French Knighthood for JK Rowling

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently bestowed the title of Knight of France's prestigious Legion of Honour on Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, at a ceremony in the Elysée presidential palace. "You've helped give young people back the taste for reading and writing," Sarkozy told Rowling, thanking her for making children understand that "reading is not a punishment, but a source of pleasure". Since Rowling's first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in 1997, her books have sold more than 400 million copies and been translated into 67 languages. The English version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was the first book in English to top the French bestseller lists.