Posted on: Thursday, June 19, 2003

Fans of all ages eager to grab Potter's latest book

• In the halls of Hogwarts
• Catch up on first 4 Potter books

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Photo illustration by Greg Taylor • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hey Harry Potter fans, you still out there?

Sure, the first four books of J.K. Rowling's fabulously popular series have been encamped on the best-seller lists for years. And yes, we know (we know!) the latest installment, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," due out Saturday, will be right there with them. (Of course, the movie adaptations of the first two books were monster hits at the box office and in video stores.)

But after seven years of All Hail Harry — not to mention the interminable is-it-here-yet, is-it-here-yet wait between "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in 2000 and the new book — it seems fair to ask: Just how many of you are actually going to be waiting in line when books hit the shelves 12:01 a.m. on Saturday?

According to retailers who have been taking advance orders on the book for months, the answer is, puh-lenty.

The two biggest chain bookstores on O'ahu, Borders Books and Music and Barnes & Noble Booksellers, have special events planned in anticipation of a big midnight turnout and steady sales throughout the weekend.

More than 2,000 people have reserved copies of the book at the main Borders store in Ward Centre, said marketing manager Les Honda. The store will keep line-campers entertained with trivia games and giveaways beginning at 10 p.m. tomorrow. The store re-opens at 8 a.m. Saturday with games, crafts and a character look-alike contest.

Borders in Waikele also will be open late tomorrow to accommodate early-bird shoppers. The store plans a reading of the last chapter of "Goblet of Fire" at 10 p.m. as well as a magic-wand craft lesson and a Harry Potter preparation quiz.

Barnes and Noble's events get started at 7 p.m. tomorrow with readings from the first four Harry Potter books, followed by a costume contest at 9 p.m. and a trivia contest at 9:30 p.m.

Several other retailers also have Harry Potter-related events on tap this weekend.

Windward Mall is hosting a Harry Potter festival starting at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. Tenant Waldenbooks won't have a midnight sale, but will open extra early (7 a.m.) on Saturday. The store will feature a makeshift Diagon Alley at its entrance and games such as "Harry Potter Fear Factor" (using Bertie Bott's jellybeans) throughout the morning.

BookEnds in Kailua is one of several smaller retailers ready to take advantage of overflow business from the national chain stores. They'll be open at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Bestsellers Books and Music at Bishop Square will open at 7 a.m. Saturday with free coffee and "Harry Danishes" for shoppers. The first 50 customers to buy "Order of the Phoenix" will receive a limited edition Harry Potter cap from publisher Scholastic, embroidered with the book title and the date of release.

Bestsellers owner Brian Melzack said anticipation for the new book has been building steadily for months (former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono tried unsuccessfully to get an early peek). The store's reserve list is several hundred names deep, he says.

No. 1 on that list is Linda Kaneshiro, a secretary and devoted Harry Potter fan.

Kaneshiro, 56, prepaid for her copy of "The Order of the Phoenix" back on January 15. She says she's expecting a resolution to the cliffhanger that ended the previous novel and further advancement of Rowling's grand design for Harry and his Hogwarts friends.

She's also expecting more than a few cozy nights of reading to get through the 768-page tome.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, will be interviewed at 8 p.m. tomorrow by Katie Couric on NBC's "Dateline." Gannett News Service

"I'm expecting a big, fat, heavy book," she says.

Kaneshiro started reading the series a few years ago, after her 33-year-old daughter recommended it. "I read the first one and I had to get my own set," she says. "I like the relationships, the friendship that the characters share. I like the way they support each other."

Erin Carvalho, a 10th grader in Kaimuki Church of the Nazarene's Alternate Education Program, is also jonesing for some fresh Harry Potter material. She's read each of the previous four novels "at least 10 times."

Carvalho says she's as excited about "The Order of the Phoenix" as she was for the others. She'll get the new book "as soon as my mom can take me to Costco."

At Susan Otagura's house, the Harry Potter books get passed from oldest son John, 15, to daughter Jessica, 11, and often to Susan herself. (Twelve-year-old Justin doesn't care to read the series.)

John, a sophomore at Roosevelt, has other things on his mind these days (such as golf and cross-country running) but still plans to read the new book.

"He didn't want to go with us to the last movie," Susan Otagura said. "I think he's just at that age. But when the DVD came out, he watched it."

Angel Lum, 19, waited in line "forever" to buy "Goblet of Fire" two years ago. She has no qualms about queuing up again for "The Order of the Phoenix."

"I still have my Hermione costume from Halloween," she said. "So maybe I'll wear it and someone will let me cut."

Lum, a student at Kapi'olani Community College, started reading the Harry Potter books around 1998, shortly after "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was released in the U.S.

"I just liked the way (Rowling) created a whole new magical environment," Lum said. "I think any kid would die to be a place like Hogwarts and to be able to do the kinds of things they're taught to do."

Advertiser staff writer Sara Lin contributed to this report.

• • •

In the halls of Hogwarts

HARRY POTTER: Orphan and wizard, with a knack for getting caught up in trouble. Harry was sent to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents were murdered by the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which he has attended since he was 11, Harry plays on the Quidditch team.

RON WEASLEY: Ron, with red hair and freckles, is one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts. His talent for wizard chess helped defeat one of Voldemort's early plots. He is sometimes envious of Harry's fame. Ron is deathly afraid of spiders, ever since his older brother turned his teddy bear into one.

HERMIONE GRANGER: This Gryffindor, Harry's other best friend, is the smartest student of her year. With bushy hair and formerly large teeth (she had them shrunk in Book 4), Hermione can sometimes be a know-it-all but is a good friend to Harry. She's looked down on by some because her parents are Muggles.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE: Head of Hogwarts. Dumbledore is reputed to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, involved with Harry from the beginning, knows things about Harry that he hasn't told him, but the time to reveal all may be here. At the end of Book 4, Dumbledore was rallying forces to fight Voldemort.

RUBEUS HAGRID: Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts and recently an instructor in the care of magical creatures. It was Hagrid, larger-than-life thanks to his giant mother, who turned up on Harry's 11th birthday to tell him about his past. Hagrid's besotted by dangerous animals, the more terrifying the better.

• • •

Catch up on first 4 Potter books

Synopses of the first four Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling:

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" — released September 1998.

Welcome to the world of Harry Potter, a young English orphan with an odd scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt.

Harry, whose parents died when he was 1, lives with the Dursleys — his odious aunt and uncle and their bully of a son — who tell him that his scar is a legacy of the car crash that killed his parents.

But on his 11th birthday, Harry gets a visit from Hagrid, groundskeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and learns the truth: His parents were a witch and wizard. They were killed by the most evil wizard in the world, Lord Voldemort, who also tried to kill Harry. But Voldemort's curse rebounded, weakening him while leaving Harry with the scar.

Harry goes off to Hogwarts to study wizardry for the first of seven years. He makes friends with students Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, and Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and draws as his enemies student Draco Malfoy and Professor Severus Snape.

He learns many wizardry secrets — from playing Quidditch to casting transfiguration spells. But he also learns something else — that Voldemort is not dead, but alive in spirit, and is on the hunt to regain his physical form. He is looking for the Sorcerer's Stone, which he needs to prolong his life, but Harry and his friends thwart his plan.

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" — released June 1999.

It's the end of summer, and Harry is at home with the Dursleys, when he gets a weird visitor: Dobby the house-elf, who is enslaved by the Malfoy family. Dobby has sneaked away to warn Harry that he is in much danger and must not return to Hogwarts. But Harry returns to Hogwarts anyway — in a flying car with Ron.

At school, Harry hears voices that no one else can, and people start turning up in a petrified state. The hidden Chamber of Secrets has been opened, and a monster is attacking students who come from nonmagical families.When Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister, disappears, Harry goes to look for her.

What he finds is the spirit of young Tom Riddle, a former Hogwarts student. Riddle's spirit takes a keen interest in Harry, who learns it was Riddle who ultimately became Voldemort. Harry eventually defeats the spirit once again.

"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" — released September 1999.

After another disastrous summer at the Dursley home, Harry expects to be punished by Hogwarts because he used magic around the nonmagical Muggles. Instead, he is sent to an inn to wait out the rest of his vacation.

On the eve of his return to Hogwarts, he finds out why: Sirius Black, an alleged supporter of Voldemort, has escaped from Azkaban, a prison for wizards and witches. Everyone is worried that he's on his way to Hogwarts to finish off Harry.

It's a tense year at Hogwarts, with new, scary guards and more classes for Harry and friends. Harry also thinks he sees omens of death.

Black finally shows up. But it's not Harry he's after — it's Scabbers, Ron's pet rat. Scabbers is actually a transfigured Peter Pettigrew, a Voldemort follower who committed the crime for which Black was wrongly imprisoned. And it was Pettigrew who told Voldemort where he could find Harry's parents all those years ago.

With Pettigrew back in human form, hopes are high that Black will be exonerated. Black is actually Harry's godfather, and offers him a home away from the Dursleys. But Pettigrew escapes, and Black has to go on the lam to avoid being sent back to jail. And Harry must return to the Dursleys.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" — released July 2000.

Voldemort has met up with Pettigrew and is hatching another plot to bring himself back to a physical form and full power. The plot requires blood and death — preferably Harry's. An evil minion at Hogwarts is in place to help the wizard get his hands on Harry when the time comes.

Harry, meanwhile, has joined Ron and his family at the Quidditch World Cup finals. Once back at Hogwarts, Harry is entered in a dangerous magical competition with two other wizard schools. He survives, but another Hogwarts competitor doesn't.

Harry ends up temporarily in Voldemort's clutches, although the evil wizard's plan doesn't go quite as he had hoped. Harry and Voldemort end up in a duel, and the ghostly forms of those Voldemort has killed come back to aid Harry and help him get away.

Back at school, the minion is revealed, and Dumbledore realizes that Voldemort is again ready to cause trouble. Dumbledore tries to persuade the Minister of Magic to take steps to stop the evil wizard, but the minister refuses to believe him. So Dumbledore starts making preparations of his own.

Harry and company leave Hogwarts at the start of summer knowing they will soon face an extraordinary fight.