As she watched the clock inch toward midnight at the Barnes and Noble store across from Westfield Franklin Park last night, Michelle O Neill had a confession to make.
I m a bigger fan than my son is, she said. I have to work Sunday at 6 a.m., so [today] is nothing but reading. Not even sleeping.
Like thousands of young ones and many of the young at heart Ms. O Neill will spend today reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth and penultimate book in J.K. Rowling s wildly popular series. Libraries and bookstores around the Toledo area all joined in the fun in anticipation of the first new Potter book in two years.
The book officially hits shelves today, but many area stores started selling copies at the stroke of midnight. At the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library s main branch downtown, 9-year-old Kennedy Scheich got the first copy after sitting in line for about an hour.
I just finished the first one, Kennedy said. I ll skip to this one now.
With 10.8 million copies already printed, Half-Blood Prince is expected to become the best-selling book in publishing history. Even before it was released, it had broken a handful of records most of which were set by its predeces-sor, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Many of the biggest bookstores in the area spent thousands of dollars on Potter parties, doling out goody bags replete with Potter glasses, stickers, and temporary lightning-bolt tattoos. At the downtown library, hundreds of children made bookmarks and magic wands before watching a magic show.
Magician Andrew Martin even taught budding witches and wizards how to do their own magic trick, despite Muggle those without the wizard gene prohibitions.
The Toledo-Lucas County library system had 485 copies of the book, 220 of which were reserved for those who had tickets to last night s festivities. Like true Hogwarts magic, every available ticket had disappeared by yesterday morning.
Staff members at both Barnes and Noble and Borders declined to reveal how many copies of the book they ordered, citing corporate confidentiality agreements. Barnes and Noble store manager Karen Kall promised there would be plenty for everybody.
Still, competition was fierce to get a hold of the first few copies of Half-Blood Prince. Barnes and Noble only guaranteed books to those people who had reserved a copy more than a week ago everyone else took a numbered ticket and waited his or her turn.
I just have to get one, squealed 10-year-old Sarah Carpenter, a Maumee resident. Everyone will have read it by the time we get to camp on Monday.
In Monroe County, youth librarian Nancy Rice expected about 50 children and their parents to come to the Potterpalooza party at the main branch, the Ellis Reference and Information Center. She got six times that many.
There was already a line of 100 people at the door when we opened, said Ms. Rice, who played the younger sister of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. It s a crazy, fun night.
The Monroe library sold copies of the book, while Toledo-Lucas County loaned them out like other library books. At 672 pages, Half-Blood Prince is significantly shorter than its predecessor, but young wizards still had better read quickly: Those who checked it out in Toledo must return it in 28 days.
Contact Megan Greenwell at:
mgreenwell@theblade.com
or 419-724-6050.
First Published July 16, 2005, 8:44 a.m.
