Midnight sale brings out Harry Potter fans

By Tom McHenry
Summer Editor

Tension crackled in the air in Von's Bookstore on Chauncey Hill Friday night. Not since Cinderella was at the ball has midnight been held in such rapt anticipation by so many children (and a few adults, too).

Midnight release sales aren't uncommon in the modern world of big name music, video and video game releases. A midnight children's book release sale, on the other hand, is unheard of.

Von's Books in West Lafayette, which usually closes at 9 p.m. on Friday nights, was open for a midnight sale of J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", the fourth in the popular series of Harry Potter books.

The series revolves around young Harry Potter, a boy who finds out he's destined to be a powerful wizard. In fact, Potter learns, there's magic and wizards and witches all around us in the world, hidden from the regular population, or "Muggles".

Any Muggle walking in or past Von's on Friday night, though, would have surely suspected something. Children were dressed in a mix of clothing from pajamas to full wizard robes. Parents continually checked their watches at their children's behest. Excited whispers darted around the store of just how much time remained until midnight — midnight, the precious hour when they could legally obtain their own copy of the new book and return Harry Potter's world.

In an age when many are quick to denounce today's children as non-readers, such excitement over a book is unprecedented. Who cares about books when there's the Internet and television and countless other forms of more easily accessible entertainment?

Lenna Peterson, for one, does. Peterson, a 12-year-old from Lafayette, was anxiously awaiting the clock's changeover from p.m. to a.m. along with her friend Leslie Glossic, also 12. Peterson called the series "innovative" and "revolutionary" and compared its take on reality to that of the film "The Matrix". "I've read the whole series about 20 times," Peterson said.

Glossic shyly echoed her friend's sentiments, "(The books are) good, and real page-turners."

Glossic and Peterson were just two of the 90-plus reserve copies Von's had on shelves just agonizingly out of reach of the crowd until after midnight.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" boasts the largest first print run of any book ever, and one of the only reasons that Carter Stanislaw, 7, will be up past his bedtime. Stanislaw was awaiting his copy in a slightly oversized wizard's hat. "I like the magic and the characters and names of the spells," Stanislaw said.

Stanislaw just finished the third book for the second time and has been eagerly awaiting his copy since May 1.

It may be a while before Stanislaw is able to get to a second reading of the fourth Harry Potter book, as it is 734 pages long. The fourth book is the size of two of its predecessors put together

Not that the size will shake dedicated Potter fans.

"I just try to read as much as I can everyday," Kyler Breed said. Brian Breed, Kyler's father and director of Purdue Musical Organizations, said that he can't remember any book ever causing this kind of reaction. Brian, who began reading the books at the insistence of Kyler, compares the series to J.R.R Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".

"It creates another world, it really captures the imagination," Brian said. Brian said that he's proud of Kyler's interest in reading and that that’s one of the things that makes the series so wonderful.

"There's no better hobby than reading," Brian said.

"I was always into magic and unusual things, " Kyler said.

Each of the reservists received a special set of stickers with logos from Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, the main setting for the series. Giveaways would not satiate the crowd and only reminded them of just how much they wanted the new Harry Potter book.

There was a hushed, almost revered silence as the second hand made its last pass of the day.

In the first moment of Saturday morning, copies were distributed with a warning. Von's patrons were jokingly warned not to call and ask about the fifth book in a few days because they finished the fourth book so quickly.

The bookstore emptied quickly, as shoppers hurried into the night so they could begin reading the fourth book.

And despite the mock warning, Von's and other bookstores around the country can probably expect their first calls about the fifth book sooner than they'd like.