Happy 20th Anniversary, Harry Potter!

It was twenty years ago today that Bloomsbury first published Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and unleashed a phenomenon.  This week, the book blog is celebrating all things Harry Potter related, and we'll be running a daily poll: today, we'd like you to tell us which of the Harry Potter books is the best in the series.

If you'd like to read more about the history of Harry Potter, Bloomsbury publishers have a fascinating timeline here - a potted history of Harry Potter - and are running Wizarding Wednesday competitions, with all sorts of Potter-related prizes as well.  There's a forthcoming exhibition at the British Library in October - anyone interested in reviewing that on behalf of the book blog should get in touch - and if you're a real Potterhead, you can test yourself on the trivia quiz here.

Feel free to add your own thoughts to any of our posts this week, or share your memories of discovering the books for the first time, or even if - gasp - you're anti-Potter, and think the boy wizard is past his peak, feel free to send your comments to any member of the English Dept, or post them on the blog.

If you're reading this on your phone, and you want to vote in the poll, you'll need to go to the web version of the site: click on 'see web version' at the end of the post - once you're on the web version, the poll is on the right hand side of the page.  And you need to quit the blog before you can see that your vote's been registered.  Happy voting!