JK Rowling Just Announced A New Book That You Can Read Online For Free & It's A Fairytale!

Harry Potter author JK Rowling just announced her new book on Twitter. And, in a series of threads, she also gave us some information about the book. We can’t keep calm!

But get this, the new book is not a Harry Potter spin-off.

I have a small announcement, but before I get started, I
want to head off one possible source of confusion.
********************************************
THIS IS NOT A HARRY POTTER SPIN-OFF
********************************************
1/13
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

In her tweet, Rowling says, over the past 10 years, she had invested her time in writing a standalone fairytale called “The Ickabog” but she never got around to publishing it.

I always meant to publish it, but after the last Potter
was released I wrote two novels for adults and, after some dithering, decided to put those out next.

Until very recently, the only people who’d heard the story of
The Ickabog were my two younger children.

3/13
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

She further stated that she thought of the book as just for her family. She kept the manuscript in the attic and almost forgot about it, up until now.

Over time I came to think of The Ickabog as just for my family. The manuscript went up into the attic, where it remained until a few weeks ago.

This is the very dusty box I got down from the attic.
(It's a Net-A-Porter box and might well have held a premiere dress.)

4/13 pic.twitter.com/vg8F5Qx33M
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

She also said that opening the box after so long took her back in time.

Opening the box was like opening a time capsule. Most of the story was handwritten, but bits had been typed up. When I put it into some kind of order (I'm not renowned for my filing skills) I had a patchwork first draft.

5/13 pic.twitter.com/mz1qaGyyUt
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

While sitting at home, over these past few weeks she made a few changes in the manuscript and decided to publish the book for free online so that children have something to keep themselves busy with, during the lockdown.

Anyway, over the last few weeks I’ve done a bit of rewriting
and I’ve decided to publish the Ickabog for free online,
so children on lockdown, or even those back at school during these strange, unsettling times, can read it or have it read to them.

7/13
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 26, 2020

But, there’s a twist. The author has requested participation from readers to illustrate it.

Well, this news has got Twitter all excited.

My heart almost stopped
— Flávio Bessa Jr. 🇧🇷✊🏼🚫🐮 (@flaviobessajr) May 26, 2020

❤️❤️❤️
I love you.
My son surmounted dyslexia by reading through your books with me. You will always be close to our hearts.
— (((Barbara Mazor))) (@StopBDS_PSFC) May 26, 2020