Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Paperback on July 7, 2009

Fans of Harry Potter are keeping the magic alive online and in bookstores, schools, libraries and homes all across the country with fans re-reading the series and new fans starting at the beginning. There are anniversaries to celebrate, a new charity book in December from J.K. Rowling and now the paperback edition of J.K. Rowling's bestselling and final Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," (ISBN 0-545-13970-8; price $14.99), will be released on July 7, 2009. With an initial print run of 2 million copies, this will bring the total number of the seven Harry Potter books in print to over 143 million in the U.S. alone. The paperback edition follows the record-breaking release of the hardcover edition which hit stores at 12:01 on July 21, 2007 and has sold 14 million copies since then, making it the fastest selling book in publishing history.

As previously announced, Scholastic is releasing two Harry Potter books this fall:

-- "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" -- Available now, in honor of the tenth anniversary of the publication of J.K. Rowling's debut novel, Scholastic has published a special anniversary edition. Including an exclusive drawing of Snape drawn by J.K. Rowling and a description in her own words, the book also features new jacket artwork and a four-color frontispiece by Mary GrandPré. To celebrate the day, Scholastic is inviting fans of all ages to come to its headquarters in New York City to be part of "Harry Potter Cover to Cover Day," an all-day read-a-thon starting at 8:00 a.m. Fans who can't be in New York can view the all-day read-a-thon through a live webcast at www.scholastic.com/readharry.

-- "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" -- On December 4, 2008, the Children's High Level Group, the English charity, co-founded by J.K. Rowling and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, MEP, to protect and promote children's rights and make life better for vulnerable young people, will publish "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" in cooperation with Scholastic, Bloomsbury and Amazon. One of these tales -- The Tale of the Three Brothers -- is recounted in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The remaining four stories are revealed for the very first time in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."