At the witching hour early this morning, Denver children sat spellbound as they read the tightly kept secrets of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Moments earlier, as 12:01 a.m. approached, they counted down the seconds until the book would be in their hands.
“I’m probably going to read the first chapter on the car ride home,” said Alex Ahoades, 11, fully decked out for the occasion at The Bookies Bookstore with a black cape, black hat, red lightning-bolt scar, broken glasses and a Firebolt broomstick.
Ahoades was one of hundreds of children who swarmed midnight release parties at the Bookies Bookstore and Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver’s Cherry Creek area to get their hands on the sixth installment of J.K. Rowling’s seven-part series about the young wizard.
More than 1,917 booksellers in the United States, including at least 38 in Colorado, had similar parties before distributing copies of the long-awaited novel at 12:01 a.m., according to the website www.PotterParties.com.
Since the Tattered Cover started having release parties with “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Heather Duncan, director of marketing, has been amazed at Rowling’s effect on children.
“It is one of the most remarkable (phenomena) of our time because it brought kids back to books,” Duncan said.
The two-year lag time since “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was released did little to stifle interest in the saga of the boy wizard vs. Lord Voldemort. The series has sold an estimated 270 million copies worldwide since the first book, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was published in 1997 in Great Britain.
The fifth “Harry Potter” book sold 5 million copies in the first 24 hours after its release. Hoping to continue that trend with this latest “Harry Potter” adventure, which retails for $29.99, Scholastic Inc., the U.S. publisher of the series, made an unprecedented first run of 10.8 million copies.
Nearly the whole cast of “Harry Potter” could be seen wandering at the Tattered Cover. A group, whose members identified themselves as the biggest “Harry Potter” fans in Golden, came as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Dumbledore.
“This is the best time I’ve had since I watched all six ‘Star Wars’ in one day,” said Ryan Nee, wearing a red sweater with a large yellow “R” for Ron.
The wait was worth it for the children who sat for hours to get their hands on a copy. And there were plenty of distractions to pass the time. Whether it was making potion pouches, answering trivia questions, reading the Daily Prophet or learning about owls, everything Friday night was about Harry.
“They’re just really good books,” said Brittany Kruger, 9. “I’m going to take my time and read it all through the summer.”
While many fans got their copies at the parties, others slept through the night and waited at home for the mail. More than 24,000 preordered books from Amazon.com are being delivered to Colorado homes Saturday, said Al DeSarro, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.
No matter how they got the book, fans agree that “Harry Potter” brings people together.
“Nothing quite brings friends together like ‘Harry Potter,”‘ said Baker DeMoulin of Golden, who wore a long beard and blue robes as Dumbledore.
