From: Penny Johnson <newadventures>
Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:55:44 -0500

Monica, I agree with you! This has been an extraordinary event -- literary history! My 29-year-old daughter lamented her two young daughters will not know the anticipation, excitement, and joy of HP mania as we have witnessed. Perhaps they will have something else. I hope so.

I've been trying to think of anything else in my lifetime that has generated this type of world-wide unique experience. The only other thing I can think of is the first moon landing. (Okay, so I'm dating myself!) Hmmm, that was on a July 20th.... interesting. For those of you too young to remember, on July 20, 1969, millions of people all over the world stopped to watch TV or listen to the radio as man walked on the moon for the first time. It was a universal day of celebration, wonder, and triumph.

So now we have shared Harry Potter with the world. This makes me smile. I loved my library teens' ubiquitous question to one another the week of July 23-28: "What page are you on?" They didn't even mention the title of the book. The question was just "what page?"

Whew, this has been fun!

Penny Johnson Teen specialist Baraboo Public Library Baraboo WI

Monica Edinger wrote:
> My last few weeks with Harry have been wonderful. It has been quite unlike
> anything else I've experienced --- a story that has truly gone beyond the
> pages of the book in innumerable of ways. A new kind of story for me. What
> follows isn't specifically about the final book as much as it is my
> reflecting on this idea --- of this unique experience many of us are having
> with this particular story.
>
> I began preparing before the book's release with a series of blog posts
> (under the Remembering Harry tag at www.medinger.wordpress.com) looking back
> at my own experiences with Harry Potter. Feeling I did not have time to
> reread the earlier books, I listened to the penultimate one on my daily run,
> finishing the same day I began reading the final one. On the evening of July
> 20th I saw the Order of the Phoenix movie and had a blast at some release
> events. Within a couple of days I had finished Deathly Hallows and
> immediately jumped into a bunch of exciting online and in-person
> conversations that all extended the book for me. I thought that would be
> it, but then came Rowling herself expanding beyond the final book in her
> interviews. And it still isn't over for me --- I hadn't intended to (and
> really haven't the time to do it, but I don't care:), but I've just reread
> the first book and am onto the second. It is absolutely amazing to see the
> threads go in reverse, to see just how carefully Rowling plotted this story
> over seven volumes (and beyond as is evident in her epilogue and
> interviews). And now I'm sure it will go on for a while; I don't go back to
> school till after Labor Day where I'll have loads of students eager to tell
> me their thoughts!
>
> On child_lit someone noted how extraordinary it was to be part of a world of
> readers that Saturday, July 21. To be aware that millions all over the world
> were all reading the same book you were. Incredible. The stories of the
> release night from all over the world were amazing too. My experience in
> NYC was wonderful (photos are at my blog for anyone interested), but I loved
> reading about the other parties too. Whole towns, communities, bookstores,
> libraries, streets, blocks, museums, and many other places big and small all
> turned into this imaginary world of Rowling's. Amazing and wonderful, I
> thought.
>
> And so I am now fascinated by the way I (and many others) are experiencing
> this particular story. We often read and then extend our readings by
> talking about a particular book. Sometimes we see a movie of it too. And
> sometimes we may also read or see interviews with the author about the book.
> Hear them talk about their books and read from them. But I feel this is
> somehow different (or maybe just more). To have the story of Harry Potter
> heightened by Jim Dale, Rupert, Emma, and Daniel; by the online
> conversations, the release parties, Rowling's interviews --- all of this is
> turning it into a very interesting new kind of story I think. Does anyone
> else feel this way or am I just getting carried away?
>
> Monica
>
>
>
>
Received on Sun 05 Aug 2007 04:55:44 PM CDT