potter magic in online books

There is for devoted fan Melissa Anelli, who has turned her Potter passion into a new book, Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon (Pocket, $16, paperback original).

Anelli, 28, is an insider's insider: She's Web mistress of the second-largest English-language Potter fan website, the Leaky Cauldron (leakynews.com), which gets about 1 million hits a month. (Mugglenet.com, aimed at younger fans, gets twice as many.)

Anelli's book has the blessing of author J.K. Rowling, who wrote the foreword. Rowling reveals it wasn't until 2002 — five years after her first Harry book — that she went online and looked at the vast Potter Web world. "The tale of the online fandom is every bit as extraordinary as Harry's own," she writes, "and it has left me with a feeling of awe and gratitude."

(Rowling's approval is key: Earlier this year she won a lawsuit to block another fan's plans to publish a Potter lexicon.)

In Harry, A History, Anelli describes her love for the boy wizard, the story behind the books, and the growth of the Potter online community.

"It will appeal to both hard-core fans and casual readers," says the book's editor, Jennifer Heddle.

Anelli loves the series because "Harry is a such an inviting character." She has read each Potter book three times and interviewed Rowling the same number.

Anelli, who lives in New York, thought coping with the end of the series would be harder. Working on the website "is still a joy every day. There are still people doing fan art, discussing the books."

And Anelli holds out hope for another Potter book by Rowling. "I do think there is a chance," she says. "If she returns to it, the book will be about Albus Severus Potter (son of Harry and Ginny Potter). The eighth book they said would never happen!" 😃