8th Grade, 4th Place Winner - JK Rowling

Another great essay about JK Rowling. Nice job Chelsie! Keep writing, you do have a talent! Kylie

Chelsie C
Dixon Middle School
Eighth Grade

If I Could Meet Anyone, It Would Be…

If I could meet anyone in the world, from any country, during any time period, it would be Joanne Rowling. I want to meet Ms. Rowling because she is the world famous author who wrote the famous series of books called "Harry Potter". Her pen name is JK Rowling. Her publishers demanded that she used initials for the first part of her name because they feared that boys wouldn’t read her book because she’s a girl. She didn’t have a middle name so she chose to use the K from her grandmother’s name. If I could meet her, then the meeting place I would choose would be the Universal Studio’s Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. There are many questions that I would want to ask her, but the first one I would ask would probably be “Do you have any secrets that have helped you write such an incredible book?” I would want to ask this question because I hope to someday be a great author and she has influenced me greatly in this desire. JK Rowling and her books have changed my life quite a bit.

I would want Joanne Rowling to feel comfortable so I would insist that we meet at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. That place has a whole entire amusement park based off of her famous series. In this amusement park, they have rides, shops such as Zonko’s, a wizard’s prank shop, Ollivanders, a wand shop, Honeydukes, a shop filled with sweets, Filchs Emporium of Confiscated Goods, a store filled with clothing, toys and other things from the book, Dervish and Banges, a store filled with magical supplies and wizarding equipment, and a restaurant called the Three Broomsticks. All of these places are based on places in Joanne Rowling’s series. The restaurant would probably be the best place for us to talk. In JK Rowling’s series, she often had her characters have important conversations there. The restaurant even created a drink called Butterbeer based off of the Butterbeer in Joanne Rowling’s book. She has approved of it herself. She created this place. It came from her own imagination, so I’m pretty sure that she would be fairly comfortable there.

The first question I would ask Joanne Rowling is, “Do you have any secrets that have helped you write such an incredible book?” I would ask this question because I hope to be a published author someday. I don’t know if it’s possible for me to be nearly as good as JK Rowling, but I can try. An author can always learn more, whether it’s tips, information, or anything else. Everything can help an author write their books, and I’m sure that the best author would have the best tips. That’s why I would ask her that question. Other questions that I would ask would mostly, if not all be about things that would help me improve my book. They would be things like, “Are there tricks that have helped you come up with the things in your book such as names of places and people?” or “What are the things you feel are the most important to know and remember when writing a book.” There are so many questions that I would want to ask JK Rowling.

I would like Joanne Rowling to know how their life, or how one of their decisions or how one of their posterity changed history. I can’t imagine how many lives she’s changed. I don’t know how many authors decided to become authors because of her. I don’t know how many people have dreams to become authors because of her. I am one of the people who have a dream to become an author because of her. In fifth grade, I was writing a biography about JK Rowling when I came across her words on how she came up with her idea for her incredible, world famous series. She said, “It was after a weekend's flat-hunting, when I was traveling back to London on my own on a crowded train, that the idea for Harry Potter simply fell into my head. To my immense frustration, I didn't have a functioning pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain. I think that perhaps if I had had to slow down the ideas so that I could capture them on paper I might have stifled some of them (although sometimes I do wonder, idly, how much of what I imagined on that journey I had forgotten by the time I actually got my hands on a pen).” She also talked about games that she played as a child that she used in her books. When I read this, the idea that I might be able to write a book about my childhood games “simply fell into my head.” I hadn’t written any of it down, but I had all of the details I came up with from years of only playing that game imprinted in my head. I doubt that I would be writing my own books and even be the person that I am if it hadn’t been for Joanne Rowling.

JK Rowling has changed my life so deeply in such a good way. She is the person I would choose to meet, out of all of the people in the world, from any time period if I could meet anyone. She has changed the world and made it a better place. If it weren’t for her, then there wouldn’t be as many good books in this world for people to read. If it weren’t for her, then many of the children and people that she effected wouldn’t have imaginations nearly as good as the imaginations that they have. Reading a book, especially a good book strengthens the imagination. I am so grateful for Joanne Rowling and her amazing books. She has changed the world.