I am deeply impressed by the high international success of the Harry Potter stories. The Harry Potter stories were written by the English writer J.K. Rowling. She was born on 31 July 1965. Her full name is Joanne Rowling. But she writes under the short form J.K. Rowling because primarily her publishing company thought it was a good idea not to reveal the point that she is female. The publishing company feared it might have a negative effect on the sales numbers if everybody instantaneously recognizes that the writer is a woman. So, instead of showing her first name she used two letters. As she has no middle name she took Kathleen as basis for the K. in her pseudonym. Kathleen is the name of her grandmother.

The very first Harry Potter book – Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone – was publicized mid 1997 in in Great Britain. Very interesting is the aspect that only one thousand units of the first story were published at that time. The original title of the story was not Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, but Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. But when the story was released to the American market on 1 September 1998, it was renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.

After that J.K. wrote 6 additional Harry Potter books. Today the Harry Potter series consists of 7 stories. These are:

• Story 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
• Story 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Story 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Story 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Story 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Story 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Story 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter stories have been translated into over 65 languages and have been released in many countries. Besides the tremendous success in the United States and Great Britain, Harry Potter is also quite popular in the European Union. The Harry Potter stories have been published in Germany under those headers:

• Story 1: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
• Story 2: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens
• Story 3: Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban
• Story 4: Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch
• Story 5: Harry Potter und der Orden des Phoenix
• Story 6: Harry Potter und der Halbblutprinz
• Story 7: Harry Potter und die Heiligtuemer des Todes

I must admit that I did not have the opportunity to read all those novels. But there are kids who know them all, which is quite impressive and makes up the huge success.

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