The Harry Potter insanity has officially begun. Even though the last installment of the juggernaut series doesn't hit book shelves until July, the cover was officially unveiled today, live on our show. Arthur Levine, co-editor of the Harry Potter series, joined us to do the honors. After his segment was finished, he breathed a big sigh of relief (he was quite nervous!) and chatted with me in the green room.
I asked him how he was feeling, and as he said on the air, of course he has mixed emotions as the series draws to a close. But one emotion that he neglected to mention is the incredible sense of pride that he has for these books. It isn't every day that an editor can be involved in something that really becomes a classic, and has spanned generations and age groups in the way that Harry Potter has, and will continue to do for years to come. He feels that this last book provides an incredibly satisfying conclusion to all of Harry's adventures.
During the commercial break before the segment, Matt wanted to double-check with Arthur on the pronunciation of author JK Rowling's last name. Arthur was so nervous that he had a momentary brain lapse as well. He said it took him a couple of seconds to go over it in his head before answering correctly (Rowling like "bowling"). He was relieved that took place before the cameras were rolling... So stay tuned for the big release on July 21 -- all 12 million copies of it. I'm sure this is only the first of several Harry Potter stories here on the Today Show to come.
How do you think it will all end? Who is going to die? And most importantly, what measures are you going to take to ensure that you get your hands on one of those 12 million books? (Photos courtesy of Scholastic, Inc.)