June debut for Potter latest

The fourth book was hugely successful

Millions of fans of Harry Potter worldwide will get their hands on his latest adventure when JK Rowling's fifth book about the young magician is released on 21 June.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released on a Saturday so that young fans do not have to skip school to buy it on its first day.

More than a third of a million copies of the last Potter book were sold on its first day of release in July 2000 as Potter mania swept the UK.

It became the fastest-selling book in history on the first weekend of its publication and more than 192 million copies of Potter books have been sold world-wide.

JK Rowling has become an international star

The fifth volume of the Potter series will be 38 chapters and 255,000 words - a third longer than the last book.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is absolutely superb and will delight all JK Rowling's fans," Nigel Newton, chief executive of her UK publisher Bloomsbury said.

"She has written a brilliant and utterly compelling new adventure,"

The new book will go on sale on 21 June in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and in English in many other countries around the world.

The first paragraph of The Order of the Phoenix reads:
"The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.

Potter fans will be keen to get their hands on the new novel

"The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four."

Another extract from the new novel teases readers about Harry Potter's past.

JK Rowling writes: "Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.

"'It is time,' he said, 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.

"'Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'"

Lesley Miles of the book shop Waterstone's said: "With the amount of interest and excitement surrounding Harry Potter, we expect the interest in advance reservations to be enormous.

"It's been a couple of years since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was first published and we know Harry's fans can't wait to get a copy of the new volume."