’S NOT often I can buy a book and
support a worthwhile cause at the same time, yet I did exactly that when I
recently purchased some JK Rowling books for a friend’s son: The Tales of
Beedle the Bard and the Harry Potter schoolbooks collection.
Published by Scholastic, proceeds from both support two important UK-based
children’s charities: the Children’s High Level Group (www.chlg.org)
and Comic Relief (www.comicrelief.com).
 The
former was founded in 2005 by JK Rowling and MEP Baroness Emma Nicholson of
Winterbourne. CHLG volunteers work together to protect and promote vulnerable
children’s rights. By focusing on marginalized and institutionalized children
in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, CHLG is working with a growing
number (250,000-plus) of children who are separated from their families each
year. At last report, sales of The Tales of Beedle the Bard had raised
more than £4m. While Beedle only existed in Rowling’s novels as a book of
“fairy tales” for wizarding children, its current incarnation is a fun read
that gave me additional insight into the world of Harry Potter. I highly
recommend this amusing book for a good cause.
Any
Harry Potter reader will remember the famed Hogwarts’ textbooks, two of which
were “re-created” for the benefit of needy children in the world’s poorest
countries through the organization Comic Relief. To date, Comic Relief has
raised more than a half-billion pounds and has served millions of young people.
The schoolbook sleeve contains two volumes: Quidditch Through the Ages by
Kennilworthy Whisp and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt
Scamander. Both these books and authors previously existed only in Rowling’s
imaginative stories. For me, the Quidditch book was amusing but only marginally
enlightening on a complex game. And, while I enjoyed reading about the many
magical creatures brought to life in Rowling’s books, many important “beasts”
were obviously missing: Dementors and House Elves to name two. Nonetheless,
these schoolbooks make a great gift for avid Harry Potter fans, who will enjoy
them both.
On another note, we have received (and
I have read) several self-published books recently. Self-publishing is a
growing phenomenon, whereby you or I could write a book and pay to have it
illustrated, printed, and bound. Often, self-published authors make their books
available through local and online booksellers, via mail order, and through
their own websites. I have known authors whose books made the leap from
self-publishing to a mainstream press, but they are the exception. Generally
speaking, the process of submitting a book to a mainstream publisher (and
having it reviewed, accepted, edited and so forth) provides a fair amount of
quality control. Often, the books seem appropriate for a very specific and
limited audience or as family mementos. So, although we don’t discourage
authors from submitting their self-published books for review, they are less
likely to be featured in this column.
Until next month...
Please email me at
OKEEFEKG@GMAIL.COM or visit my website
at www.snark-hunter.com.
Link to previous reviews -
January 2009 February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009 |
