Harry Hullabaloo

I’m very amused at all this Harry Potter hysteria. Imagine: at this very moment, all around the globe, televisions are turned off and millions of people of all ages have their noses pressed to a book. This is way better than the iPhone! Pardon me while I swoon.

A friend of mine was in New York City last night watching the spectacle. He reports there was a huge countdown sign over the Toys “R” Us in Times Square, counting down to midnight -- just like they do for New Year’s Eve. He headed down to the Barnes & Noble at Union Square, where a Harry Potter festival was in progress. Thousands of little Harry Potters and Voldemorts running all over the place -- and one Jew For Jesus preaching the evils of Harry Potter. My friend told me that at the stroke of midnight, “lightning” went off inside the store, the crowd cheered, and then a police escort had to help the woman who bought the first book through the crowd. Then, as if by magic, thousands of Harry Potter books appeared all through the city: in the Starbucks, on the subway, everywhere.

Oh, my.

I’m heading over to Davis Kidd this morning; I wonder if there will be quite the same spectacle in Nashville as in New York City? Somehow I think ... not.

I’m not a big Harry Potter fan; I haven’t read the books and I only go to the movies because my husband makes me. But I can’t help but be amazed at the phenomenon that is Harry Potter. That a single mom with a story to tell could revolutionize the publishing world simply with the fruits of her imagination is an inspiration to writers everywhere.