Happy Birthday Harry and JK Rowling!!

Today is a very momentous occasion.

It's July 31st, Harry Potter's 30th birthday!!

I know, he's lot older than he is in the movies. But he was born in 1980, and the movies take place a few years ago :) Happy birthday Harry! Hope you get a better cake than what you got when you were eleven!

It's also a momentous occasion for JK Rowling, who gave Harry the same birthday as her own!

and...

Happy birthday to Daniel Radcliffe, the actor of movie-Harry, who turned 21 on July 23!

Book Blogger HOP and Follow Me Friday (and why we love JK Rowling)

it's Friday again...

Welcome to The Smarty Owl!

Be sure to enter our YA giveaway HERE

It is the last day to enter so hurry up and enter! Contest closes tonight at 11:59 pm EST

Book Blogger Hop


Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books, and if you'd like to add your own HOP post to the Mr. Linky @ Crazy for Books, click HERE!

Just like last week, Crazy for Books has put another question up for us bloggers to answer. This weeks question is:

Tell us about some of your favorite authors and why they are your favorites!

Both Rica and I are overly obsessed with J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and one of the only people that I would do almost anything to merely say hello to. She created the most beautifully crafted realm of magic, source of comfort, outlet of entertainment ...all from her own head. Ever since first grade, the HP books have been an exciting refuge from my boring real life. Ms. Rowling wrote about a wonderful, elaborate wizarding world. I almost cried after my eleventh birthday passed, when I received no letter from Hogwarts, and even though I knew that fantasy was impossible, the empty letterbox was a cruel confirmation: Never would I experience the magic that Harry and his friends experienced. Now, however, I realize that statement is not at all true. I've experienced the magic alright, during the hours I've spent rereading the books, right along side Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and during the many fantasies about Hogwarts that continue to plague me at night. J.K. Rowling is beyond a fantastic author; she is a dream maker, for constructing a place children and adults alike can dream about, for creating an imaginary place so real to the point where it's not imaginary anymore. 

Follow Me Friday


Now, on to Follow Me Friday hosted at Parajunkee's! 
This is our first time doing this...this meme is newly discovered to us!


Have a happy Friday and a swell Saturday and a super Sunday!