Rowling reads fairytale extracts

The seven books are all handwritten by the author

Author JK Rowling is to read from one of the original handwritten fairytales which were mentioned in her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The author made seven handcrafted copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

She will read extracts from one of them at the Beedle tea party at the National Library of Scotland (NLS), hosted by The Children's High Level Group (CHLG).

The party will take place in Edinburgh on Thursday 4 December, the same day as the tale goes on sale in shops.

The National Library of Scotland has borrowed an original copy of the tales from Barry Cunningham, JK Rowling's first editor.

Mr Cunningham was one of only six people to receive an original Beedle, created, illustrated and hand-written by JK Rowling, as a personal gift from the author last year.

Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children in Eastern Europe are living in appalling conditions in large, residential institutions JK Rowling

The seventh copy was given to CHLG for the charity to auction, and was acquired by Amazon for a winning bid of £1.95m/$4m in December 2007.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the volume of wizarding fairly tales left to Hermione Granger by Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The tales contained clues that were to prove crucial to Harry Potter's final mission to destroy Lord Voldemort, but only one of the five stories, 'The Tale of the Three Brothers', was recounted in the book.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, published by CHLG on 4 December, will reveal the four remaining tales, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, alongside notes by Professor Dumbledore and illustrations by JK Rowling.

The charity was co-founded by JK Rowling and Emma Nicholson MEP.

Local school children will be invited to attend the special charity launch. Net proceeds from the sale of The Tales of Beedle the Bard will fund the charity's work with vulnerable children across Eastern Europe.

JK Rowling co-founded The Children's High Level Group

To celebrate the launch, children across the UK and those visiting from further afield, will get the opportunity to see one of only seven original copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard on display at NLS.

The month-long Beedle display will take place from 5 December to 4 January.

JK Rowling said: "Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children in Eastern Europe are living in appalling conditions in large, residential institutions.

"Contrary to popular belief, fewer than 4% of them are orphans, but are in care because they are considered disabled or their families are poor or from ethnic minorities.

"The charity is publishing The Tales of Beedle the Bard to raise money to fund our work in helping these children out of institutions and in to loving families or community care homes.

"I hope that The Tales of Beedle the Bard will not only be a welcome present to Harry Potter fans, but an opportunity to give these abandoned children a voice.

"It will encourage young people across the world to think about those who are less fortunate and help change many young lives for the better."

There will be the opportunity for 10 local schools to each bring up to 20 pupils, aged 8 to 11, to the Beedle tea party.

The tickets will be allocated through a random ballot, to be run by the Edinburgh Evening News, from Wednesday 5 November 2008.