07.20.07
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (no spoilers, pre-release!)
The imminent release of this book is quite a phenomenon in our house, and we have been building up to it over the last several weeks as all four of the readers here have re-read the first six books in preparation. Jeff and Katie are scurrying to finish Half-Blood Prince…
We have built hardcover collections of the series for our own library and also for the kids’ future libraries; Harry Potter has become a significant memory set for Katie and Emma. We have two copies ordered to pick up after the release party at Keplers Bookstore in Menlo Park, and the other copies scheduled for delivery tomorrow from Amazon.
Jeff is taking the girls to the party from 9 to midnight tonight. Jeff himself will be in a simple costume of robe and hat, dressed (and tagged) as an “Unidentified Ministry Source” – which character is featured frequently in The Daily Prophet newspaper in the books. I created a nametag for him to pin on his robe, based on Ministry of Magic artwork in Mary Grandpre’s illustrations:
Emma is going as Hermione Granger. To this end, she currently has her hair braided in 25 small braids, which we styled into wet hair treated with styling paste; this should give her an appropriately “bushy” look. She’s got a smart “uniform” outfit of black pants, black vest and white shirt, plus her black robe. In addition to her wand, she’ll also be toting a full bookbag (pillow on the bottom and a couple of books on top so it’s not too heavy to carry around!) and some S.P.E.W. materials – sign-up clipboard and membership stickers. She designed the stickers herself and helped me build them on the computer:
She’s also designed a Prefect Badge that I need to create still.
Katie decided to go as Luna “Loony” Lovegood. Based on one of Grandpre’s illustrations she chose too-short pants and scuff sandals worn with socks as her outfit, plus of course a black robe and wand. She also asked her uncle, Joe-Bob, who is a bartender, to collect bottlecaps so she could make a butterbeer cap necklace; and grandma Cissa had some apple earrings that still need to be converted to radishes.
My job is to stay at home with Jamie and anxiously await their return at about 1am or so. I’ll be going to sleep with him at 8:30 so I can get up when they arrive and start reading! Jeff and I both plan to be up all night reading. On Saturday, I have rehearsals at 11 and 1; the plan is for me to take Jamie over to grandma Meemom’s so that Jeff can finish the book (if necessary) and then get some sleep while the girls read. We’ve also decided that the girls may not start reading until there are two books available, one for each (unless of course they decide on a compromise like reading aloud; this is only if Jeff needs to finish still after they are awake).
We started reading the series right around when the fourth book came out (which is when they started being simultaneously released in the UK and US). Katie went to a book 6 release party with her cousin, and we’ve read books 5 and 6 at my parents’ summer party (Clambake 2003 and 2005) (along with many others who were there!- I think book 6 was being read by at least six different people at once that year!). The girls have played so much Harry Potter there are dedicated playroom materials to that game, including fun collapsible trunks we found at IKEA just a month ago. Katie has read all of the books as they’ve come out since she was about 8, and both girls have listened to Jim Dale’s terrific audiobooks. Emma started reading the series about a year ago, around her seventh birthday. We have spent much time in recent months in family discussions about what book 7 will hold, what details we’ve discovered in our re-readings that might be important to the conclusion, and so forth.
It has been a terrific journey that we’ve enjoyed together; I see read-alouds in our future when Jamie is old enough for the experience!