Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Potter casts magic spell again

Nivedita Ganguly

COPYCATS!: Children going through the latest Harry Potter edition at a bookstore in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. — Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM: Harry Potter's magic wand once again showed its effect on millions of fans across the world, who waited anxiously for Saturday morning to get their hands on `Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', the sixth in the series and what was considered as the darkest of J.K. Rowling's fantasy novels.

Children lined up in eager anticipation from early hours of Saturday outside bookstores in the city to get their copy of Harry's latest adventures. All leading bookstores opened at 6 a.m. as children came pouring in.

``Such is the craze that 200 copies of the book, priced at Rs. 888, were sold out in the first hour itself,'' said Sunil Nevatia of Jyoti Book Depot.

Exciting offers

The store had around 2,000 copies of the book. Free screening of Harry Potter films was arranged for children at the store. Along with this, the store had come out with many exciting offers. "For every purchase of the new book, we are giving Pizza Hut and Reliance Web World coupons.'' Customers could also avail themselves of a gift of their choice from a set of 21 items on the purchase of the book. Apart from this, a special magic show was organised for children.

The latest book is Rowling's most mature story, marked by the death of a major character and the arrival of love in the land of Hogwarts. Harry's fans can now solve the mysteries that Rowling teasingly hinted at for months: Will Harry's teenage friends - Ron and Hermione - find romance? Which character died? Who is the half-blood prince?

Since Rowling introduced Harry and his fellow students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the world in 1997, the books have become a global phenomenon, selling 270 million copies in 62 languages and inspiring a series of movies. The city may not have had children in wizard hats and cloaks camping outside bookstores, nor any midnight parties hosted by publishers and booksellers. Nonetheless, the release did bring its share of excitement to people across all ages, in the shape of a fat book that seems to be, in no small measure, energising the reading habit. Now, isn't that pure magic?

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