J.K. Rowling is a pretty good writer. You may have heard of a few of her books. Yesterday, December 13, 2007, a book of fairy tales created by the British writing dynamo sold for $4 million dollars.

Rowling hand wrote and illustrated the book of fairy tales, titled, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Seven copies were made with Thursday’s buyer, London art agent Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox now owning one. The leather bound book with silver mounts, was expected to sell for around $100,000, representatives have stated that people witnessing the standing-room-only auction at Sotheby’s applauded when it reached the 1 million pound (2 million dollar) mark.

Rather than add this sum to her wealthy estate, the philanthropic author is donating it to a charity co-founded by Rowling and Baroness Nicholson in 2005, called The Children’s Voice. Rowling, who witnessed the auction from her Edinburgh, Scotland home via webcast, stated, “This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help.” The Children’s Voice fights for children’s rights in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe where many grow up in institutions amid terrible conditions.

Rowling wrote The Tales of Beedle the Bard after finishing the final book in the 400 million copy selling Harry Potter series. “The Tales of Beedle the Bard is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for seventeen years,” Rowling stated.