Harry Potter her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no middle name. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all "Harry Potter" books in the United Kingdom, on 26 June 1997. It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998
The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter approval from Rowling, and has since received positive reviews from critics. An updated version of "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter" was published in 2004 by Berkley Books. "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter" explores the references to history, legends, and literature in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" novels. David Colbert, the author of the book, told the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" that the "Harry Potter" novels "are [...] literary treasure hunts for [Rowling's] readers. What seem like funny-sounding names and places and excursions into fantasy all have a basis in either history, myth or legend." He added, however, that he thinks