6th Grade Honorable Mention - JK Rowling

I received a lot of essays about JK Rowling. This one rose to the top of the pile. Great Job Sarah! This was a great essay. I hope you continue to follow your dreams and continue to write, you certainly have the gift! Kylie

Sarah
Ecker Hill International Middle School
Sixth Grade

Her Spellbinding Story

This woman started out writing her bestselling series on napkins and later became the first billionaire writer. If I could meet anyone in the world, from any country, during any time period, it would be J.K. Rowling. I would like to meet her because she inspires me every day, as she was the creator of the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter is a seven book series about a young boy who discovers he is a wizard and enrolls in, and is accepted into, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is the best school around. During the series, Harry fights evil, grows up, makes friends, and finds love, all while going through the process of becoming a powerful wizard.

While writing the books, J.K. Rowling was also going through her own personal struggles as a single mom who was striving to pay her bills, and an author endeavoring to get her works published. J.K. Rowling had her manuscript turned down twelve times before it was finally published! “It took a year for my new agent, Christopher, to find a publisher. Lots of them turned it down. Then, finally, in August 1996, Christopher telephoned me and told me that Bloomsbury had made an offer. I could not quite believe my ears. ‘You mean it’s going to be published?’ I asked, rather stupidly. ‘It’s definitely going to be published.’ After I had hung up, I screamed and jumped into the air; Jessica, who was sitting in her high chair enjoying tea, looked thoroughly scared,” from jkrowling.com. Talk about persevering! I think that it would be an awe-inspiring experience to meet the person who is responsible for my favorite books (that I’ve read four times each), my favorite movies (all of which I own), and my favorite game to play with my Harry Potter-crazy friend, Beth, and my brother Alex. I would be honored to get the chance to meet one of my idols in person!

First of all, I would want J.K. Rowling to feel comfortable, so I would insist that we meet at Nicolson's Café. I know that this is a place where she would feel comfortable meeting at because it is the café that she would go to regularly to write the Harry Potter stories. J.K. Rowling decided to write there because she would not have to heat her house and could stay at Nicolson's Café for hours for the price of one espresso (wikipedia.com on Nicolson's Café). She was a single mom who was watching her money after all. I found it interesting that J.K. Rowling thought up the idea of Harry Potter on a train, even though she wrote most of the book in Nicolson's Café. I can picture me sitting at her favorite spot, looking out a window, waiting for her to arrive. It would be fascinating to see the place where she put in long hours to write this fantastic series. The part that I think is the most captivating about J.K. Rowling when she went to Nicolson’s Café was that she would write Harry Potter longhand — not on a computer; nothing technical. Pen and paper. Now that is something that I know I wouldn’t be able to do.

In addition, the first question I would ask J.K. Rowling is, “Are you planning on writing another book or series after Harry Potter?” I would ask her this because I enjoyed the Harry Potter series so much, and she is a superior writer. I love the way she develops the characters in the Harry Potter series, how she can make me laugh out loud one moment and cry the next, and the fact that she can make me envision something in my mind without getting too descriptive. I would be so disappointed if she didn’t compose another book. However, according to brainquote.com, J.K. Rowling says, “I will carry on writing, to be sure. But I don't know if I would want to publish again after Harry Potter.” This makes me woebegone because I think J.K. Rowling has so much talent in writing, and I think that a lot of people will be disappointed if she decides she’s finished. Neverthelsss, I have read from other sources that she is considering writing an eighth Harry Potter book. Even so, the story would not be about Harry, and she would not start writing it for quite a while. I would enjoy talking to her about the development and completion of the characters, and if she misses them. I think it would be fun to talk about which characters she liked to write about the best, and if she was satisfied with the way they turned out. `

Finally, I would like J.K. Rowling to know how her life changed history. Her books opened up the fantasy genre in young adult literature like no one before her. The Harry Potter series led the way for additional book series like Fablehaven, Inkheart, Eragon, and the Alchemyst, all of them published after Harry Potter. For people everywhere, young and old, Harry Potter got us reading and wanting to be writers. The seven book series appealed to such a large audience that over 400 million copies have been sold (as of 2008) and have been translated into over 67 different languages.

As for me, Harry Potter has inspired me to be creative and showed me the meaning of friendship. As a writer, J.K. Rowling has motivated me to consider taking some creative writing classes and I have often thought about a career in writing. J.K. Rowling has showed me just how imaginative I can be, and that the sky is the limit when it comes to my creativity. This is why I chose her — not a popular singer, not some famous movie star — Joanne Kathleen Rowling.