Harry Potter @ the CFPL

This morning a colleague asked me about a management book I highly recommended back in 2008. I can’t remember a single word from that book. But ask me about Harry Potter’s first days at Hogwarts, I will immediately relive mental images of fantastic interiors, murky classrooms, piles of gold, streets bustling with wizards, and woods full of unpleasant surprises. The fantasy world of Harry Potter has been so well-loved that it will be with some of us for life.

Those scenes are somewhat the creation of my imagination, but not entirely. Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops in creating sets for the visual telling of these tales, but on December 29, the DVDs go into the vault (Gringotts, I presume) and new copies will no longer be made available for sale. Because of current technologies, I doubt this will be as devastating as when Disney used this same marketing technique that made parents of my generation quickly buy every Disney classic on VHS, but it’s still noteworthy.

The UNI Rod Library, the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Public Libraries are hosting a series of Harry Potter events this fall for all ages. In December the public libraries will create our own Diagon Alley, and it will be accessible not only to wizards, but also to families of local muggles. After we explore the shops, we’ll settle in to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Other happenings, including a traveling exhibit titled “Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic & Medicine, Horcrux Hunts, and author Amy Stewart discussing her book “Wicked Plants” will also give us another chance to experience the Potter magic . What better way to celebrate this fantasy world that we’ve followed for almost fifteen years? Visit our websites at www.cedar-falls.lib.ia.us and www.waterloo.lib.ia.us for more information.