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Tony Miksak

WORDS ON BOOKS by Tony Miksak for KZYX&Z-FM, 90.7 Philo CA
Airs Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 10:55 am, & Wednesday, July 25 at 1 pm

(copyright 2007 Tony Miksak)

Title: Harry Harry Harry

(MUSIC UP) This is Tony Miksak with a few Words on Books.

I can't believe it's Harry Potter weekend already, and we haven't talked about Harry in this space, and by now we're the only ones who haven't.

This is the seventh and probably final time the world wobbles on its axis as Harry takes off for another journey around the world. Once again readers as young as seven are partying in their pajamas, up all night with Harry.

Readers Gone Wild! Meanwhile, you likely are in the middle of the new Harry, or planning to read it soon, or don't know what the gosh I'm talking about.

The New York Public Library ordered 1200 copies of "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows" and at last count had almost as many requests to borrow one.

Potter publisher Scholastic performed poorly last fiscal year because there was no new Harry Potter book. Sales of "Deathly Hallows" and other books will likely bring in well over a billion dollars to Scholastic. I like to think of it as ten hundred million dollars in coin, with Uncle Scrooge sitting on the pile, looking worried.

By the way, if you currently are living on the dole, sitting in a café nursing a cup, holding your daughter in your lap, and writing the next Harry, Scholastic definitely would like to talk with you. Please call collect.

Spare a moment's thought for author J. K. Rowling. She has sold more books in less than a decade than ordinary authors in a lifetime. She's mobbed wherever she goes, begged by fans to continue the Harry saga, which she has promised she won't.

How will J. K. ever find something to do that's anywhere near as useful, important or famous as what she's already accomplished? Her life is over. Poor J. K. I mean, rich J. K.

So much for my jaded view of the Potter phenomenon. For a sense of what Harry really has meant to a generation of readers, this short essay by Jennifer M. Brown, published last Thursday in the online newsletter Shelf Awareness.

It goes like this:

It is the eve of our last trip to Hogwarts.

Can you think back to that very first time?
The discovery that we are all merely Muggles?
That first taste of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans,
Strawberry, curry, coffee and sardine?
Harry's maiden ride on the Nimbus Two Thousand,
And his victorious capture of the Snitch in Quidditch?
Wasn't it all a wonderful surprise?

For Harry it's been seven years,
For us, nearly nine.
The children themselves championed Harry Potter
And the Philosopher's-turned-Sorcerer's Stone in the fall of 1998.
Impatient readers ordered the sequels from Amazon UK.
Their infectious enthusiasm precipitated
A global [English-language] release date for the Goblet of Fire.
Generations read the books aloud together,
Stood in midnight lines together,
Filled movie theaters to capacity,
And witnessed Richard Harris's departure
Before it was beloved Dumbledore's time to go.
And, as Harry broke all records for sales and first printings,
The children prompted the birth of their own New York Times bestseller list.

The children grew up with Harry,
In a trailblazing series that literally matured with its hero.
Laura may have grown up in the woods of Wisconsin,
And on the shores of Silver Lake,
But, in the Order of the Phoenix, we suffered through Harry's adolescence,
Excruciating for its perfect resonance with our own.
When the insidious, unidentifiable threat of terrorism invaded our shores,
Voldemort was a knowable villain.
Evil had a face, and Harry had faced him down --
With a scar on his forehead to prove it.
What more heartening message
Could one give a child?

So, as we stand on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters,
Awaiting the last train to Hogwarts,
We taste the same bittersweetness
That those seniors must taste.
Excited, but a little sad, to graduate from a place
We've embraced as part of our own community.
And though we will bid farewell to Harry, Hermione and Ron
On the final page (one or two of them perhaps sooner),
They await our return at every rereading.

(MUSIC UP) Millions of children grew up with Harry,
And whether they go back to their video games,
Or go on to be lawyers or teachers,
Writers or booksellers,
Their lives have been touched by magic.

They won't forget Harry.
And neither will we.

(MUSIC) As always, transcripts of Words on Books are available through the KZYX web site.

Notes:

Scholastic notes: Scholastic sold about $1.15 billion dollars worth of books last fiscal year. With "Deathly Hallows" they expect to take in up to $2.5 billion dollars.

Shelf Awareness is aimed at industry professionals, and consistently one of most sane sources of information about publishing and bookselling. Free daily enlightenment available here: http://shelf-awareness.com/

"Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows" by J. K. Rowling. Scholastic hardcover $34.99 (ouch). ISBN 0545010225.

Tony Miksak
Words on Books: http://www.gallerybooks.com/bkm/index.html
personal home page: http://amiksak.googlepages.com/home

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