What happened in 1998?
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) was pulished in the U.K. in July of 1998, and was a runaway bestseller.

A few months later, Americans finally got their copies of Book 1, now titled Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone; they (and other fans outside the U.K.) were immediately hungry for more, and had to resort to purchasing Book 2 from British bookstores, as it didn't come out in the U.S. until the summer of 1999.

Rating	1998	Title & highlights*	Links	Type
**	June 27	Mischief with a Magical Allure The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	review
July 2, 1998: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets published in the U.K., and "Friends of Potter" official fan club launched
**	July 4	Fun is brought to book The Herald (Glasgow)	text	review
**	July 9	Just Wild About Harry The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	review
**	July 9	Writer tops best-selling list with children's novel The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	contains interview
***	July 10	From cafe girl to hit writer The Evening Standard (London)	text	interview
****	July 25	Harry Potter Charms a Nation Telegraph (London) JKR highlight: The Hogwarts School Motto is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus – Never tickle a sleeping dragon.	text	interview
***	July 26	J.K. Rowling's Diary Sunday Times (UK)	text	interview
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone published in the U.S. September 1, 1998
**	Sep 12	Wiz Kid - Joanne Rowling Irish Times	text	contains interview
*	Oct	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [book review] School Library Journal	text	book review
**	Oct 8	Grown-ups are going potty for kids' stuff The Times (UK)	text	report
October 1998: First U.S. book tour
**	Oct 9	Harry Potter is off to Hollywood - Writer a Millionairess The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	report
***	Oct 29	Edinburgh Author is Elated as America goes Potty over Potter The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	contains interview
**	Nov 1	A foundling boy and his corps of wizards The Boston Globe	text	review
**	Nov 7	The Golden Fairytale The Australian	text	contains interview
***	Nov 23	British author rides up the charts on a wizard's tale Associated Press Newswires	text	contains interview
**	Nov 28	Spell of Best-seller Magic The Scotsman (Edinburgh)	text	report
**	Dec 3	Harry Potter All Things Considered (NPR Radio)	text audio	report
***	Dec 6	Boy wizard frees trapped mother Sunday Times (London)	text	interview
****	Dec 7	Face to Face with J K Rowling: Casting a spell over young minds The Herald (Glasgow) JKR: "To invent this wizard world, I've learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I'll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic." JKR: "the books do explore the misuse of power, and there's an attempt to make some sense of death" JKR: "it's indecent the amount of time I spend thinking up wizarding ways to subvert arrogant Muggles." Difference between charms and transfiguration? JKR: "With a charm you add properties to something. With a transfiguration you change its nature completely; the molecular structure alters..."	text	interview
***	Dec 21	Flying Starts: Seven first-time children's authors and illustrators talk about their fall debuts: J.K. ROWLING (excerpt) Publisher's Weekly (U.S.)	text	interview
****	1998	The Not Especially Fascinating Life So Far of J.K. Rowling	text	autobiography
Rating	1998	Title & highlights*	Links	Type

*Article highlights created by Deborah Skinner (aka 'Madam Scoop') and Lisa Bunker

Original page date 21 September 2006; last updated 1 July, 2007

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