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Brooke Allen (review date 1–15 November 1999)

SOURCE: “A World of Wizards,” in New Leader, Vol. 82, No. 13, November 1–15, 1999, pp. 13–14.

[In the following review, Allen comments on Rowling's unprecedented popularity.]

A phenomenon is afoot in the publishing world. As I write, the top three slots on the New York Times best-seller list are not occupied by Frank McCourt or Roddy Doyle, nor even by crowd-pleasers like Danielle Steel or Tom Clancy. They are held by a charming and unpretentious children's series about a young wizard named Harry Potter, the creation of J. (for Joanne) K. Rowling, a single mother living in Edinburgh. Entirely unknown until the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Britain two years ago, Rowling has now put out the third novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Her triumph is the more remarkable for having been achieved without benefit of...

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1. Introduction
2. Criticism
   1. Shannon Maughan (review date 15 February 1999)
   2. Shannon Maughan (review date 19 July 1999)
   3. J. K. Rowling with Roxanne Feldman (interview date September 1999)
   4. Roger Sutton (review date September–October 1999)
   5. Judith Rosen (essay date 4 October 1999)
   6. Andrew Stuttaford (review date 11 October 1999)
   7. Francine Fialkoff (review date 15 October 1999)
   8. Shannon Maughan (review date 1 November 1999)
   9. Andrew Stephen (review date 1 November 1999)
   10. Brooke Allen (review date 1–15 November 1999)
   11. Lee Siegel (review date 22 November 1999)
   12. Christian Century (review date 1 December 1999)
   13. Alison Lurie (review date 16 December 1999)
   14. Charles De Lint (review date January 2000)
   15. Julia Eccleshare (review date 3 January 2000)
   16. J. K. Rowling with Brad Crawford (interview date February 2000)
   17. Cathi Dunn MacRae (review date March 2000)
   18. Michael Rogers (essay date 1 March 2000)
   19. Dot Wordsworth (review date 8 April 2000)
   20. Shannon Maughan (review date 17 April 2000)
   21. School Library Journal (essay date May 2000)
   22. Bobbie Combs (review date 10 July 2000)
   23. Chauncey Mabe (review date 10 July 2000)
   24. Kathleen Merryman (essay date 10 July 2000)
   25. Robert Munsch (review date 10 July 2000)
   26. Nancy Pate (review date 10 July 2000)
   27. Susan Perren (review date 10 July 2000)
   28. Andrea Sachs (review date 17 July 2000)
   29. Stefan Kanfer (essay date 19 July 2000)
   30. Makund Padmanabhan (review date 24 July 2000)
3. Further Reading
4. Copyright