Hundreds conjure fervor at Potter party

Kaitlyn Dodd of McClure, Ill., spent the entire day Friday in a black robe, dressed as a student from the Hogwarts school, where Harry Potter learned his magic.

Like hundreds of Potter fans in the Cape Girardeau area and millions around the world, Friday was a day the 12-year-old has been anticipating for months. At 12:01 a.m. today, she was ready to learn the identity of the Half-Blood Prince when "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was released.

"I just want to read the back of the book," said Kaitlyn as she waited for the release at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Cape Girardeau.

The release of the closely guarded book (not even reviewers were allowed to see copies) was possibly the most anticipated book release ever. Over 10 million copies are predicted to be sold within 24 hours, and 270 million copies of the series have been sold since the first book was released in 1997.

"We all want to stay up all night reading it," said Kaitlyn's 11-year-old friend Garrison Freeman, also of McClure, who was dressed in a blue robe and blond wig as book character Fleur Delacour.

By the time the release party started at Barnes and Noble at 10 p.m., about 400 people had already shown up according to estimates from store manager Steve Turner, with 600 expected by midnight.

Add to the total an expected 300-400 people at Hastings and similar numbers at Waldenbooks and it's clear that the Potter release was one of the hottest tickets around.

The activities started even earlier at the Cape Girardeau Public Library, which held its own party earlier in the evening.

Over 50 kids showed up for the library's Potter party, where library workers dressed in black robes and assumed the roles of Hogwarts teachers.

The children rotated in shifts between classes on wand-making, divination, the history of magic and potion-making.

In the divination class, the apprentice wizards read messages about their futures written backwards on strips of paper.

"You will be the first president of the United Moons of Jupiter," read one little girl. The students' powers of precognition were tested when they went to a mirror and read the message in correct order to see if they were right.

The anticipation of the book's midnight release was evident as the kids tried to really read the future at the end of the class, venturing their guesses on the super-secret identity of the Half-Blood Prince.

"It's Harry Potter," said one little boy, giggling.

"But then the book would be called 'Harry Potter and Harry Potter,'" replied teacher Sharon Anderson, a library worker.

"It almost caused a frenzy," said library employee Olympia McMackins. But the hype is for a good cause, she said. "I love to see kids enjoy reading."

But it wasn't just kids anticipating the release. Peter Maher, an adult from Cape Girardeau and devoted Potter fan, donned his black-framed Potter glasses at the party.

"It brings out the kid in all of us," said Maher.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182