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The end?
Thu Jul 19, 2007, 10:28 AM EDT
Maynard and Stow -On July 31, J.K. Rowling will turn 42, so it’s hyperbole to say she can spend her post-Harry Potter years counting one dollar for every second she’s been on Earth. That would be in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion and even Potter isn’t that magical.
But after 10 years, seven books, five movies [with more to follow], a dinosaur [dracorex hogwartsia] an asteroid [43844 Rowling] and an Order of the British Empire, she’s earned a few months off.
Friday night, the Paper Store in Maynard is having a Harry Potter release party. These little gatherings have popped up over the past few years, celebrating the release of each new novel. It gave one a start to see dozens of children ranging in age from infant to adult waiting for a book. The ritual is the same: The storeowner rolls out cartons of books as midnight approaches and book is handed out to customers gripping numbered bracelets. It’s like mail call in an Audie Murphy war movie with the sergeant calling names and tossing packages to homesick vets.
The next day, the book is being read everywhere. Most are probably all finished within a few hours. Now, begins the debate: Are they great books? Great stories? Or, as some grouchy critics have argued, mindless pap for the cell phone generation?
We don’t have the skill of divination to see what the future holds. But Harry Potter annually appears among the most-banned books. That’s a list which include Harper Lee and Mark Twain, so draw you own conclusions.
