Weekend of Pottering ...

A few weeks ago I was talking Harry Potter with someone from my other job. He didn't believe that I'd never been to a midnight-book-release party. My kids have, but I've left it to them to score our early copies of the books.

But since this was my last chance forever, I decided to go to the King's Books party in Tacoma. I chose it because King's Books is an independent bookstore, the supply of which is dwindling. I also bought one of our household copies from there (at 34.99!) for the same reason. Our second copy was due the next morning from Amazon. Deeply discounted.

The King's Books party was great fun; except for the store being very hot. I arrived at 9:30; didn't think I could manage the full five-hour event. I didn't get there quite in time to see Seabury's own Mr. Mario perform, but there was lots of other entertainment.

The best entertainment of all, though, was watching and listening to kids and non-kids, speculating right up until the last minute about what was going to happen in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Doesn't seem like anyone had been assaulted by unwanted spoilers.

There were at least seven former Seabury students there; one was employed at the face-painting table.

At midnight, or a minute before, there were suddenly screams from the front of the line. They were giving out the book. More screams; shouts, squeals. Comments like "This is the best day of my life!!" I took some video that shows the young girl in front of me hopping up and down like she was on springs. Each person who got their book, clutched it like it was a beloved stuffed animal. This for a book! Cool, is all I can say.

I managed to read two chapters before I dozed off. My 16-year-old was hovering outside the door, waiting for my eyes to close. He took the book at about 1:30 a.m. and came down at 7:15. "I finished it."

That afternoon, our Amazon copy had come. My 18-year-old and I parked ourselves in the living room and read nearly non-stop. I got up to do a couple of things, so he passed me up by 50 pages or so. I think he finished at about 10 and me, a half-hour later or so. It's that kind of a book; it's hard to put down. My husband read it Sunday and this morning. The reviews from our house? Four thumbs up ... or eight thumbs up, I guess.

Halley's traveling back from Israel to Paris tomorrow. She's heading straight to an English-language bookstore so she can pick up a copy for the plane ride home Friday.

Today I'm teaching a Seabury summer class and I've asked a few of the older kids: "What page are you on?" I didn't indicate which book, but of course they knew. One said 350, another said "Chapter 7, but I'm reading it slowly. I want to savor every word."

I guess at my house, we'll have to savor it the second time around!

Have any tales from your house of reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"? Reviews?

(By the way, I looked up "spoilers" on the Internet after I finished the book. Some of the most publicized are completely wrong.)

Talk to you soon ...

Is there a Harry Potter frenzy at your house?

My kids have grown up with Harry, Ron and Hermoine, so they're anxious to get their hands on the last book Saturday. Halley's still out of the country and plans to buy her own copy for the long plane flight home, but there is a running discussion about who gets to read our copy first. I might have to buy two. But for now, my solution is to have everyone leave it in the living room so concurrent readings can go on.

If you have youngsters who are already mourning the end of Hogwarts, I wrote a column for Tuesday's News Tribune. It's about the literary legacy of HP and contains a bunch of other reading suggestions. Our kids at Seabury already know of many of these books and often are more excited about them than HP.

I'm not going to write much more here, because I've written so much about Harry Potter this month already. I do love the books, and the excitement they've created among young readers for the past 10 years.

One thing I do want to say is if you and your children don't want the surprises of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" spoiled before you read the book, it might be a good idea to limit your use of the Internet for a few days.

People have gotten hold of copies, posted pictures of every single page, and plot developments are leaking out faster that Scholastic, Bloomsbury or JK Rowling's lawyers can control. I was trying to read some news stories about the leaks, and commenters feel compelled to assault you, without warning, in all-caps: ***** DIES!!, etc.

Who knows if the tiny bit I saw before closing the screen is true. But I do know that actual spoilers appear to be out there.

The whole thing makes me sad, and mad. The Harry Potter phenomenon has been a magical one. I don't understand why some unscrupulous meanies who are good at computers feel compelled to try and squash that magic.

That's all for now. Be careful out there in cyberspace!