Saturday, June 21, 2003
Long-awaited new Harry Potter book reaches eager readers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix swooped into bookstores worldwide, including Malaysia, where eager fans waited in line at selected bookshops to be among the first to buy the boy wizard's fifth adventure in print.
At the Kinokuniya Bookstores at Suria KLCC, the store opened at 7.01am, the Malaysian equivalent time of midnight in Britain.
Eager Malaysians at the Kinokuniya store in Kuala Lumpur.
In LONDON With a jangle of cash registers and a whoosh of witches' capes, bookstores across Britain rang up the first official sales of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' at the stroke of midnight Friday, bringing the boy wizard's fifth magical adventure to a legion of adoring fans.
"I love it so much I get goosebumps,'' said 12-year-old Lisa Brummett, from Mesa, Arizona, who waited four hours at the WH Smith shop at King's Cross rail station to buy the thick new book in its yellow, blue and red cover. "Harry Potter is the most magic thing there is,'' Lisa said, clutching J.K. Rowling's latest creation to her chest and grinning from ear to ear. "Once I get out of here, I will start reading and will probably be through by the time we get to the hotel.''
Fans have waited three years for the latest Potter story, but have had two Potter movies to entertain them in the meantime.
"Its kind of nice to escape to a place a bit more magical,'' said Lisa's sister Stephanie, 16, looking forward to the hefty 768-page British edition, the longest yet in the tales of Harry and his pals at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Danielle Downey, 14, was undaunted by the length of the book.
"You look forward to reading it for so long, it is good that it's this big,'' said the grinning red-haired teenager.
American Walt Andrews, 10, from Boston, Massachusetts, on holiday on Britain, quickly got his copy.
"I want to start reading it right away, but Mom made me promise that we'd wait until the morning. I'll probably try to set the world record then to read it as fast as I can,'' Walt said.
Rowling, looking relaxed and happy, paid a visit to a Waterstone's bookshop in her home town of Edinburgh, Scotland and gave out signed copies of her freshly delivered book to a party of 40 primary school children.
"When 'Goblet of Fire' was published I was desperate to go into a bookshop at midnight and see children's reactions, so this time I'm really pleased I could,'' she said. "Much of the pleasure of being published for me is meeting the children who are reading the books.''
At King's Cross, the line of 100 or so eager fans trailed from the store into the station's cavernous arrival hall and contained an equal smattering of children, parents and Potter-mad adults.
"She has made a hero of somebody who could have become a victim,'' said graying Gillian Hammerton. Like Harry, she was orphaned at an early age. "It's marvelous for someone to have empathy with how a child can feel when they are not in the bosom of a family.''
At the small Daunt's bookshop in Hampstead, north London, around 100 people lined up for the midnight launch. Lawyer Andrew Darwin said there "would be a fight between myself and my 7-year-old son Oscar'' to see who reads the book first, but he predicted Oscar would win.
His wife Lucy paid tribute to Rowling. "Oscar learned to read because of her,'' she said.
As Harry's daring exploits against the evil Lord Voldemort burst upon the waiting world, book store managers appeared as excited as their customers.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened on 12 July 2007.
The rebellion begins! Lord Voldemort is back, but the Ministry of Magic tries to keep a lid on the truth – including appointing a new, power-hungry Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione convince Harry to secretly train students for the wizarding war ahead. A terrifying showdown between good and evil awaits
"I am very excited. This does not happen often in the world of literature,'' said Gary Kibble, director of books for WH Smith.
More than 100 of the chain's stores opened at midnight, with sleepovers, costume competitions and even professional falconers on hand with owls to give the launch a Hogwarts aura.
The book was being launched in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand at the same time as in Britain. And in Paris, WH Smith's store on the Rue de Rivoli held a special late-night opening with a magician performing tricks and staff dressed as wizards. About 50 Potter fans, some in wizard costume, sat on the floor waiting to become the first in France to buy a copy of the new book.
In Brazil, where no Portuguese version is yet available, the Travessa bookstore in Rio de Janeiro, sold all of its 45 English-language copies through advance orders.
"All copies in stock were sold out, even before the official start of sales,'' said vendor Jose Roberto Mesquita, as dozens of children lined up outside.
In the Taiwan capital Taipei, Aaron Hua, 10, spent the night with his parents and Pekinese dog crouched on the floor of the 24-hour Eslite bookstore, waiting for the 7 a.m. launch -- timed to coincide with the first London sales.
"It's all the magic,'' Hua said, explaining his fascination with the wildly popular series. Around 50 people lined up to grab the book, in its English version. The Chinese translation should be out by Christmas, an store official said.
In Singapore, competition between booksellers was fierce.
"Harry Potter books this way!'' yelled a member of staff from the Kinokuniya bookstore, who was dressed as a wizard, as he directed potential customers away from the nearby Borders store.
The twists and turns in the plot were guarded jealously by the British publisher, Bloomsbury. Rowling resisted journalists' attempts to drag vital bits of plot from her in recent interviews, insisting on preserving the surprises for the readers.
She revealed that one of the central figures dies in the book, but said she has not even told her husband who the doomed character is.
Yet leaks occurred. A store in Fishers, Indiana, and a New York health food store were among those that mistakenly put copies out for sale. The Daily News in New York City, which bought a copy and published a preview, is now facing a US$100 million lawsuit from Rowling and her publishers.
In England, 7,680 copies of the book were stolen from a truck parked outside a warehouse late Sunday night. Earlier this month, a print worker was sentenced to 180 hours community service for attempting to sell three chapters of the book to a tabloid newspaper.
Rowling, speaking in Edinburgh just after midnight, said she was pleased that so little about the story has escaped the secrecy.
"I don't think anything crucial has got out, so I am happy. I think it's miraculous, given the number of books that we produced and the number of people involved,'' she said.
Harry is 15 in the new book, and Rowling has disclosed that he will get to be a real adolescent, with his share of anger and some confusion over girls. There is much emotional interplay in the new book, which goes well beyond the children's genre.
Early reviews praised the fifth installment. USA Today cited Rowling's "wonderful, textured writing.'' The Associated Press said, "It was worth the wait. And then some.''
Harry was 11 in the first volume, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' -- released in the United States as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' Published in 1997, it was followed each year by another adventure -- "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.''
Rowling's four Potter books have sold an estimated 192 million copies worldwide and have been published in at least 55 languages and distributed in more than 200 countries.
Blockbuster movies were made of the first two books and the movie stemming from the third will be released next year.
Amazon.com had 1 million advance orders for the fifth book.
