Harry Potter Trivia Book on the Block

By Bridget Kinsella -- Publishers Weekly, 7/25/2007 12:12:00 PM

Two weeks ago when a home-schooling mom of three sent a query about The Absolute Best Harry Potter Trivia Challenge manuscript she was working on to the Los Angeles-based agent Sharlene Martin, Martin knew she was interested and knew she wanted to send the proposal out this Monday, two days after HP7’s lay-down date.

With several major publishers already interested, Martin now plans a two-day auction, with round one starting today, July 25, and ending at 3pm on August 1, and round two opening on August 2 and ending at 5 p.m. ET that day. The auction rules are available on the agent’s website www.MartinLiteraryManagement.com. The auction is for North American rights.

Martin told PW that she was impressed with author Tammy Valdovino’s proposal as well as her backstory. “She used the Harry Potter books in her home school curriculum and when she went looking for a Harry Potter trivia book and couldn’t find one, she started writing one for fun,” said Martin. Valdovino was a physicist before she became a home-schooling mom. The manuscript will be done on Sept. 1.

The book contains over 2500 questions that cover all eight books and five movies, and ultimately ends with a way to determine if the reader is indeed simply a Muggle or HP’s biggest fan. . It will also have questions about Harry’s two “school books”, (Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them).