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BOOK REVIEW: J.K. ROWLING:
THE WIZARD BEHIND HARRY POTTER

Author: Marc Shapiro
Publisher/Year: St. Martin's Griffin, New York, New York, USA, 2000, 107 pages
Cost: $4.99

With Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire burning up the best seller charts in 2000, interest in author J.K. Rowling was never higher. Fans hungered for anything on the generally private British author, who made select appearances that summer to promote her fourth Harry Potter book.

A good Rowling biography was needed. Unfortunately, Shapiro's book is not it.

Shapiro is a veteran of these "unauthorized biographies," cranking out many, including Gillian Anderson (The X-Files,), singer Mariah Carey, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, and seasoned rocker Carlos Santana.

The stage is set with little icons of a hippogriff, broom, cauldron, etc. at the beginning of each chapter, reminiscent of the U.S. Harry Potter books with their little Mary GrandPré chapter illustrations. But it's all downhill from here.

The author relied exclusively on print articles and Internet sites to piece together the story of Rowling. No effort was made to talk to any of the writer's family or friends.

While he clearly writes about her in glowing terms, Shapiro also commits a number of errors, the most glaring of which is listing her birthdate as 1966 (it was 1965). The book also looks hokey because it calls The Goblet of Fire by its rumored name, Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. That certainly does not look good for a biography appearing one month after Goblet of Fire's publication. Public information, such as the name of her Portuguese ex-husband (Jorge Arantes) is excluded and glossed over, perhaps because the book's target audience is preteen kids.

Shapiro's prose also is gushy and annoying. Here's the first paragraph: "Sometimes the world can be a confusing place. It is not always fair or kind. And in the world there are not always happy endings. Which is why, once in a while, we like to escape into the world of fantasy -- a place where things always go our way and there is always a happy ending."

Duh -- how obvious. Didn't many of us like fairy tales as kids (and even into adulthood)?

The Wizard Behind Harry Potter may be used as an introduction to Rowling, but you are better off getting Conversations with J.K. Rowling, or the far superior J.K. Rowling: A Biography by Sean Smith. Read this book with a grain of salt, because its facts are shaky and its formatting of material is haphazard.

The small collection of photos isn't something to write home about, either. They are pictures of J.K. Rowling cliches: signing books, smiling at podiums ... the typical book tour fodder. In some she looks quite haggard, perhaps due to all the travel and fuss. No photos of Rowling BEFORE she became Ms. Big Time Author.

The cover photo is nice, which is about the only thing besides the respectful tone Shapiro takes toward Rowling that I liked about this book.