It was bedlam this evening in Harvard Square. Roads around the Square were blocked off and pedestrians by the thousands were having a grand party, many in fancy dress, all in a great mood. There wasn't the smell of dope nor any indication that there was much alcohol consumption. If anything, the Snapple Ice Tea concession was doing the biggest business tonight.
The most odd thing was that this extravaganza was not because of a local team's victory, nor the premier of a hot movie, a concert performance of some rock band. It was to celebrate the publication of a book.
Young kids, teenagers and college age folks were out in droves anticipating the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last book in the Hogwarts series by J.K. Rowling. At 12.01am the Harvard Coop and the great children's bookstore, Curious George, will start to sell this book as fast as a bottle water stand can move Perrier in the Mojave Desert.
Then some truly remarkable will happen. Something that the television cameras will miss and the newspapers will fail to report. The Square will get very, very quiet as people sit down and read.
Yes, that's right. They will find a spot, and camp out, turning pages after pages as their imaginations make every reader's journey through Harry's final adventure different . And then they will feel the loss of saying goodbye, regardless of each character's fate, as this final book is over.
And they will be hooked. They will come to recognize that even the best animation cannot compete with the visions that the printed word creates in a reader's mind. They will crave to find characters that live and breathe for them like old friends and enemies.
It doesn't matter if the writer is J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume, or F.W. Dixon. Each of us who is a reader today remembers the writer who made lives come alive in our heads through just scanning a page of print.
Rowling has done what scores of English teachers couldn't. She has made books come alive for this generation of kids.
Huzzah for Hogwarts!
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