SCHOLASTIC REVEALS COVER OF FULL-COLOR ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF NEWT SCAMANDER’S FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM BY J.K. ROWLING
(New York – July 10, 2017) Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, today reveals the stunning cover of the full-color illustrated edition of Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling. Illustrated by fine artist Olivia Lomenech Gill, the cover features the griffin, a beast with the head and front legs of a giant eagle, and the body and hind legs of a lion.
Publishing on November 7, 2017, this glorious new color edition of the updated Hogwarts library classic features an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Olivia Lomenech Gill, a Kate Greenaway Medal shortlisted artist, has illustrated every beast from Acromantula to Yeti, using a variety of techniques, including prints and etchings, watercolor, and charcoal sketches.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has been an approved textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since its original publication. Newt Scamander’s masterpiece has entertained wizarding families through the generations and is an indispensable introduction to the magical beasts of the wizarding world. Scamander’s years of travel and research have created a tome of unparalleled importance. Some of the beasts will be familiar to readers of the Harry Potter books – the Hippogriff, the Basilisk, and the Hungarian Horntail. Others will surprise even the most ardent amateur Magizoologist.
Based on the textbook, the 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes us to a new era of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, decades before Harry Potter and half a world away. Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne stars in the central role of wizarding world Magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter features. The film marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, whose script was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook of the same name, written by her character Newt Scamander
For every sale of this book, Scholastic will donate 10% of the suggested retail price to two charities selected by the author J.K. Rowling: Comic Relief, a UK-based charity that strives to create a just world, free from poverty (www.comicrelief.com), and Lumos, a charity founded by J.K. Rowling that works to end the institutionalization of children (wearelumos.org).
About the Illustrator
Olivia Lomenech Gill has a first class degree in Theatre from the University of Hull and an MA in Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts. She has built her career as a professional fine artist and has been exhibited at all the major London art fairs. Olivia’s first professional illustration commission, Where My Wellies Take Me, written by Clare and Michael Morpurgo, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and won the English Association Picture Book Award. Olivia lives and works in north Northumberland in a timber studio she built by hand with her husband, a paper conservator. They also have a workshop in a nearby village, which houses Olivia’s three-ton printing press.
About Comic Relief
Comic Relief is a major charity based in the UK, with a vision of a just world, free from poverty. Since 2001, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them have raised over £20 million for Comic Relief- a magic amount of money that is already hard at work changing lives. Money raised through the sale of this new edition will be invested in children and young people around the world, preparing them to be ready for the future – to be safe healthy, educated and empowered. We are particularly interested in helping those children who start their lives in the most difficult circumstances, where there is conflict, violence, neglect or abuse. www.comicrelief.com
About Lumos
Lumos is an international charity founded by J.K. Rowling to help the estimated eight million disadvantaged children in orphanages around the world to be returned to their family or placed in a loving family environment. www.wearelumos.org
About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, a leading provider of print and digital instructional materials for pre-K to grade 12, and a producer of educational and entertaining children’s media. The Company creates quality books and ebooks, print and technology-based learning materials and programs, classroom magazines and other products that, in combination, offer schools customized solutions to support children’s learning both at school and at home. The Company also makes quality, affordable books available to all children through school-based book clubs and book fairs. With a 96 year history of service to schools and families, Scholastic continues to carry out its commitment to “Open a World of Possible” for all children. Learn more at www.scholastic.com.
J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill
Hardcover publication November 7, 2017 ($34.99 / 160pp / 978-1-338-21679-0)
Collector’s edition also available ($175.00 / 160pp / 978-1-338-23269-1)
