Thousands of aspiring wizards are counting down the hours to the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth book in J. K. Rowling’s fantasy series. In years past, library patrons had to wait until Monday morning to get their copies. Not this year.
Sno-Isle Library managers will be making a special delivery Saturday morning so that about 250 of the roughly 1,200 patrons who put a hold on the book will get their copy.
“We are sort of an owl delivery service,” adult teen services manager Terry Beck said. “Harry Potter readers will know what that is.”
The King County Library System, which received 2,263 holds for the book by Tuesday, is also distributing about 500 Harry Potter books on Saturday morning, but might not finish the job until Monday.
“It depends on if the books come in by Friday and how fast we can get them out,” spokeswoman Karla Clark said.
Library patrons will not find the book on library shelves for several days, if not weeks, until the holds are filled. Librarians are recommending similar books to keep patrons occupied, including “Dark Lord of Derkholm” by Diana Wynne Jones, “Sabrial” by Garth Nix, “The Bartimaeus” series by Jonathan Stroud and “College of Magics” by Caroline Stevermer.
“It has really encouraged more people to read and to discover the joy of just sitting down with a good book,” Lynnwood Library manager Michael Delury said. “They might even discover a whole new series they will enjoy reading.”
Scholastic Inc., Rowling’s American publisher, has announced a first printing of 10.8 million, seven times the first run of Bill Clinton’s “My Life” and 4 million more than for “Order of the Phoenix.”
Random House’s Listening Library commissioned 635,000 copies of the audio version, again read by the beloved Jim Dale.
Orders from Barnes &Noble, Inc., and Amazon.com have already made “Half-Blood Prince” a million seller.
After the summer stampede, the libraries will donate extra copies to the Friends of the Library book sales. But many of the books won’t last that long, Beck said.
“It is such a big book that it breaks after a lot of uses,” Beck said. “People wear them out.”
Fans will have to look in the teen section to find the new books, which is unusual for a children’s series, Beck explained. Like its youngest fans, the Harry Potter series is growing up. He is age 16 in the new book.
“He is experiencing all of the problems and angst that teenagers will experience,” Beck said.
J. K. Rowling is expected to end the seven-book series, which some fans dread and others welcome.
“I think J. K. Rowling can rest on her laurels with Harry Potter,” Beck said. “I don’t want to see Harry Potter at 40 years old. He is interesting now because he is all new and he is growing and learning.”
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