If there is anybody who doubts the power of J.K. Rowling to excite readers around the world, please look carefully at this photo.
At the moment that The Tales of Beedle the Bard is being released in English, it is also appearing in Thai–and on a huge banner outside a Bangkok bookstore.
This is particularly exciting because in the dark ages before Harry Potter, conventional wisdom claimed that Thai children would only read comic books. It just took one young wizard and his talented creator to prove that generalization was wrong–and his magic continues to keep young readers in Thailand–and all over the world– reading.
Putting this book on your list of holiday gifts to give ensures that more than one child will be happy if you buy it. J.K. Rowling is giving all profits from this book to the Children’s High Level Group, a charity devoted to helping the one million children in Europe who live in large institutions. If there was ever a good reason to buy one book for everyone on your gift list, this could be it.
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