It is 8:30 in the morning and my son is asleep on the couch. The lights are on and a copy of the new Harry Potter book, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, is open to pages 346-347 face-down on his chest.
He started reading the book at 1:30 a.m. or so, the time we got back from Community Bookstore, which was selling the books at midnight. We waited on a line which stretched from the bookstore up Seventh Avenue to Garfield and then curled around a good ways up Garfield toward Eighth Avenue.
There must have been 200 or more people on line. Few were dressed up as Harry Potter characters but there were the requisite Hermoines, Harrys, Dumbledores, generic wizards, etc. It was an excited group of parents, children, teenagers, college students, and some unescorted adults. Some kids didn’t make it and were asleep in their parents arms. But for the most part, the kids were raring to go.
Hugh Crawford set up his portable portrait studio in front of the bookstore and took portraits of all those who wanted to record themselves on this historic, literary night. To see those pictures, go to HughCrawford.com on Sunday, July 17th for information about getting prints.
Community Bookstore set up a small table in front of the bookstore for cash and credit card transactions. After payment, customers were handed a blue card that could be exchanged for a book inside.
Once inside, the fun really began. The store was decorated in fanciful Harry Potter style. Employees were dressed as various characters and there was lots of Harry Potter-inspired refreshments on a banquet table in the front of the store.
Perhaps the most inspired element was "The Hand." In order to redeem the blue card for a copy of the THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, you had to give your card to a real disembodied hand that was wiggling its fingers in a puppet like theater – think puppet show with a human hand.
After we got our book from The Hand, we walked to the back of the store where a party was in full swing. We saw lots of familiar second grade faces as well as neighbors and friends. One store employee made a rather convincing Hagrid. We were offered butter beer — a concoction of vanilla ice cream and cider. The kids were offered cups of steaming dry ice that provided plenty of fun.
We left before the traditional reading of the first chapter began; my daughter was extremely tired. Sure enough when we got back to the apartment, she was asleep in two seconds flat and my son lay down on the couch to read the Potter.
Once again, a standing ovation for Community Books, which did a creative and eccentric job of celebrating, for the third time, the release of a Potter book. They deserve to make a lot of money on this one. Barnes and Noble had, someone said, more than a thousand people; a real zoo. Seventh Avenue Books/Seventh Avenue Kids, was very quiet about the midnight release. During the week, I kept checking their window to see if they were going to do something but there was no sign or anything. I figured that they were a little overwhelmed with the move. For the last release, they had a nice party and reading.
Seventh Avenue Books was still open at 1 a.m when we walked past on our way home. I noticed a little sign in the window that said: "They’re Here at Midnight." There were some people in the store, buying the Potter and browsing books.
God knows what time my son was up last night reading. He’s a late-night reader to begin with and he has a general propensity for staying up WAY past his bedtime. I don’t expect him to be awake anytime soon. But when he does get up, he’s sure to start reading again. He needs to finish it before the weekend is out. That’s part of the ritual, too.