J.K. Rowling releases a new book: The Ickabog

J.K Rowling is a British author, born on July, 31st 1965 in Yate, England. She is the author of the most loved and famous children book of seven series Harry potter. The seven series of harry potter are the best sales of J.K. Rowling. It is not wrong to say that she is best known for her book harry potter.

After the success of harry potter seven series, Rowling published many books that got fame as well. J.K. Rowling has the best concept of fairytales and magic. It was her, who changed the word philosopher to a sorcerer, for the publication in America, and no doubt the change in the title did miracles. 

Almost a decade ago, while working on the harry potter series, Rowling wrote another fairytale draft, which was intended to be published after the completion of harry potter and the deathly hollows. However, after the publication of seven series of harry potter Rowling took a long break from publishing her words. During that time, she wrote a few other scripts, and the book The Ickabog went into the attic for almost a decade. She decided to keep herself away from children's publications and got herself busy in adult fiction.

A short time ago, J.K. Rowling made an official announcement that she will be publishing a book for free, for children. Rowling thought that the story belonged to her children when they were young, she used to read this to them, and no doubt this would have been the best memory of her life.  

Her enthusiastic children who are teens now brought the book down from the attic and suggested to her mother what bits they loved from the book. J.K. Rowling obeyed the suggestions of her first two readers of the book. She again started reading it to her family nightly.

 The Ickabog:

The Ickabog is a book for children aged between seven and nine. The question in everyone’s mind was that whether the book contained magic or not alike harry potter. To clear the question rising from each, Rowling made a tweeter post saying:  This is not a Harry Potter spin-off.

With this ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Rowling thought that this lockdown is particularly hard for children, so she started rewriting this book. She changed it a bit. However, the story has nothing to do with the ongoing situation. It isn't based on the pandemic.

Rowling mentioned on her website that this book would be published for free on her website. The book will be published in installments in seven weeks, two or three chapters at a time. 

The Ickabog is a story of abuse of power. It is something that we are facing today in reality. It is a political fairytale. The first two chapters of the story were released on May 26, 2020, and three to five chapters on May 27, 2020. Rowling mentioned on the Ickabog website that she is planning to publish the translated versions of the book in a short time.

Chapter 1: King Fred the fearless

Chapter 2: The Ickabog

Chapter 3: Death of the seamstress

Chapter 4: The Quite house

Chapter 5: Daisy Dovetail

Chapter 6: The Fight in the courtyard

Chapter 7: Lord Spittleworth tells tales

Chapter 8: The day of petition

The illustration competition

J.K. Rowling has invited children to participate and do illustrations for her book. This is the best idea to keep children occupied during this pandemic and lockdown rather than distracting them, to use social media and cellphones for no good.

She mentioned on her tweeter post that this is not any technical skill. Creativity, efforts, and inventiveness are the most important things. The competition will be judged by the publishers of the book. Each publisher will decide which illustration suits the story most.  

If you are aged between seven and nine, your parents can enter the competition on your behalf, only to share your artwork with the hashtag #TheIckabog. The ideas and suggestions for the illustration which suits the story will be shared on the Ickabog website. However, you are not bound to follow these ideas only, leaving your creativity behind. The best drawings will be published in the book.

It is so generous of J.K. Rowling that when the book be published in November. She will donate all her royalty to the people affected by this deadly virus.

Wrap up

Don't lose the opportunity to get your illustration featured in the story of the most famous and loved writer. Start illustrating the story using your creativity. The important thing to keep in mind is that this competition is available for a few countries at the moment. Some other countries will be added to the list soon.

Author bio

George Peter is currently working as a content writer. He has the curiosity to keep himself updated. He owns a blog. George believes that a good content writer first has to be the best reader. He has read all the series and stories of J.K Rowling.