Contributed
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Has Pottermania struck Jamaica? It would seem that the tale of a fictional heroic wizard with a lightning scar and funny glasses has enchanted many Jamaican audiences.

The final of seven Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released at midnight on Saturday, July 21, across the world. Since then, the book has broken countless records in literature history. According to www.wikipedia.com, the book reached the top spot on both the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble best-seller lists just a few hours after the date of publication was announced on February 1.

Retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders are reporting that more orders have been placed for this book than for any other in history and American publisher Scholastic announced an unprecedented initial print run of 12 million copies.

Persons camped out at book stores around the world on Friday, July 20, as diehard fans tried to get their hands on the book as quickly as possible. In Jamaica, the enthusiasm was quite similar. The Sangsters Book Store in the Sovereign Centre, Liguanea, St. Andrew, sold out its 111 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by 2 p.m. Branch Manager Audrey McKenzie said, "I had 111 books. That's just this branch. I was anticipating the lines, I was watching CNN and other stations as the build-up for the release of the began. Also, from our experience last year, we expected persons."

This year the store opened at 8 a.m., two hours before the regular time, just to sell Harry Potter. The other Sangsters stores experienced similar situations. According to McKenzie, last year when Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released, there was a queue awaiting the opening of the store from before 9 a.m., this when the store opened at 11 a.m. on a Sunday. Now Sangsters is awaiting their second shipment of the final Harry Potter book, which is expected to reach in early August.

Biggest seller

It would seem that Harry Potter is this year's biggest seller in books and has been credited with reigniting a flame for reading in children. According to Time magazine, in the first 24 hours after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows went on sale bookshops sold 10.95 million copies in the U.K. and U.S. alone. In the first hour, 150 copies per second sped out of shops and into eager hands.

The Harry Pottermania continues in the big screen as well. With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix being released in Jamaica on Friday, July 20, Harry Potter fan Trudy told The Gleaner, "I went to the early show at Carib 5 the day Harry Potter was released and there were people lining up outside. My friends and I had tried reserving seats but the list was full. I heard the late show was packed!"