Harry Potter fans can enjoy an evening of wand making and Butterbeer drinking at local bookstores leading up to the release of the popular series' eighth book. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," a screenplay, will be released Sunday and fans who preordered the book - or just want to get in on the wizarding fun - are invited to celebrate at Books-A-Million starting today at 2 p.m.
The tale, which is the first official story in the series to be presented on stage, premieres today in London as a play in two parts written by Jack Thorne, based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Thorne.
Also for the first time in the series, the book will be presented as a screenplay. In the story, Harry is a married man, a father of three and an "overworked employee for the Ministry of Magic."
Potter's youngest son struggles to carry the weight of his family's legacy.
Books-A-Million, both at the Charleston Town Center mall and on RHL Boulevard, will celebrate with activities for all ages today until midnight, when fans will have the chance to obtain their reserved copy of the book.
Emily Shultz, a manager at the store in Southridge, said the celebration will begin at 2 p.m. with activities including a scavenger hunt and coloring.
At 9 p.m., the official party will begin. There will be wand making, face painting, a coloring station and trivia. Fans are encouraged to wear their best wizarding world outfit for a costume contest which will begin at 11 p.m.
The store will also be selling a popular wizarding world beverage from the book, Butterbeer.
Yogurt Mountain, at the RHL Boulevard store, will have a social media contest. Customers can take a picture of their frozen yogurt creation on the night of the event and tag it #bammidnightmagic to be entered to win a free 10-ounce treat.
The store will quit selling merchandise at 11:30 p.m. as fans begin to line up in the Express Lanes to trade their Harry Potter voucher for their copy of the first edition of the book.
Shultz said people began preordering the book six months in advance and preorder sales came to an end Friday at midnight. Though she expects the store to have extra copies, fans will not be able to purchase the book on the night of the event.
Taylor Books will have 40 copies of the book available for sale Sunday. The books will be sold on a first come, first served basis and those who buy the book Sunday can choose to enter their name into a drawing for a $50 Taylor Books gift card.
Kanawha County Public Library expects more than 25 copies, and by Friday their website showed there were already 29 holds. The books will be available Monday.
Kay Ferrill, technical services manager for the library network, said she expects to order more copies if more patrons place holds.
Reach Jennifer Gardner at jennifer.gardner@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5102 or follow @jennc_gardner on Twitter.