With the Taste of Chicago over and Lollapalooza Music Festival not for another week, what’s a Northwestern student to do on a Friday night?
Read a book, some students say.
This Saturday at 12:01 a.m., “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment of British author, J.K. Rowling’s seven-part fantasy series will hit bookshelves around the globe.
“People kid themselves if they think they are too old for things,” said Weinberg senior Lauren Lowenstein. “I became a fan when I was bored on a trip to Florida. My younger cousins had brought the (Harry Potter) books. I read them and I was hooked.”
Lowenstein, who wrote about wanting to live in the world of Harry Potter in her NU admissions essay, has already reserved her copy of “Half-Blood Prince.” She said she looks forward to attending a Harry party and reading through the night with her younger siblings.
Seven years after the American debut of the Harry Potter books, more than 270 million copies have been sold worldwide with translations available in 62 languages.
In spite of the long waits between Harry Potter book releases, an aging audience is eagerly anticipating the continuation of the stories.
“We’ve grown up with them, and we want to find out how the series ends as much as any middle-schoolers just reading the books now,” said Weinberg sophomore Lucy Hill.
McCormick junior Ann Siegel recalled reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” two years ago, on the morning after her senior high school prom.
“I came home and the book was waiting for me on my bed,” Siegel said. “I finished in 12 hours with a two-hour break. I love fantasy and coming-of-age stories. These books are written with no disdain for the intelligence of children. Even my grandma reads them.”
Author J.K. Rowling has promised readers that this latest episode will be darker and more mature — one of the characters will die, she has said.
With an initial printing of the book estimated at 10.8 million copies, the largest first printing in publishing history, bookstores are preparing for the Harry hysteria. Barnes and Noble Booksellers expects to sell 50,000 copies an hour in the 24 hours following the release. Less than 1 percent of all books sell a total of 50,000, according to Barnes and Noble.
Evanston’s Barnes and Noble, 1701 Sherman Ave., will host a “Midnight Magic Party” at 8 p.m. Friday with face painting, costume contests, wand-making and other themed activities for waiting fans.
Although the 672-page books were delivered to stores earlier in the week, employees are forbidden from opening them.
“They are under lock and key until July 16,” said store manager Sarah Deisenroth.
Both the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., and Borders Books & Music, 1700 Maple Ave., will be host Harry Potter events this week. But many devoted fans will flock to the Randhurst Mall in the northwest suburb of Mount Prospect for Spellbound 2005, billed as “the biggest ‘Half-Blood Prince’ release party on Earth.”
Sponsored by MuggleNet, Wizarding World Press and the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator, Spellbound expects over 10,000 attendees to participate in the celebration, which begins at 10 a.m. Friday and continues into Saturday morning. Highlights include life-size wizard chess, live music, a land based quidditch game and a virtual reality broom flight simulator.
And area hotels are offering substantial discounts, themed discussion and pajama reading rooms for those visitors who want to begin “Half-Blood Prince” right away.
But for some NU students, the Harry Potter craze hasn’t spread enough.
“I would like to see some additional course options, such as Herbology, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts,” said Weinberg sophomore Joey Knelman.
But until then, students can enjoy summer reading away from academia.
Reach Lindsay Meck at [email protected].
