From Sioux City to the Quad Cities, mere mortals, known as Muggles, are holding release parties all across Iowa as the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series comes out at midnight. In Omaha-Council Bluffs, library director Rivka Sass says the wizarding books have had a significant impact on Iowa children over the years — the first book was released in the U.S. in 1998.
"Whenever a phenomenon, and that’s all you can call Harry Potter, a phenomenon. It’s a wonderful series. It’s a wonderful story and it got kids reading and they’ve been able to grow up with it," Sass says. She says they’ve been planning tonight’s release for weeks as there’s a tremendous demand for the book — the last in the Hogwarts series.
Sass says, "We have ordered a total of 219 copies and 116 to fill the 400 hold requests we have had, 100 to check out for two weeks at a time for the people who just want to walk in and find a copy on the shelf and three to give away."
Though tonight’s book release is bitter-sweet, as author J.K. Rowling has said this is absolutely the final book in her globally-popular series. Sass says many loyal fans just hope to finish "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" before somebody else blabs about which character may die in the end.
Audio: Matt Kelley report on release of the last Harry Potter book. :43 MP3