J.K. Rowling, author of the wildly popular “Harry Potter” fantasy books, has introduced a new site for Potter fans. Pottermore will be available to users later this year, and you can now submit your e-mail address to be notified when it’s open. There’s no doubt the site will become an online mecca for fans of all ages. Not only does it promise to provide a way to keep in touch with the world of wizardry, magic, and muggles, it will also feature some new content!

Pottermore logo

Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books.

Early users will be granted access to the site July 31, and it will be open to the public in October.

Wotcher! Potterheads, rejoice! A new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will be released later today. Grab a some pumpkin pasties and a bottle of butterbeer, because this is going to be fun!

Update (later on the same evening): Whoa!!! I just watched it, and it’s very exciting! Half Blood Prince looks quite action-packed, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Ginny Weasley! It will also be fun to watch Draco’s character develop beyond schoolyard bully into something more significant. Woo-hoo! Now I have to watch it again.

In all of my excitement over Twilight and this weekend’s release of Breaking Dawn, I have been slightly distracted from my previous literary obsession: Harry Potter!

Half-Blood Prince movie trailer

I got a super reminder of why I’m such a Potterhead yesterday when I watched the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which comes to theaters November 21, 2008. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it here. It is thrilling! I loved getting a glimpse of Tom Riddle as a young boy. Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Apparently, the boy playing young Tom Riddle is the real-life nephew of Ralph Fiennes, who plays the grown-up dark lord Voldemort.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie! When I finish Breaking Dawn, I think I’ll re-read Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows to get ready for the HBP movie!

Birthdays

Also, today, July 31, is JK Rowling’s birthday, which she also shares with Harry Potter! Happy, Happy, Happy Birthdays! I raise my butterbeer to you! Cheers!

New Book by JK Rowling! (pre-order now; available December 4, 2008)

Hooray! JK Rowling’s book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, is a companion to the Harry Potter series. The book was referenced in the last volume of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It contains five original fairy tales, which have been compared to Aesop’s fables and the stories of the Brothers Grimm.

The Collector’s Edition (pictured) of Beedle has some sweet special features, such as extra illustrations, a reproduction of Rowling’s handwritten introduction, metal and gemstone details on the cover, and extensive and insightful commentary and footnotes by Albus Dumbledore!

I can’t resist stories with names like these:

• The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
• The Fountain of Fair Fortune
• The Warlock’s Hairy Heart
• Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump
• The Tale of the Three Brothers

Any other Potterheads out there? Will you buy The Tales of Beedle the Bard? What do you think of the Half-Blood Prince trailer?