Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

No Kidding: Children embrace the written word via Harry Potter series

The other books in order of release:

-- Las Vegas Sun

It isn't just Hogwarts where Harry Potter has performed his magic.

The brave young wizard with the lightning-bolt scar has also enchanted millions of muggle children across the globe and inspired them to read.

Barnes and Noble sold nearly a million copies of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the most recent book in the series, in a day which translates to approximately 80 books sold across the country per second.

And expectations are even higher for the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which is released worldwide at midnight Saturday.

Pre-sales of the book have already made it the No. 1 bestseller for Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com.

Joe Monti, a books buyer for Barnes & Noble Booksellers, said he's never seen anything like the "Harry Potter Phenomenon."

"Before 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' was released, the only children's novel to sell strongly in hardcover was 'Holes' by Louis Sachar," Monti said via e-mail.

"For children's publishers this was huge, as it opened up the realm of possibilities for the range of the children's market."

Although the book series has more than its share of adult fans, most of its success can be attributed to children such as Nicco Marcus, a 12-year-old seventh grader at Barbara & Hank Greenspun Junior High School, whose bedroom is filled with Harry Potter merchandise: posters, puzzles, pillows, sheets, models, stickers, toys, cards, shirts, figurines, tapes, photos, candy, calendars and, of course, books.

Marcus, daughter of Las Vegas Sun photographer Steve Marcus, typically re-reads a Harry Potter book once per month or, at least, listens to the audio tape version.

It's not that she wasn't a book reader before picking up her first Harry Potter six years ago. Marcus simply doesn't recall any of the pre-Potter books she read.

"It's as though I have two separate lives," she said. "One where I had no knowledge about the wizarding world and one with it.

"One of my favorite sayings is: Nothing comes before Harry Potter ... except more Harry Potter."

Making magic

Daphne Durham, senior book editor for Amazon.com, said Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has "raised the bar for children's authors" and created an excitement among children for reading. "Because kids are becoming more interested in reading in general, they're looking for any kind of books," she said. "Publishers are really stepping up across all genres."

Not surprisingly, the fantasy genre has enjoyed the most interest among publishers. Before the tales of a young wizard and his magical friends Hermione and Ron appeared before readers in 1998, children's fantasy books were limited mainly to classics such as the C.S. Lewis-penned "Chronicles of Narnia" or the more adult-themed J.R.R. Tolkien "Lord of the Rings" series.

Today, shelves in the children's department are crammed with books about faraway places, magical events and strange beasts, such as the "Eragon" and "Artemis Fowl" series.

"('Harry Potter') has brought science fiction and fantasy to the forefront of children's literature," said Leigh-Ann Melton, Las Vegas community relations manager for Barnes & Noble.

"It's one of the most popular genres of children's literature today."

Aside from getting children to open books, the Harry Potter series has also challenged the notion of how much they'll read.

The first Harry Potter book was 309 pages, while "Order of the Phoenix" was the largest yet, at 870 pages. ("Half-Blood Prince," while nearly 200 pages shorter than its predecessor, is still a hefty 672 pages.)

It's a far cry from when children's books rarely went past 200 pages.

"It used to be books 200-300 pages long were for adults," said Kathy DiGeorge, young people's department head at Summerlin Library.

"When the fourth (Harry Potter) came out, everyone said there's no way a child will read a book that's 800 pages. And yet kids just aren't reading it, they're flying through it."

Danny Scharar hasn't had any problems with the longer books.

"You just buckle down and read," said the 10-year-old fourth grader at D'vorre and Hal Ober Elementary School. "You get caught up in the moment and you just can't put it down."

The books' lengths haven't been intimidating for Scharar. Rather, they have been a gateway to extensive reading.

At age 6, he was mainly looking at picture books; today he's reading three to four books a month, including his other favorite series, "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

Still, Scharar said he isn't averse to the occasional help from his mom.

"She usually just helps me with a word I don't understand," he said.

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