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Thursday, June 4, 2020
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
J.K. Rowling and ‘The Ickabog’
■ What to know about the new, not-‘Harry Potter’-story that kids are invited to illustrate
By Ellen Gray
“The Ickabog” by J.K. Rowling
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The publication of a new J.K.
Rowling story has often been
accompanied by lines of robed
children, parents and wizard wan-
nabes waiting outside bookshops
to pluck the fi rst volumes from the
piles at the stroke of midnight.
That won’t be happening, or
not at least until late fall, for “The
Ickabog,” a children’s story that the
“Harry Potter” author is releasing
free online to entertain kids in lock-
down. Her plan is to continue to
publish “a chapter (or two, or three)
every weekday” until July 10.
“I think ‘The Ickabog’ lends itself
well to serialisation because it was
written as a read-aloud book (un-
consciously shaped, I think, by the
way I read it to my own children),
but it’s suitable for 7-9 year olds to
read to themselves,” Rowling writes
on her website, jkrowling.com.
As of Thursday morning, eight
chapters of “The Ickabog” were
available at theickabog.com, where
young readers are also being
invited to help illustrate the story,
for possible use in editions to be
published in November.
Rowling is pledging her royal-
ties to help groups that “have
been particularly impacted by the
pandemic.”
What we know so far: “The
Ickabog” has introduced a spoiled,
not very bright king, Fred the Fear-
less (he added the fearless part),
who rules the largely prosperous
kingdom of Cornucopia. It has also
laid out the legend of the monster
Ickabog, who fi gures in stories
that have been passed down by
generations of the far less prosper-
ous Marshlanders who live on the
fringes of Cornucopia.
Where it came from: “The idea
for ‘The Ickabog’ came to me while
What: J.K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) is releasing free chapters online
of her new story for children to enjoy during lockdown. She will continue
through July 10.
Information: theickabog.com
J.K. Rowling
I was still writing ‘Harry Potter,’”
writes Rowling.
Her plan had been to publish it
after the last of the “Potter” series,
but instead she decided to take a
break from writing for children.
(She published the novel “The Ca-
sual Vacancy” and has been writing
a series of detective stories under
the pen name Robert Galbraith.)
“The Ickabog” manuscript went
into the attic. When she brought
up the idea recently of publishing
it online, her two children, now
teenagers, were “touchingly enthu-
siastic.”
How kids can get involved: Il-
lustrations by artists 7-12 years
old can be entered by their parents
or guardians to a contest run by
the book’s publishers for possible
inclusion in their country’s edition
of the book. Details can be found at
theickabog.com/competition.
In the U.S., entries may be sub-
mitted to Scholastic at scholastic.
com/illustrationcompetition. Ac-
cording to Scholastic, “the 34 win-
ning illustrations will be included
in the print and e-book editions of
J.K. Rowling’s “The Ickabog,” to be
published by Scholastic in Novem-
ber. Each winner will also receive
a copy of the book signed by the
author and a prize package of $650
worth of Scholastic books for the
entrant’s school or library of choice.”
How to show Rowling your
child’s (or even your) drawings: on
Twitter. Rowling’s not in charge of
the judging, but she’s inviting par-
ents to post their kids’ illustrations
with the hashtag #TheIckabog.
And she’s started sharing some and
commenting on them, including
some from those too young, or too
old, to enter the contest.
What it means for booksellers:
“It does me zero good” so far, said
Richard De Wyngaert, owner of
Philadelphia’s Head House Books,
on Wednesday, “but that’s all right.
I like the sentiment behind it.”
In addition, “I love what she did
for generations of readers” with
the Harry Potter series, he said.
“It’s the only one like that in my
lifetime, so broad and multigenera-
tional.”
He’s not personally crazy
about the concept of serializing
books. “The beauty of it is that
it’s certainly strengthening the
delayed-gratifi cation muscles,” but
“I don’t like to read that way. That’s
just me. I’m a binge reader. I was
thinking of waiting till it was over,”
he said. “You don’t want someone
else to dictate the tempo of your
reading.”
De Wyngaert’s business has piv-
oted online during the shutdown.
He’s looking forward to carrying
(and reading) “The Ickabog” in
November.