Free Autographed Deathly Hallows, Meet Rowling

Oh I’d die if I had the chance to do that! That is so wonderful. I hope it gets screened, like they did with HBP. This book release will be one of the biggest, this century.

I know! how amazing is that!? And that I think will be Jo’s biggest legacy. She has made the new generation (my generation) get away from the computer games and read. It’s awesome. because of her, I now take an active interest in the fantasy genre and other books. The HP series is a great way for kids to get into reading. They are smart books (hence why adults love them) and yet they are not so complicated, that the kids can’t understand them.

No.

If you read the post Rowling herself says it’s open to Americans.

Follow the link
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=98

Matthew

I hear it’s not open for people over 21. IS that true guys?

Nope.
“If you are under the age of 18, your entry must include your parent or legal guardian’s signature…” etc. The entry form explicitly permits even young children, I guess.

If I understand it correctly, there are 2 contests. Scholastic is running one and there will be 7 winners of that, each a child under 21. They will attend the event with one of their parents unless they are 18 or over and then they can pick who to bring (though I still think it can’t be a child unless they are that child’s parent). The winners get a flight over and back, 3 night’s hotel and spending money in addition to admission to the event and a free book.

Then Bloomsbury is running a contest. Less restrictive as to age and number of people in the group, whole families can enter but only if they live in the British isles.

The confusion is that there will be 500 people at the midnight reading but Rowling will sign 1700 books — she’s staying up all night and they’re letting the participants in in batches.

What I don’t understand is if there are different drawings for the 500 and the 1700, or if they’ll take the first 500 who get the extra prize of going to the reading (minus the 14 from the Scholastic drawing, I guess) and then draw the rest to get to 1700.

I wrote to Scholastic asking if they even thought about how this might affect families — after much arguments and emotions, we decided we can’t enter because if one of our sons won, the other would feel left out and I thought our family unity is more important than the contest, though I really, really, REALLY want to go. So I wrote to Scholastic and asked if they’d thought about families and got back a rather cryptic reply. They said they couldn’t change the rules (duh, I was really just asking them to think twice for the next contest) but that: “However the event is a “public” one and they can probably look on their own to find tickets for “J.K. Rowling and the Moonlight Signing” elsewhere. The event itself is not limited to 21 years and younger since parents are allowed to accompany their kids.”

I don’t, however, know of any other way to obtain tickets except the two contests Scholastic and Bloomsbury are running. There is a post at the Leaky Cauldron with links if anyone wants to read the rules, etc.

I wrote back to Scholastic asking if they knew anything and I’m going to write to the Leaky Cauldron people to see if they know anything. I’ll try to remember to come back here and post if I learn anything significant.

I know right. This annoys me though as I think they should have set an allocated amount of tickets aside for the adult readers. God knows so many of fans are adults. Ah well.

Haha, I entered, because I am under 21.

I entered too, but can you imagine, even with the age limit, how many people are going to be entering this!? Millions. Ah well. We can certainly cross our fingers…

Shadowquill,

That’s just what I thought, I’ll enter my kids and get to accompany them if I win. But then I realized how each would feel if the other won. Scholastic’s contest is unfairly restrictive. If I lived in the UK I wouldn’t have to choose between my kids.

I’m not entering at all.

And for what it’s worth, I bet Jo didn’t really write that entry on her website. She didn’t come up with the numbers and the procedures, someone else did. I think it’s great she’s staying up all night to sign books, I just wish she’d come to the US but after they tried to separate her from her manuscript the last time she flew here I bet she’s not keen to do it again anytime soon.

Carla,

Here’s my reasoning: First, I want to go much more than either of my kids. However, if one won, the other would want to go, too. And I agree with you about awards and most normal prizes, they can’t and won’t be equal. But this is in a different category, really, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’ve never been outside of the US unless you count Toronto. If the prize were a day in New York City, which is 3 hours south of here and which we could visit another time, it might be different. Every family’s different, I guess. But I still think the contest forces a very uncomfortable choice — or maybe it chooses for you. But I still have a choice and my choice, for this particular contest, I choose not to enter.

BTW, if we won, the signed copy would belong to ME, so your suggestion is not really an option. Though my older son does have some books that are his very own (his collection of Calvin and Hobbes and FoxTrot books), most books in this house are really community property. And, well, if I did enter, since I have 2 kids and I don’t think it says one entry per family (I could be wrong about that), I’d want to enter them both to get a better chance to win.

And you bring up an excellent point — those of you who don’t have kids but are not kids anymore can’t enter at all, there you go, another way it’s not fair. I’ve got to stop thinking about this contest it’s taking all the fun out of life.

My Bad,
Wrong Post

Well, actually…

Rowling’s site says “other English speaking countries…”

So if you live in New Zealand or Australia or New Guinea or wherever I think Allen & Unwin are the Publishers.

Check their site

Matthew

And look here

http://www.allenandunwin.com/harrypotter/home.asp

Matthew

Thanks Mia & korg20000bc,
I really appreciate it!

And also found out that Deathly Hallows will be sold at the same time all over the world. ie. 00.01 British Standard Time on Saturday 21st July.

That’s right, Matthew, it’ll be released at 1.01 CET. Now our American friends don’t have to be depressed any longer.