Friday, 06 December 2002

• Sneak Preview of Harry Potter Book 5

  As most fans of the series already know, J.K. Rowling has written a 93-word teaser describing the next Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." A few of the words have already been widely published:

  "thirty-eight chapter . . . might change . . . longest volume . . . Ron . . . broom . . . sacked . . . house-elf . . . new . . . teacher . . . dies . . . sorry." (New York Times - registration required)

  The rest of the teaser is scheduled to be auctioned off by Sotheby's in London next Thursday, December 12. And it can be yours for the low-low price of about $9,300 (Sotheby's estimate) - that's $100 a word!

  Tempted? Haha, I must admit I'm a huge fan of the series, so of course I'm tempted. But I'd rather eat a whole bag of boogie-flavored Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans than spend ten grand on the teaser.

  Unless I had some help...

  Turns out there's a website collecting hundreds (maybe thousands) of smaller donations between now and the auction. They're going to pool all the donations into one big bid. And if they win, they plan to post the full teaser on their website for all to enjoy (though, as the New York Times mentions, they may run into some copyright problems with that plan).

  No matter what happens, all the donations they collect will end up going to charity (the proceeds from the winning bid are going to Book Aid International, a charity that sends books to poor and developing regions of the world). If you're interested, head over to the site to learn more and maybe pitch in:

  

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