Look Out for the 'Harry Potter' Knight Bus Tour

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SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 3/21/2007

Get ready, Harry Potter fans. On June 2—seven weeks before the release of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—a Knight Bus will depart from New York City and travel to 40 libraries in 10 major cities to promote the seventh and final book in the blockbuster series.

As part of a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign based around the theme "There Will Soon be 7," a replica of the bus that appears in the books will visit select public libraries, where fans will be invited to hop on and share their thoughts about the series. Video clips of the comments will be available for viewing on www.scholastic.com/harrypotter.

In connection with the campaign, Scholastic, Rowling's U.S. publisher, has announced a record-breaking first printing of 12 million copies of Deathly Hallows, scheduled for release at 12:01 a.m. on July 21. The first printing breaks the record held by the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had a 10.8 million first printing in 2005 and sold 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours.

Libraries interested in joining Potter mania can do so from April 17 to July 7, when Scholastic plans to launch a "7 Questions of Harry Potter" campaign. One question will be released every two weeks. These are the big questions that fans hope Rowling will answer in this final installment.

Scholastic will also send table-top easelbacks and millions of collectible bookmarks printed with one of the seven questions to libraries nationwide. Libraries will receive a five-foot corrugated promotional piece featuring Deathly Hallows cover art and a countdown to July 21. Scholastic will also distribute millions of tattoos. For more information, visit www.scholastic.com/harrypotter.