One Day More

As I'm waiting (just a few more hours!) for the release of the 7th Harry Potter book.... I keep thinking about when the 6th book came out.

I had just started working in the children's department of a major independent bookstore.... the WEEK before Book 6 came out. So it was a bit, ummm, hectic. When the UPS driver came into the store on Wednesday.... the staff cheered (what if the books didn't come, after all the pre-sales?) The driver said that everywhere he went that day (to drop off Harry Potter books) everyone was thrilled to see him.

There were so many boxes that all available staff helped unload the truck. So, there I was, handling the boxes of books, but couldn't look inside. Talk about torture! Once inside the store, the books were immediately sequestered in the receiving room, so they could be processed and mailed (to customers who would receive them on Saturday). If I had thought handling the boxes was bad... seeing the piles of forbidden books was worse.

Saturday finally came (I wasn't at the midnight party because they needed staff on Saturday morning). The books were everywhere, all over the store, and I handed out hundreds that day. But we were so crazily busy I didn't have time to even peek at the table of contents. It was a fabulous day though... watching kids literally glow as I handed them their precious book.

About halfway through the morning an adult came to the counter. She said she couldn't wait to find out who died in the book (J.K. Rowling had already announced that a significant character would die.) She started flipping through the book while still at the sales counter.... apparently determined to find out the answer right that minute. (I couldn't leave the counter because I was assisting other customers). I said that the staff were fans and we hadn't had a chance to read the book yet.... so whatever she found out could she please keep to herself? I think I said this about three times. Didn't work... she told me who died. ARGH!!!!

So, because of this, I'm very wary about revealing things before readers have had a chance to find out for themselves what happens. There's an article today in the Washington Post "Spoiler Frenzy Follows Early Mailing of "Hallows" by Monica Hesse (there aren't any spoilers in the article) about people who want to ruin it for everyone else.

All this is a long-winded way of saying that I will be posting about Book 7 (after it's been released).... and although there will be giant spoilers all over it, PLEASE don't read the posts if you haven't finished the book yet. I really really really don't want to ruin it for you. You only get one chance to read the book for the first time.