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Fans, booksellers to celebrate 'Potter' finale

By Roger Showley
STAFF WRITER

July 14, 2007

Seconds after midnight a week from today, Anthony Albright, 10, will step up to the cash register of his mother's Book Works store at Flower Hill Promenade and receive his copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

Then he'll go home and dive into the 784-page finale of the decade-long wizard saga that has rocked the world of publishing while changing the reading habits of millions.

Why are Anthony and readers of the 325 million copies of the first six books wild about the tales of Harry, his pals Ron and Hermione, their nemesis Lord Voldemort and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

“They are just fun to read,” he said.

And fun will be the watchword at bookstores and libraries everywhere, as midnight madness parties ring in the release of the seventh book by British author J.K. Rowling, a one-time welfare mom and now purported billionaire.

The Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores all plan special events to keep fans occupied until cashiers begin ringing up sales at $34.99 each (deep discounts widely available) at 12:01 a.m. July 21. Scholastic Inc., which is printing a record 12 million copies in the U.S., forbids sales any earlier.

Mike Gibbs, Borders' district marketing manager, said each store is getting a kit of instructions and prizes for “The Grand Hallows Ball.” Events will include a spelling bee, costume contest and the “Great Snape Debate,” in which participants will argue whether Hogwarts potions prof Severus Snape is good or bad.

“I think it's going to knock your socks off,” Gibbs said.

Independent bookstores, which cannot afford such deep discounts as Borders' 40 percent off, are planning other ways to entertain their loyal customers.

Anthony's mother, Lisa Stefanacci, who bought Book Works last year, said she is having a midnight party as well as one starting a 7 a.m. at the location just east of the Del Mar fairgrounds.

“We'll have golden snitches (a key feature of Quidditch) hanging from the ceiling,” she said, plus a book raffle, face painting and screening of one of the Potter movies.

The Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in Kearny Mesa also plans midnight and morning parties; “Deathly Hallows” will be 20 percent off to regular customers.

“If you want your community bookstore to stick around, support your bookstore,” manager Patrick Heffernan said. Jan Shaughnessy at Warwick's in La Jolla said her store is too small to accommodate the throngs of expected customers, so activities will take place outside until the doors open at midnight to ring up sales.

“It's just amazing,” she said. “I really hope, for the sake of reading in general, that there's something that will spark this type of interest again. It would have to be pretty remarkable.”

Local librarians, like booksellers, are promising to abide by the publisher's no-early-release policy. But they're thrilled that reading has become so cool since “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” landed on their shelves in 1998.

“It's hard to compete with the Internet, television, movies,” said Marina Claudio-Perez, youth services coordinator for the San Diego city library system. “But having a book that truly opens up the imagination of the reader – not only for children but also for adults, makes a difference and brings the love of reading – is a big thing.”

Stephen Potts, a children's literature professor at the University of California San Diego, agreed.

“What Harry Potter did was make reading respectable for people who might not pick up any book, let alone a book of fantasy,” he said.

Potts plans to wait for the mayhem to subside before he buys a copy. Meanwhile, he said his 26-year-old son, who works in a city planning department, can't take a break for Harry.

“He's reading the Westminster, Colo., zoning code book,” he said.

 Roger M. Showley: (619) 293-1286; roger.showley@uniontrib.com