Somewhere in England, there is a very special building. The security is tight. There is barbed wire all around the fence. There are security guards with dogs. Everyone going in or out is searched and has to show a security pass. Is this a secret government defence establishment? Or a prison for specially dangerous prisoners? Or a place for storing something very valuable, like gold bars, or something very dangerous, like nuclear waste?
No, it is the warehouse where copies of the new Harry Potter book — "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" — are stored. Late tomorrow, big trucks will arrive at the warehouse. The books will be loaded onto the trucks, and taken to bookshops and supermarkets all over the country. Because Saturday is the Big Day. Saturday is the day when the new Harry Potter book will be published.
Who is Harry Potter? Did someone say, "Who is Harry Potter?" What planet do you live on? Everyone knows about Harry Potter. He is a teenage wizard, who attends a special school for wizards called Hogwarts. Together with his friends Ron and Hermione, he is locked in a desperate struggle wih the forces of evil. J K Rowling's books about Harry Potter are some of the most successful books ever written. When the previous Harry Potter book was published, two million copies of it were sold in the first 24 hours. This time, the publishers have printed 3 million copies, and will print even more if the book sells well. And, of course, the book will be translated into many other languages.
So next Saturday — which is the first day of the school summer holidays in England — the new Harry Potter book will go on sale. People will queue to buy it at bookshops and supermarkets. In our family, we will need to buy 3 or 4 copies, because we cannot agree who should read the book first.
This will be the last Harry Potter book. So what will happen? Will Harry finally defeat the evil Voldemort; or will the dark forces triumph? The excitement is intense. But we will not have to wait long to find out. Only one more day to go!