According to The Herald Tribute, US Potter book illustrator Mary GrandPre will be drawing "25 original sketches of characters from the series to benefit Forty Carrots Family Center's Capital Campaign."

Forty Carrots, as explained on their site, has "served thousands of families in the Sarasota community giving these families both roots and wings through a combination of the highest quality early childhood and parenting education."

The full article, which includes details on purchasing the sketches, can be found on The Herald Tribute's website.

The latest episode of our Harry Potter podcast is now available, and this week's episode features a special interview with the illustrator of the US Potter books: Mary GrandPre! In her first fansite interview since the release of Deathly Hallows, we talk with Mary about everything from the Book 7 release to future Potter covers.

- Prior to the interview, we catch up on the latest news and more.
- Mary explains the process of designing the covers.
- Which cover gave her the most difficulty? Who is her favorite character to draw?
- What is her favorite book in the series?
- She breaks down the curtain comparison between the first and last novels.
- How much communication does she have with Jo? International illustrators?
- She discusses future anniversary covers and the HP encyclopedia.
- How difficult was it for her knowing the end of Deathly Hallows?
- To wrap up the show, Make The Music Connection returns.

To download for free, we recommend subscribing through Apple iTunes. Just CLICK HERE and then press "Subscribe" to the right of our album art. (Already subscribed? Refresh your feed!) No iPod or MP3 player needed! You can also visit the MuggleCast website to listen right within your browser, or to download the MP3 file to your desktop. Enjoy!

Back in November we told you about a Mary GrandPre exhibit at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. The exhibit holds close to 100 sketches by the US Potter book illustrator.

Now, MuggleNet visitor Kristin has sent us a great batch of photos from the exhibit. There's a lot of really cool work to be seen: a bird's eye view of Hogwarts, concepts for Deathly Hallows including this one and this one, a sketch of the merpeople scene in Goblet of Fire, and a LOT more!

All can be seen in our gallery. Thanks again to Kristin for the pics!

MuggleNet reader Maggie has informed us of a Mary GrandPre exhibition on display at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. What's more, Maggie attended the gallery walk on November 2nd where GrandPre talked about the art for all who attended:

The show is fantastic!!! 96 items on display and 38 of them are HP. On display: 20 pencil sketches she did for Warner Brothers in '04 and '05 and various scenes from books 1-5. These alone are worth going for! They also had one color picture of the trio playing the chess game (from book 1), cover sketches for books 1, 6, 7 (not just the final cover published but covers that weren't chosen). The sketches for Book 1 had the original title (Harry Potter and the School of Magic) instead of Sorcerer's Stone. Also, there were pencil sketches for Beedle the Bard and some future Collector Editions.

Admission to the gallery is $5 for adults and free for children and runs through February 5th. If you check it out, be sure to send us in a report!

TIME Magazine has a new interview online with US Potter illustrator Mary GrandPre. In it, she talks about illustrating the new Sorcerer's Stone Special Edition cover (announced last week):

It was really a nice opportunity. As Harry grew, I always wished I could go back and make a new piece for each book. So when the anniversary cover idea came up, I was really excited to do that. It's like getting to do a new portrait of this old soul you really know.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

The American Harry Potter illustrator, Mary GrandPre, recently spoke in an interview about her coveted job and a little about the Deathly Hallows cover. On whether people pester her for inside info on the books, Mary says: "Not really so much. I think people just know that I can't talk about it."

She says the cover of Book 7 is probably her favorite and thinks "it's fun to see the reaction from people. The fans that are really diehard fans look very closely at the artwork.

"I try to make everything have a meaning. There is a reason why something is in the illustration. I don't just put it in because it looks better. It really does have to have a meaning or part of the story has to support it."

Thanks to those who emailed in.

MuggleNet visitor Daniel recently had the opportunity to speak with Mary GrandPre (the US book illustrator) for his school. In the interview, which he's decided to share with our site, Mary talks about her thoughts on Deathly Hallows:

I'm anxious for this to be the last book as much as I've enjoyed the journey. It's nice to kind of wrap it up and celebrate it as a whole and to just kind of look back and take a deep breath and go, "Whew! That was quite a ride!," so you know...I'm excited for it to end and to find out how it ends and yeah, I might be a little sad about it, but generally I'll be really happy that this check's closing and that I can kind of go on to other things personally and creatively. Yeah, so I'm happy about it, I'm happy that it has come to this point.

You can read much more (including Mary's thoughts on the title and the process of illustrating the books) at the link below! Thanks again to Daniel for allowing us to share this interview with our visitors.