Warning: Don't be alarmed if you happen to see groups of four foot wizards and three-and-a-half foot owls strolling down Main Street at midnight this Friday.
Like children across the United States, many of Hanover's youngest (and their parents) will be wide awake at 12:01 Saturday morning, when bookstores are officially allowed to start selling "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," J.K. Rowling's newest addition to her world-renowned fantasy series.
"Just a huge outpouring of people want this book," said Gerda Gofberg, one of the managers of the Dartmouth Bookstore children's room. "As it gets closer and closer, people get more and more excited."
Countless stores are holding special Harry Potter events this Friday and Saturday for the release of the book.
The Dartmouth Bookstore is having a 12 to 2 a.m. party, which will feature a symbolic reading of the first chapter and celebratory food. There will also be a raffle for those who dress up in "any Harry clothing" with prizes like Harry tee shirts and other giveaways.
When asked if children would be permitted to stay up until midnight just for a Harry Potter party, Gofberg implied that the answer was obvious: Harry is more important than sleep for many of its devotees.
"It's a Friday night and it's summer," she said. "Plus, this is a big event."
The anticipation leading up to the book's release has been building for months. According to the co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore Liza Bernard, customers have been reserving copies since the third in the series -- "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" -- was released last fall.
Michael Jacobs, a senior vice president at Scholastic, agrees.
He told The New York Times that "The anticipation is beyond anything we imagined. The book has crossed over and is now being read by adults as well as children. The anticipation as allowed us to have the biggest first printing in the history of trade publishing."
A record 3.8 million copies of "The Goblet of Fire" have been printed in America, and are being sent to bookstores -- large and small -- across the nation this week.
Bernard said if shipping works the way it is supposed to, the Norwich Bookstore will receive its boxes full of the 752 page Harry Potter book before Saturday.
"It's a little nerve wracking," she admitted.
The release has kept more than just Norwich on its toes. Until this week, the title was kept secret -- Scholastic only made it public it after it was published in the British press. And in interviews, Rowling has been slow to reveal details of the coming additions to her series.
"This is something that's off the scales," Bernard said.
When asked if she could attribute the anticipation to anything, she said it is well written and focuses on contemporary issues that face children.
But, she admitted that the suspense leading up to the release seemed like one of the biggest factors leading to the popularity of this book that has yet to be seen by readers.
"The hype is what it is," she said. "It's all over. The hype is self perpetuating."
Bernard said her store is opening an hour early on Saturday -- at eight -- in honor of the release. She said there would be special activities and treats all day.
Sunshine Bon of The Borders in West Lebanon said her store will remain open until 1 a.m. on July 8. She said the store will also host a free Harry Potter breakfast at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.
At the Dartmouth Bookstore, two live owls will visit in the morning and early afternoon in honor of the release. In the series, owls work as letter carriers for the wizards.
"I don't know if we're going to make ours work," Gofberg said jokingly of the Woodstock owls that will be in Hanover Saturday.
Before the first Harry Potter book was published almost two years ago in September of 1998, its author was an unemployed single mother living on welfare in England. She began writing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in a local caf as her baby daughter napped. She typed out individual copies of the book on a manual typewriter and mailed them out to various publishers.
Since "The Sorcerer's Stone" was published, followed by "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and then "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," Rowling has attained hero status among multitudes of children, parents and teachers.
The book even made an appearance at Dartmouth when Education professor Randy Testa taught "The Sorcerer's Stone" in Education 34 -- Children's Literature -- last Fall term. Also, Rowling received an honorary degree from Dartmouth during Commencement this June.
