Fans anxious for record book release
Publisher to print 15 million copies in first run
Thursday, April 1, 2005 Posted: 12:01 AM EST
HASLETT, MI (PNN) -- Wizards and witches worldwide are awaiting the publication of bestselling author A.J. Knowling's sixth novel, Gary Bother and the Quarter-Pound Burger.
The new book, of which little is known, continues the story of Gary Bother, a wizard who loses his magical powers at age 11 and must live in the Muggle world and go to their public school system.
The highly anticipated book will be released with great fanfare at midnight on July 16 after a multi-million Galleon countdown by publisher Fantastic in the U.S. and Boonsbury, which will publish the book in the UK.
"It's going to be a big night for Hogsmeade," said Madam Rosmerta, proprietor of popular pub The Three Broomsticks and chairwoman of Hogsmeade's Business Development Committee. "At the 3B's we're exchanging all self-cleaning tables with ordinary ones and will serve an exotic health drink called V8. We're going for the whole 'Muggle' look-and-feel," she said.
Other shops in Hogsmeade plan to do the same. Mr. Ollivander, world-famous magic wand maker, will once again sell his dark chocolate wands with cherry cores and Eeylops Owl Emporium will have two real-life dogs (dubbed "a Muggle's best friend") on hand to complete the atmosphere.
In Quarter-Pound Burger Gary enters the tenth grade (a sophomore) at Haslett High School in Michigan, U.S. All that the author has revealed to date is that there will be a new principal at the school and that the title was once considered for Knowling's second book in the series, "Gary Bother and the Basement of Storgé." The author has also acknowledged that it will be shorter than her behemoth fifth novel, released in 2003, which caused some wizards to resort to transporting the book home with a portkey, due to its size and weight.
The sixth book will once again feature Gary's friends Rod Diesel and Chermyoh Neeranger as they fight the evil Lord Wal-Mart, whose massive "dooper-markets" threaten to put locally-owned shops out of business and overburden already congested roadways close to Gary's school.
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