A thousand children, maybe more, most of them yawning. None of them scowling or spitting or complaining. Tugging on mothers and fathers hands. In a queue and staying up late to buy a book. Of course, I'm talking about the new Harry Potter book. All the bookshops opened at midnight to sell copies. My son has got his copy :-) But the thing that was so wonderful was that I have never seen so many children make so much effort for a toy. It's nice to know there are still kids learning to love books in this tv dominated world. Shanna :-)

My wife and two kids just headed out for the local Barnes and Nobel Bookstore for one of the local Potter Parties. My younger has a learning disability, and finds reading very difficult, yet she has read all the HP books and the Lord of the Rings multiple times because she enjoys them so much. And they have definately helped her reading ability. Yes, wonderful indeed. :-) jon

Here was not such a wonderful thing. Our order for Harry Potter books got detoured. It takes time to process books, catalogue them, distribute them to 34 different sites. We have a very eager line up of readers waiting at our doors, and our books have had a 24 hour delay. Yikes! It's nice that they want to read. It would be nicer if they didn't want to read the same book all at the same time. sigh. Jon, congratulations on your daughter taking the challenge to read despite her difficulties. That must be very exciting to see.

She just finished up the 6th grade and tested at the 8th grade reading level. That is all due to her own determination and hard work. She is very bright, but something just does not click in the language section of her head (spoken, written, or reading), but she perseveres. I am very proud of her. jon

YOu know...she's clicking in the area that is going to mean the most in the long run. You've every right to be proud of her. :)

we had the fix in; we knew someone at B&N, and got them reserved through her six weeks ago..the missus is on page 30 or so..they've been home almost 30 minutes..she says it's fantastic so far..

Living in the land of 3 hours from anywhere, this phenomenon of the overnight wait for anything is something I have yet to witness. What is amazing, is that Ms. Rowling has captured the imagination and, if I may say the hearts, of a generation with her fantasy. Though often touted as diabolic... how could it not be? Anything that ensares the mind and creates a desire to read must be indeed from the nether regions. After all reading is one of the seven deadly sins is it not? (tongue planted firmly in cheek!) Congratulations Jon, it is said that the Bard also had learning problems and was probably dyslexic. And look where that took him! Onward to immortality!

There were all sorts of celebrations here with the first two nights of Pottermania. One book store even had jugglers and other performers in Rennaisance outfits. Yeah, I can see how a young boy fighting back with magic against the man who killed his parents (among others) could be seen as an evil influence. Obviously any kid who reads that would instantly make a pact with the devil to learn magic. I mean, if he pulled out an AK-47 and started blasting, that would be acceptable. The New York Times had a sad commentary stating that JK Rowlins promotes class warfare by praising aristocrats and making fun of the working class. Wizards like Dumbledorf are the aristocrats, while the Dursley's are the crass middle class. Ummm ... right, whatever. The "proof" was so lame, I really had to wonder if the writer had even read the novels. (Ron's parents are aristocrats? The Malfoys are nobly portrayed?) Glad to hear about your daughter, Jon. If you can read and write well, you can learn almost anything.

Actually, what is disappointing (from a library point of view) is that many children who are wild about Harry do not go on to read other books. Some do, without a doubt, but some will only read Rowling. Sigh. I guess that's not so suprising...I hope it is a temporary obsession on their part. Rowling is all very well, but she's not the only writer out there. It just seems like it right now.

Not to steal Ms. Rowlings thunder, but I have found that my all time favorite childrens books are those in the series Junie B. Jones. Written from the perspective of a five year old, funny and all have a hidden moral... divining the moral is the trick!