Hogwarts Herald

Our party is just 5 weeks away. We’ve sent out invitations and were knee-deep in planning.

I’m still brainstorming on activities -

we’ve already decided to make bookmarks, and have a “door prize guessing game” - I’ve decided to fill one jar with gumballs (a smaller number) for a kid’s size house scarf and a larger jar with (un-inflated) balloons for an adult size house scarf - whoever guesses the number of items in the jar (or gets the closest) wins!

I’ve made a “suggestion box” and slips of paper with different “plot” questions (similar to the Scholastic questions) for guests to speculate how things will unfold in book 7.

If we need a “filler game” - a rousing game of charades is always fun - even more so with a Potter theme!

Now, let’s review our menu so far…

Beverages:
tea, I think would be nice.
butter beer sodas

Snacks/food:
cornish pasties
sandwiches

Treats:
Chocolate covered pretzel “wands”
raspberry trifle

So, I’m thinking that we need to plan more food! Look for more recipes next week!

Harry Potter Party, party planning, party games

To catch up to the current Deathly Hallows question at Scholastic.com…

Will Hogwarts reopen?

I say definitely yes. At what point, I’m not sure. I can’t imagine Hermione being out of class for very long - she’ll organize something. As far as Harry’s pledge to not return - it would seem that some of book 7 will have to deal with his dealing with his “quest” - Hogwarts is as much a character in the book as any person - a permanent closing of Hogwarts would put the entire education of wizards into question.

Question 4 on Scholastic is “who will end up with whom” - I’m going to leave the speculation on that one to you.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Scholastic.com, Hogwarts

you miserable boy.

According to J.K. Rowling’s website, today, June 5th, is Draco Malfoy’s birthday.

Draco has been Harry’s mini-nemisis since his first day at Hogwarts. He, Draco, embodies nearly every vile trait a wizard can possess; he is vain, arrogant, cowardly, bigoted, greedy and plain old mean. He compensates for his lack of wizardly talent with tricks and bullying (a little like you know who, I’d say).

It should be interesting to see what role he plays in the final book. Presently he does not have any redeeming qualities, except that he is still young -

Draco Malfoy, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Invitations - first we need a flock of owls.

Since it’s very unlikely that we’ll be able to find that many magical owls, who are, otherwise disengaged, I guess we’ll have to rely on Muggle Mail - or the internet!

On-line invitations are an easy, fun and economical way to invite friends to any gathering. Sites such as Evite do most of the work for you - all you have to do is type in the basic information and they send out the invites (via email), track RSVPs and send reminders.

But, sometimes it’s fun to send out “real” invitations, and I think that this is one of those occasions. While I’ll probably send out a few internet invitations (to those friends that I might not have a street address for), we’re going to make (yes, make) invitations for everyone!

So, what should our invitations look like? An owl shape would be fun - that is how mail is sent through the wizarding world. We might use paper that looks like the parchment the students at Hogwarts use. Or maybe some eerie looking paper similar to the cover art. I think that’s what we’ll do!

Of course, we’ll have to include all of the important information:

What: Harry Potter Book Release Party
When: 5:00pm - whenever, Friday, 07/20/2007
Where: My backyard!
R.S.V.P. by July 14th via Phone, email or owl!

We should be able to have all of the invites completed in a week or two - we want to be sure to send them out soon so that everyone will be able to add our party to their busy summer schedules!

So, let’s see, we’ve been working on the menu, and activities. Next we need to figure out decorations, and just how wicked we want this party to be…

Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister to be, has announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is on his “summer reading list”, although he will take his seat as PM on June 27th.

Brown, a personal friend of J.K. Rowling’s, told BBC Radio 4 that he plans to read the book “hoping that my sons will want to read later.” Brown’s sons, John and Fraser, are 3 and 1 years old, respectively.

HT to The Wizard News

Over on Tiny Treasury, children’s book reviewer and recommender extraordinaire, Kelly, has posted a question…

Who do you think dies in Deathly Hallows: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger or somebody else?

So, check it out and let your opinion be known!

Also, be sure to check out her review of Troy CLE’s Marvelous World - Book One: The Marvelous Effect.

Here are the images of the US Front Cover…the US Full Cover…and the UK Adult Front Cover (with spine and flap):

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We don’t know what the new Harry Potter book will look like, but we’ll know it’s green…that is, “green” as in environmentally friendly. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be printed on recycled paper. This is hugely good news for the environmental movement. A book of this size (more on that soon) that sells millions upon millions of copies–that’s a lot of trees saved. Not only is it good for the trees, it helps to send a message that you can be environmental friendly and profitable at the same time. Cheers to all who had a hand in making this decision.

The new book will be 784 pages in length…second most for the Potter series behind Order of the Phoenix.

The new book will be here before you know it.

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Today’s Chicago Tribune looks at “All things Harry Potter” in their “Potter Watch” column.

What can you find in the column?

** News of Daniel Radcliffe’s new London play, Equus.
** A countdown to the 5th movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
** A countdown to the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

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The second list of ways Harry will die is actually much funnier (in my opinion, anyway) than the first.

A few of my favorites:

9. Harry becomes Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and you know how that turns out.

6. Hagrid crushes his spine doing Heimlich maneuver when Harry chokes on one of Hagrid’s biscuits.

5. “Accio butcher knife” spell goes horribly wrong.

BBspot.com has a “humorous” list of 11 ways Harry Potter can die at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. A couple of them are kind of funny, while others are a little…not tasteful.

My three favorites:

8. Heart attack from high cholesterol brought on by a lifetime of eating sausages.

7. Murdered by Ron after Hermione gets caught holding Harry’s wand.

6. Smothered by Veela breasts.

On her Web site J.K. Rowling has written a diary message about just how difficult it has been dealing with the completion of Harry Potter’s story.

…I always knew that Harry’s story would end with the seventh book, but saying goodbye has been just as hard as I always knew it would be. Even while I’m mourning, though, I feel an incredible sense of achievement. I can hardly believe that I’ve finally written the ending I’ve been planning for so many years. I’ve never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric.

Some of you have expressed a (much more muted!) mixture of happiness and sadness at the prospect of the last book being published, and that has meant more than I can tell you. If it comes as any consolation, I think that there will be plenty to continue arguing and speculating about, even after ‘Deathly Hallows’ comes out. So if you’re not yet reatdy to quit the message boards, do not dispair…

I’m almost scared to admit this, but one thin g has stopped me collapsing in a puddle of misery on the floor. While each of the previous Potter books has strong claims on my affections, ‘Deathly Hallows’ is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series.

Thank you, Jo.

We don’t want the series to end…but we can’t wait for the book. Bittersweet, indeed.

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As expected, J.K. Rowling will not allow Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to become an e-book.

Rowling has cited two reasons over the years: concern about online piracy (which has never been a major problem for the Potter books), and the desire for readers to experience the books on paper. E-books, hyped as the future of publishing during the dot-com craze of the late 1990s, remain a tiny portion of the multibillion dollar industry.

File this under “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” None of the other Potter books have been released as e-books, and piracy of have been a problem, so why invite trouble? With some people, if you give them an inch, will take a foot. So don’t give them an inch. Besides, if you really wanted to read Harry Potter for free, there are these wonderful places called “Libraries.” (Just be sure to put it on reserve early…the reserve lists can get really long in a hurry.)

Plus, who wants to curl up with a laptop and read it for read it for hours and hours on end…constantly scrolling?

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According to an article in The Sun J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Balmoral Hotel, a 5-star hotel in Edinburgh.

How do we know this?

Apparently J.K. Rowling signed the back of a marble bust in her room, Room 652, with the words:

“J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11th Jan 2007.”

It will be interesting to see where this bust ends up. It’s a fascinating piece of literary history now. I love it when stuff like this surfaces…turning a (somewhat) ordinary object into something unique and truly special.

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J.K. Rowling has released the date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on her web site…and it’s July 21st!!

Her statement reads as follows:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be published on Saturday 21st July 2007 at 00:01 BST in the UK and at 00:01 in the USA. It will also be released at 00:01 BST on Saturday 21st July in other English speaking countries around the world.

Yay!! It’s official!!

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