BookOpinion

Workers printing J. K. Rowling’s ”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” are apparently being forced to work in total darkness to prevent leaks of the new novel, which is scheduled to be released on July 21.

Some select fans will be invited to attend a midnight reading by Rowling of Harry Potter 7. The reading is said to last until dawn with the book read in its entirety. Fans can enter a sweepstakes with a chance to be included among those select few at the reading.

Barnes & Noble, the largest bookseller in the U.S., said it expects sales volume will be higher in the second quarter because of sales of the new Harry Potter novel.

If all that isn’t enough to convince you that the Harry Potter mania is going full throttle, there’s more:

The Royal Mail is marking the Harry Potter series finale with millions of first-class stamps featuring images from the covers of the seven books. The Royal Mail said it was “proud to commemorate and celebrate an illustrious British author and a true global publishing phenomenon”.

At Lawrence University in Appelton, Wisc., students can actually attend a course titled “Thinking about Harry Potter” during the fall semester. It will be taught by Edmund Kern, author of “The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices”.

“Today’s college students are like no others in history,” Kern says in an HPANA interview. “They had the chance to grow up right along with Harry Potter. I’d be foolish to pass up the teaching opportunities that those circumstances offer me.”

And, finally, an 86-year-old man’s dying wish is to read the final Harry Potter book. “He accepts what’s coming,” his daughter said. “He just wants to read that book first.” A hospital contacted Rowling, who wrote the man, but no such luck. Rowling says the release rights belong to the publisher. He’ll have to read it when it comes out, too. Hang in there, buddy!