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"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:" It was worth the wait

Read This! teen page staff, 01:00 PM in Books, Teen Views

The countdowns for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" are over. The pages have been flipped and the secrets they contain have been -- to some extent -- unmasked. And what do we as Harry Potter fans have to say for it?

Wow.

"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" marks a turning point in the series as we round the corner and see the final stretch of the legacy before us. For the first time, we, like Harry, can see the path that must be taken, and can appreciate in full the seriousness of the route.

The book also chronicles the final step in Harry's transformation from a whining and moody teenager into a more mature and controlled adult. Readers discover the true nature of the characters, adding to the book's already prolific amount of twists and turns.

While sometimes heart-wrenching, the book is a necessary leg of the journey, and sets the stage for a magnificent culmination in the seventh and final novel.

-- Read This! writer Laura Pedersen, Notre Dame High, San Jose

Harry Potter sets online sales market on fire Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee New Delhi , July 20 THE magic of Harry Potter has transcended the barriers of the wizard world to cast a spell on the Indian e-commerce market and set the cash registers ringing. Leading e-commerce players such as Sify.com and Fabmall have been busy over the last four days delivering JK Rowling's latest book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to thousands of muggles (non-magic people) on the Net, significantly galvanising online shopping activity in the country. Mr K. Vaitheeswaran, COO of Fabmall.com said that sales have touched 8,000 copies. "We started the promotional campaigns about three and half months back," he added. The orders peaked in the last three weeks, and subsequently came down to 30-40 copies per day. "However, we expect a second wave of demand sometime next week, when the readers finish the book and spread the word," he said. The company expects to garner revenues of Rs 45-50 lakh by the month-end from sales of the book, he added. Mr J. Gopalakrishna, Manager (Operations), Sify, said: "We have sold about 1,500 copies in all. Of this, 1,300 are pre-launch orders that have already been delivered, and about 200 are orders that have been placed since July 16 (when the book was released) and will be delivered shortly. In terms of the unit numbers, it has clearly outperformed every other online shopping item." The company expects an average demand of 70-100 copies per day for the rest of the month. "So far, the revenues from sales of the book have touched about Rs 9 lakh and are projected to reach almost Rs 20 lakh by the month-end." The maximum pre-launch demand came from Chennai and Mumbai, he said. The company ensured that the first set of copies were delivered at customer premises across Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi on July 16 itself. 'Harry Potter' was the top search keyword in the books category on eBay India in June. "Hundreds of Harry Potter Books sold, driving 400 per cent growth in the fiction category and 120 per cent increase in the books category overall," said Mr Gautam Thakar, Director (Marketing), eBay India. "Our top 3 booksellers (eBay is a marketplace and does not sell anything) offered 'pre-booking' for over two weeks before the launch and in most cases books were delivered just a day after the launch. What is interesting is that we had very strong bidding from small towns like Raipur, Aligarh, Nagercoil, Palakkad, and Tehri Garhwal. We even had people from the UK buying from our Indian sellers."

Online shopping is expected to touch Rs 1,180 crore in 2005-06 and the books category would be prominent fast growing category in the non-travel categories, according to Ms Preeti Desai, President, Internet and Online Association.

Harry Potter fans celebrate

Bellingham residents young, old gather for book release

Bystanders passing Fairhaven's Village Green Friday night could hear cries of "Lumos" and "Accio wand" as people dressed in Hogwarts uniforms gathered to celebrate the release of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." The attendee's expectation in the air was almost tangible as young and not-so-young fans waited for the clock to strike midnight. "We're totally excited for the book to come out," 16-year-old Bellingham resident Lisa Karsen said. "I've been counting down for 200 days until tonight." Village Books, located on the edge of the Village Green in Fairhaven, started the festivities at 10 p.m. with five activity tables lining the walkway, Village Books employee Lindsey McGuirk said. Attendees chose from activities such as wand making, fortune telling, visiting the sorting hat and drinking free butterbeer, a frothy beverage characters in the books drink. Many booksellers, such as Amazon.com, Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble and Haggen, decided to sell the sixth book of the Harry Potter series at 40 percent off the cover price to compete with other booksellers' prices. Village Books' owners, husband and wife Chuck and Dee Robinson, decided not to sell the book at a discounted price and instead donated $5 from every pre-ordered book to the Whatcom Literacy Council, Dee Robinson said. The Whatcom Literacy Council teaches illiterate adults how to read. Village Books raised approximately $1,800 for the literacy council from the sales it generated Friday, Robinson said. "Everyone's having a really fun time here and everyone benefits," said literacy council volunteer Virginia Brown, who worked with children to make magic wands. "The kids get to have fun and we get wonderful donations." The number of pre-orders at Village Books increased from approximately 430 books Tuesday to approximately 600 books by Friday evening. "There certainly is an escalating interest in the whole series," Robinson said. "There are kids who have read the books since their youth and now there are younger, new kids that are a part of the magic." Village Books' first Harry Potter party, which was for the release of the fourth book, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," took place in its small reading room and drew approximately 150 people. For the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," release in 2003, the party moved into the newly-finished Village Green and approximately 900 people attended the release. The sixth book's release drew approximately 1,500 people on the Village Green lawn. Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro and Mallard Ice Cream and Cafe donated root beer and ice cream, which volunteers combined to make Harry Potter's butterbeer. Other donations came from Food Pavilion, which provided edible golden snitches, or doughnut holes. Volunteers from the literacy council helped with the activities of Village Books' Harry Potter-themed party. Some of the activities Robinson planned were writing new flavor suggestions for Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which coordinators will submit to Jelly Belly. As fans of the series know, the claim of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans is that nearly every flavor of jelly beans exists, including bacon, pepper and earwax. Fans could also make wands from chopsticks and glitter paint. Those curious about which Hogwarts house they belong to visited a woman dressed in an enormous hat. She performed the duty of the sorting hat by dividing fans into the Hogwarts house they would belong to according to their personalities. Attendees who were curious about their future joined the long line of people waiting for Professor Trelawney, played by tarot card reader and Bellingham resident Dawn Sodt, who used a crystal ball and tarot cards to read their futures. A local magician, who wore a voluminous coat covered with pockets, concluded the festivities with a magic show in which he produced a copy of the sought-after "Half-Blood Prince" book out of thin air as the clock turned midnight. To expedite handing out books at midnight, Village Books coordinators gave proof of purchase slips to those who pre-ordered the book earlier in the night, which they exchanged for a copy of the book. Waldenbooks invited fans to start arriving at 10 p.m. to take part in games, such as Harry Potter trivia and guessing the flavors of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

Harry Potter readers have grown up with the book and are getting older as the books come out.

Children discover magical world at Harry Potter camps

NEW CANAAN, Conn. -- Fifth-grader Bianca Schultz was eager to discuss "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" after she finished it in a marathon seven-hour session Sunday.

She didn't have to wait long. Monday was the start of a popular summer camp run by the school district and modeled on Hogwarts, the magical boarding school Harry and his wizard friends attend.
"I'm such a big Harry Potter fan," said Bianca, who was thrilled to learn about the camp when she moved to New Canaan from another town. "It's just amazing because you actually do things like in the book. I get to talk to people my age who are just like me."

The camp, one of dozens like it across the country, is more popular than ever this year as it coincides with the release of the sixth book in the Potter series. About 9 million copies of the book sold in the first 24 hours it was available.

Although they're muggles _ non-magic folk _ the day camp students immerse themselves in the fictional world of Hogwarts, donning capes and pointed hats and living a few hours each day as if they were students at the school. They mix potions, write for the "Daily Prophet" newsletter and play quidditch, a favorite sport in author J.K. Rowling's books.

"I've always loved the Harry Potter books, so it's a lot of fun to pretend to be some of the characters and dress up and do some of the stuff they would do," said Heather Sabel, a fifth-grader taking a break from potions class in a school science lab, where students dipped gummy frogs in chocolate and dropped antacid tablets in water to create "emergency distraction capsules."

Mark West, an English professor specializing in children's literature, ran a similar camp at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for several years.

Rowling "so thoroughly and creatively develops her world that you really can feel what it's like to be at Hogwarts," West said. "For the kids who get into the stories, it's fun to kind of imagine that you are at Hogwarts, that you have those special abilities."

In New Canaan, where enrollment has doubled to 120 students over the past six years, the biggest challenge this session was keeping campers who'd finished the latest book from revealing the ending to those who hadn't.

"We knew the book was coming out in July, but what we didn't realize was the book was going to come out two days before camp started," coordinator Karen Scalzo said.

Campers were required to sign an oath swearing they would talk about the newest book only with others who were done reading it.

The campers were divided into four "houses" based on those at Hogwarts. Anyone who violated the oath would find his or her house docked 1,000 points, a major setback in the quest to win the House Cup awarded at the end of the program. Points were awarded for costumes, good behavior and participation.

The dozen or so who'd finished were so excited that coordinators established a discussion group where they could talk about the book out of earshot of those still reading. By mid-week, campers had asked for a second daily session.

"They're very sophisticated readers, and they're aching to talk more," said teacher Judy Bosworth, who was surprised to find second- through eighth-graders discussing character development and dissecting the plot.

The coordinators faced other logistical challenges, such as how to run a real-life game of quidditch, played in the book on flying broomsticks.

In the camp's first year, the children played with actual brooms. No one was injured, but the coordinators decided the game would be safer with softer balls thrown by hand. The result is a complicated cross between dodge ball, soccer and basketball.

"Put the wand away," teacher Mike Patrona yelled to one of the campers as he coached them in a game Wednesday. They were preparing for the final day of camp, when the four houses face off in a quidditch tournament, followed by a feast.

Participants said they appreciate efforts to make camp as much like Hogwarts as possible.

"I really like the books, and they don't exactly come to life here, 'cause it would be really hard to make them come to life," said seventh-grader Samantha Kaseta of Rocky Hill, "but it is pretty close."

Latest Harry Potter Novel Sets New Sales Records

By Nancy Beardsley Washington, D.C. 21 July 2005

Listen to Beardsley Report (Real Audio) Download 912 KB
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The new Harry Potter novel is breaking sales records on both sides of the Atlantic. Some 9 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were sold in Britain and the United States in the first 24 hours after its release on July 16. This is the 6th novel in British author J.K. Rowling's best selling series. Its appearance brought weeks of speculation and suspense to a climax, and bookstores around America held parties to celebrate the last few hours before sales began.

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Dinah Paul hands a young customer one of first copies of new Harry Potter book

At A Likely Story, a children's bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia, staff and customers counted down the final three seconds together, then declared it "Magic Time" at the stroke of midnight. Eileen, 10, was among the crowd of kids staying up way past their normal bedtime to buy one of the first copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. She came hoping the book would answer a lot of questions, starting with exactly what happened to Harry Potter's godfather Sirius. "I'd like to find out whether Sirius is really gone," she explained, "and I heard somebody say that somebody good dies in this, so I was wondering who it is. And also I was wondering who the Half-Blood Prince is."

To be a Harry Potter fan is to enter a world with a

Dinah Paul talks with Professor Severus Snape impersonator language, set of customs and cast of characters all its own. Dinah Paul, who owns A Likely Story, says the books have become a cultural phenomenon. "Once so many people have started to read it," she says, "it's like, my friend's read it, just about everybody in the neighborhood has read it, I want to read it too. So it's word of mouth that keeps multiplying."

A Likely Story launched its Harry Potter party at the Alexandria train station, and ended with a midnight parade back to the store. It is at a train station that Harry passes through a magical brick wall on his way to the school where he and his friends study to be wizards. "They board Hogwarts Express to get to Hogwarts," Dinah Paul explains. "And I thought, Alexandria has a beautiful train station--why not use it to promote the book?"

Potion making lesson

Fans -- many dressed as their favorite characters -- entered the station by passing through an entrance painted to look like a brick wall. Inside, they could dine at a sweet shop offering its own version of chocolate frogs and other fantastic delicacies. They could also visit a fortuneteller to hear their futures predicted, or get a brief lesson in mixing potions. Put in "a little thyme to enjoy life," instructed the teacher, then mix with sage for wisdom, dry dragon

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Brian Portillo oversees Potter trivia contest

scales to become smarter, and "for added strengthener, dried frog eyes."

All that wizardry is part of the charm of the books for Brian Portillo, 12, who helped organize the party's Harry Potter trivia contest. "I love the series," Brian declared, "having all this magic, and the whole fantasy and feeling powerful."

Wearing a black robe, hood and face paint to look like one of the ghoulish dementors, Kelly Dervarics, 10, said she too loves the magic in the books. "And I like the friendship and the bond between Harry, Hermione and Ron," Kelly added, "and the good versus evil."

Harry Potter Look-Alike

Bookstore owner Dinah Paul is a Harry Potter fan herself, and she believes readers of all ages can identify with the way the young hero changes over the course of the stories. "We're all growing up along with Harry," she says. "You saw him start out -- he was orphaned, he had horrible people to live with who didn't treat him well. And now he's found his place. He's trying to fight all these different obstacles. Even though it is a fantasy, it does relate to our own lives too, I think."

Dinah Paul believes the Harry Potter stories often lead young readers to discover other books as well. "They come back and they say I love Harry Potter," she says. "What else do you have that's like Harry Potter? And that gives us a great opportunity to mention other books and fantasies."

But in recent days, Harry Potter fans have had thoughts

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Harry Potter fan Samanta dressed as Professor Trelawney

for just one book. Samantha, 9, and her parents traveled some 4 hours -- from Pittsburgh to Alexandria -- to attend the party at A Likely Story. She planned to go right back to the hotel and start reading her copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And judging by past experience, she expected to be reading for a long time. "The 5th book took a month," Samantha recalled.

Some readers were finished soon after they bought the 672-page story. Karen Landon and her daughter both raced through it in just a couple of days. She pronounced it excellent, but different from other books in the series. "I think they're getting darker," she says. "They're a little more violent, and I don't mean graphic violence. But they're just a little more serious."

But Karen Landon says she does not believe that makes the stories any less suitable for kids like her daughter. "She's 15," says Ms. Landon. "It's something we can talk about. But she (J. K. Rowling) does remove a main character."

Paulina Reichenbach, 13, finished the book in just 24 hours, with a few sleep breaks. "I thought it was good," she says. "The other books were more about classes and learning magic. This was more background information, but it was really interesting."

And after all this waiting, how does it feel to be finished with the book so soon? "Well, the 7th book is probably going to come out in about two years," Paulina says, "so I'm just looking at web sites and speculating about what's going to happen then."

And Paulina Reichenbach is not quite ready to put Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince behind her yet. She is now reading the British edition, the same story but with some different vocabulary words and illustrations.

J.K. Rowling rubbishes some more rumors On her official website www.jkrowling.com today, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling added some updates to the "Rubbish Bin" section of the site, shooting down the silly rumors that inevitably get printed about her in the press. These are the rumors she rubbished today, and her responses to them: J.K. Rowling veto-ed Steven Spielberg as the director of the first Harry Potter film I don't choose directors for the Harry Potter films! I've met all three men who've had the job to date – Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell - and I've liked all of them very much, enjoyed answering their questions about the characters and plots and have been delighted with the films they made (I haven't seen Goblet yet, but the omens are good!). But that's the full extent of my involvement with directors. Steven Spielberg did consider directing 'Philosopher's Stone', but decided against it; anyone who thinks I could (or would) have 'veto-ed' him needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced. Rowling has had Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall to dinner at her house. Well, I just hope they remember it, because I can't. Rowling hates Harry Potter I love Harry Potter and I always will. Rowling is 'riled' by being seen as a children's author

Absolute garbage! I have said many times that if I remain a children's author forever (which I may well do) I will never see this as being a lesser, easier or less 'serious' career than writing for adults. Whenever I have discussed the possibility of writing adult fiction, it has nearly always been because an interviewer has asked 'might you one day write a book for adults?'

Harry Potter magic fails at ailing Ottakar's

Ottakar's cast a spell of despair on investors yesterday when it revealed that sales of the latest Harry Potter book had been "underwhelming". Its shares plunged 10 per cent as analysts pared back their full-year forecasts.

Who's who in Harry Potter's world

It's his world, we're all just living in it. If there's trouble, Harry, the teen wizard now entering his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, will find it. The son of Lily and James Potter, Harry was sent to stay with his aunt and uncle after his parents were murdered by the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. Voldemort tried to kill Harry as well, but failed, leaving him with a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead to go with his green eyes and black hair. At Hogwarts, Harry is a member of Gryffindor house, where he plays on the Quidditch team. He's constantly threatened by Voldemort and his minions, and knows that a big showdown is imminent. Should he manage to live past Hogwarts, he thinks he'd like to be an Auror, a wizard who fights against the dark arts. He's currently reeling from the sudden killing of his godfather, Sirius Black.

RON WEASLEY

Ron is one of Harry's two best friends at Hogwarts, and a Gryffindor. Tall, with red hair and freckles, he is sometimes envious of Harry's fame, and is embarrassed by his family's lack of wealth. He and Harry stopped speaking for a while after Harry was entered into a magical competition in Book 4, but they made up after Ron realized that Harry was in danger. Ron is deathly afraid of spiders, ever since his older brother turned his teddy bear into one when Ron was a toddler. He's now a Gryffindor prefect, on the Quidditch team, and as always, right there in the thick of things with Harry. There also seems to be a thing developing between him and Hermione Granger.

HERMIONE GRANGER

This Gryffindor, Harry's other best friend, is by far the smartest student of her year. With bushy hair and formerly large teeth (she had them shrunk in Book 4), Hermione can sometimes be a know-it-all but is always a good friend to Harry. She's despised by some -- especially Hogwarts student Draco Malfoy, who dislikes Hermione because her parents are Muggles (nonmagical). She tends toward the rule-abiding, and wishes Harry wouldn't be quite so willing to court trouble, but she's always got her wand out, ready to do her part when the time comes.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Head of Hogwarts. Dumbledore is reputed to be the only wizard Voldemort actually fears. Tall, with a long white beard, bright blue eyes and a long, crooked nose, Dumbledore has been involved in Harry's life from the beginning. It was Dumbledore who decided that Harry should live with his horrible aunt and uncle after his parents died; since Harry's arrival at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has always kept an eye on him.

LORD VOLDEMORT

The most heinous wizard of recent time, Voldemort had instituted a reign of terror in the magical world. He and his supporters, the Death-Eaters, were responsible for torturing and killing many wizards, which stopped the night he went after the Potters. He killed Lily and James, but when he attempted to curse Harry, the curse bounced back and severely weakened him. He fled, his hold over magical society gone. Most believed (or wanted to believe) that he was gone for good. But he has returned to physical form, sending the magical world into a state of panic.

MINERVA MCGONAGALL

A professor at Hogwarts, she teaches transfiguration and is the head of Gryffindor House. She started Harry on his Quidditch career when she saw him fly a broomstick for the first time. A severe-looking woman, she keeps her hair in a bun and wears glasses that look just like the markings around the eyes of the tabby cat into which she transfigures.

SEVERUS SNAPE

Head of Slytherin House, Snape is professor of potions. But he really wants to be the defense-against-the-dark-arts teacher. From the minute Harry arrives at Hogwarts, Snape detests him. But while he does many things to make Harry's life difficult, he's also something of a contradictory character. The first year, he kept Harry safe -- an act of honor since James Potter once saved his life. A former Death-Eater, he left Voldemort's service and went to work for good. That makes Dumbledore trust him, even though others don't.

RUBEUS HAGRID

Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts and recently a professor of the care of magical creatures. It was Hagrid, larger-than-life thanks to his giant mother, who turned up on Harry's 11th birthday to tell him about his past. A former Hogwarts student, he had been kicked out after he had been framed for crimes committed by Tom Riddle, who later became Lord Voldemort. He's besotted by dangerous animals, the more terrifying, the better. In Harry's first year, Hagrid kept an illegal dragon, a menacing little Norwegian Ridgeback named Norbert. He's also brought his wild giant half brother to Hogwarts (secretly) and is thinking about finding him a lady friend.

DRACO MALFOY

The pale, blond Malfoy is Harry's most detested enemy, at least among Hogwarts students. He's a member of Slytherin House, which generated many of Voldemort's followers. Malfoy considers himself superior to many students, because he comes from one of the oldest pureblood wizard families. He constantly makes fun of Ron for his family's poverty. Harry has disliked him from the moment they first met. Malfoy hangs out with the oafish Crabbe and Goyle.

THE DURSLEYS

Vernon, Petunia and son Dudley are Harry's nasty, nonmagical relatives. Petunia was Lily's sister. The Dursleys, who hate anything abnormal, have spent years mistreating Harry. They keep him during his summer breaks, but are extremely glad that he spends all his other holidays at school. Vernon, a big man with no neck, and Petunia, a thin woman with a lot of neck, think the world revolves around their overweight, bullying clod of a son, Dudley. But there's more to Petunia -- she's not as unaware of the magical world as we think.

THE WEASLEYS

Ron's parents, Arthur and Molly, have six other children -- Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny. Extremely loving and extremely poor, the family lives in a ramshackle house in Ottery St. Catchpole. They've almost adopted Harry, and are all very fond of him. Molly especially has a soft spot for Harry, sending him Christmas presents during his first year at Hogwarts. The Weasleys sit in for the Dursleys and root for Harry during the extremely dangerous Triwizard Tournament. Arthur works in the Ministry of Magic. Ginny, the youngest and only girl, is becoming a strong witch. She had a crush on Harry, but has since gotten over it.

LUCIUS MALFOY

Draco's father, a man more evil than his son. Lucius is a Voldemort supporter. He hates Muggles and all those descended from nonmagical families. Using his money and power, he tries to influence many things; he attempted to get Dumbledore fired from Hogwarts, but lost. He's now in prison for being a Death-Eater.