Pottermania

In the car this morning, I turned on the radio and tuned to WWFM, a classical music station, as usual. We happened to catch most of the last movement of a concerto. This piece appealed to Matthew for some reason.

"What is the name of this song?" he asked.

"I don't know, honey. I don't recognize it. It sounds like Mozart to me, though."

Stephen piped up, "I don't think so."

Well, he turned out to be right. It was a Haydn violin concerto. I'd love to report this as evidence that we have a musical prodigy in the family, but I'm afraid it is only evidence that Stephen likes to be contrary.

The June 9 issue of Entertainment Weekly arrived in the mailbox today. I took it with me when we went to pick up Tab. I glanced through it briefly while we were stopped at a red light.

"Hey, guys! Here's an article about the fourth Harry Potter book."

"Can I see? Can I see?" they chorused from the back seats. I held up the magazine so that they could see the accompanying illustration.

"That doesn't look like him," sniffed Daniel.

"It's just a cartoon, Dans. This article says that a lot of bookstores are going to be open on midnight when the book comes out, just so people can buy it right away."

The boys shrugged, not terrible interested. I am, though. I think it is exciting to see this kind of reaction to a book, any book, but especially a book in a series as good as the Harry Potter series.

According to the article, there will be 3.8 million copies printed in the U.S., which is a record for a first printing. I'm debating about whether to pre-order the book from Amazon.com or not. I pre-ordered the third book two months in advance, but it arrived a few days after the book was available in the stores.

On the way home from Princeton, I finished reading the first Harry Potter book to the boys. They are excited about delving into the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, next.

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