Harry Potter?s magical powers have Bel Air captivated.
The town of about 10,000 residents ranked 25th nationally for pre-ordering “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” through Amazon.com, the largest online bookstore. Scheduled to be released July 21, the book is the next ? and reportedly the final ? installment in the hugely popularseries.
The previous Harry Potter book was the most pre-ordered on Amazon, with orders for about 1.5 million. But with hundreds of orders rolling in hourly, Deathly Hallows is “on a pace to crush” its predecessor?s record, said Amazon spokesman Sean Sundwall.
Almost 750,000 copies had been pre-ordered by Sunday afternoon, with about seven weeks left before publication.
Amazon would not say how many of those orders were placed by Bel Air residents.
“Our county likes to read,” said Jennifer Ralston, the material management administrator for Harford County?s 11 library branches.
In Harry Potter?s 10-year history, many of its faithful readers have grown into teenagers or young adults who are still hooked, Ralston said. Knowing that this is the last in the series makes people especially interested in reading the ending for themselves, instead of hearing it second-hand, she said.
A Harry Potter reader herself, Ralston said, “I understand the allure of having a book delivered to your door,” although the library system has ordered 270 copies that will be available the same day they go on sale.
Four other Maryland towns rank in the top 100, none above Bel Air. Laurel was at 34; Mount Airy at 54; Rockville at 60; and Hampstead at 79.
The top town will have a $5,000 Amazon.com gift certificate donated to a local charity of its choice, and Friday it was Falls Church, Va., leading the way, with Vienna and Fairfax City at numbers 3 and 4, respectively.
