Back with YA lit royalty

Hello, everyone! It has been too long. It’s been an incredibly busy semester for the Paperbag Writer (from a 900-page Dickens novel to two very different theatre productions: The Vagina Monologues and Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors), but I’m back, and with a surprise–a brand new interview with Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray! Because Libba is amazing, it’s a pretty lengthy interview, so I’m going to be posting it in two parts. Enjoy, and feel free to continue discussion in the comments…

The Paperbag Writer: What was it like finally seeing Going Bovine on bookshelves? It seems like a lot of people have been waiting for it for a long time, but I’m sure it was just as long of a process, or even longer, for you.

Libba Bray: It’s always a thrill and a bit surreal to see a book you’ve written on the shelves, a moment of, “Hey, isn’t this wild? There’s another Libba Bray and she wrote a book! I wonder if she spends time watching ‘Dr. Who’ and eating brownies, too?’”

PBW: I applaud you for making string theory and parallel universes pretty easy to understand for those of us who are more science-challenged. Have you always been interested in these ideas? Was it easy for you to write about? 

LB: Oh, man! I am completely science-challenged. If you ever want to feel dumb as a box of rocks, just try to understand string theory and particle physics and parallel universes, especially if you barely passed math and were asked to drop your high school physics class by your sympathetic teacher. I would read something and retain about three words, and those were usually “the” “and” and “theory.” But yes, I’m fascinated by all of it. It’s so trippy and makes your synapses feel like they’re playing jazz drums. And eventually, it started to penetrate my gray matter a smidge. I also have the pleasure of knowing a physicist, Adam McInroy, and he sat patiently with me in my kitchen, going over things again and again. And big kudos to Brian Greene and Michio Kaku for making so much of this material accessible. (If you really want to blow your mind, try reading some of Julian Barbour’s theory on time as an illusion. But don’t do it while listening to Pink Floyd or you’ll feel really, really weird and want to lie down on the couch with your blankie for a bit.) Anyway, I absolutely loved diving into the physics, even if I constantly felt as if I were the equivalent of a mental stick figure in their Rembrandt.

PBW: Have you ever found friends in the most unlikely places, like Cameron found in Gonzo and Balter? Maybe the better question is this: Have you ever been friends with a talking garden gnome?

LB: I think I’ve found all of my friends in unlikely places. But I promised them I wouldn’t talk about that. J Many of them came from junior high and high school, and if that isn’t the unlikeliest place to find lifelong friends, I don’t know what is.

As for my friendships with talking garden gnomes, you know, what happens on the front lawn stays on the front lawn.

PBW: In the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, all of the main characters are female, and almost all of the strongest characters are teenaged girls. Do you feel that feminism has become a “dirty” word in YA lit and how important do you think it is to portray strong, female characters in YA lit? Do you feel there are enough or do we still have a long way to go?

LB: I actually think there are lots of strong female characters in YA lit. The first that comes to mind is Frankie from E. Lockhart’s quite feminist, National Book Award-nominated and Printz Honor-winning THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU BANKS. Go, Frankie! I don’t know that I would say that feminism has become a dirty word (and one could argue that it is a word which has always been misunderstood), but that the female experience might be suffering from some tunnel vision right now and there is room for so much more.

Look, bottom line: I think there should be room for everything. If we say that girls never fantasize about being rescued or about having the idealized male desire them, and in that desire, they somehow feel beautiful and come into their own, well, that’s denying a huge portion of female sexual fantasy. BUT…it would be nice to have the various facets of that trope explored rather than accepting it as face value, you know? Yeah, sometimes we fantasize about this and that’s cool, but what does it satisfy? Does it always work out? What would happen if the girl took on some of the male traits she covets in the boy? What if she decided that it simply wasn’t enough after all? What does it all mean? There seem to be quite a few stories being published now in which the female protagonist’s main concern is getting the guy or choosing between two guys and it stops there. And that begs the question: What is going on culturally that makes this so appealing? Or has it always been appealing and we’re just seeing a big resurgence of this particular story?

You know, when I would read romances, I always had a soft spot for the cheeky, smirking, passionate bad boy who had bedded a thousand women and who was the bane of his family’s existence because of his outrageous behavior. The rake. And then one day I had a startling realization—I was more in line with the rake than with the female characters. It really helped me to identify that sexual, cheeky aspect of myself and accept it. I’d love to see more ownership of our sexual selves in YA lit, because I think society is still obsessed with the Lolita and terrified of girls/women actually owning themselves sexually, understanding what they want, being in charge of their bodies and their sexual identities. This is why I love Annette Curtis Klaus’s BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE.

I grew up in a different era, on the heels of a still-very-present feminist struggle that included such victories as Title IX, and for my friends and me, it was much more about emancipation and finding ourselves. We wanted to be Chrissie Hynde or The Runaways. We fantasized about having our own apartments and getting out into the world. We certainly had tons of crushes, but those crushes weren’t our sole focus. I think the literature, movies, and music reflected this sense of freedom. I’m writing a book right now that is all about gender and identity, female sexuality and fantasy, and it’s tough, because I’m trying to sift through the cultural expectations/restrictions placed on women, as well as the feminist perspective, which has its own set of expectations, and find what is true for these characters, to ask them what being a young woman means, to find their narratives. Frankly, it’s kicking my ass.

I’d just like to see a much wider representation of the female experience in YA, including a lot more stories about women of color who are under-represented, in my opinion.

This is an excellent question, and one I hope we’ll keep discussing.

Stay tuned for part two, in which Libba discusses her personal library, the NYC YA lit scene, and answers the age old question:  Vikings or scorceresses?

And the winner is…

You probably think that this post is Golden Globes-related, seeing as though the awards were last night. It’s not. However, I’m disappointed that (500) Days of Summer lost, but stoked for Christoph Waltz. As much as I love Glee, it didn’t deserve to win. But we’re not talking about the Golden Globes. We’re talking about:

 …the Printz Award, the most prestigious award for young adult/teen literature. I am so excited to be able to refer to Libba Bray as a Printz Award winner. Congratulations to Libba–her amazing novel was completely deserving.

 

 

 

Edited to add: The first photo of Going Bovine with a brand-spanking-new shiny award sticker! Isn’t it pretty? (Borrowed from Libba’s agent’s twitter–hope he doesn’t mind!)

‘Cause we’re all Very LeFreak…

…In more ways than one. Teen author goddess (c’mon, you know it’s true!) Rachel Cohn has a new title out today–Very LeFreak, her Knopf solo debut.

From amazon.com: Very LeFreak has a problem: she’s a crazed technology addict. Very can’t get enough of her iPhone, laptop, IMs, text messages, whatever. If there’s any chance the incoming message, call, text, or photo might be from her supersecret online crush, she’s going to answer, no matter what. Nothing is too important: sleep, friends in mid-conversation, class, a meeting with the dean about academic probation. Soon enough, though, this obsession costs Very everything and everyone. Can she learn to block out the noise so she can finally hear her heart?

Rachel Cohn makes her Knopf solo debut with this funny, touching, and surely recognizable story about a girl and the technology habit that threatens everything.

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You can be sure that I will be snatching up this new release Very quickly and will post a review as soon as possible. But until then, to celebrate the release of Very LeFreak, Rachel answered some questions especially for The Paperbag Writer! Incidentally, these questions were answered while Rachel bravely completed her own week-long technology detox.

The Paperbag Writer: Cyd Charisse is a pretty iconic YA character. For example she’s had an abortion and is comfortable with her decision. This is pretty unheard of in YA lit. How easy or hard was it to create this difficult, complex character?
Rachel Cohn: She really created herself. Besides Norah in Nick & Norah, CC was the easiest character I’ve ever written, with a voice that came quickly and easily. Because of that, writing about her abortion wasn’t hard at all. It wasn’t something I decided to do consciously; as I was writing her voice, that incident just popped out, and I didn’t fight it. I didn’t think it was a big deal; it was a painful passage that happened to her and affected her deeply, but the novel wasn’t about that. The abortion was something on top of all the other adolescent issues she was trying to face, but not an incident and not her central issue, I don’t think.

TPW: As the author of a strong female character like CC, how do you feel about the majority of YA characters in YA lit?
RC: If my favorite writers like Patricia McCormick, Jaclyn Moriarty, Libba Bray, Melina Marchetta and Megan McCafferty are representative of what it’s popular in YA right now (and certainly their huge readerships would indicate so), I’m only encouraged about the majority of YA characters, and very, very proud to have my characters standing next to theirs on the shelves.

TPW: The content of You Know Where to Find Me is very different from your other work. Which do you prefer writing?
RC: Certainly more overtly comedic writing (like Gingerbread or Nick & Norah) comes much more easily to me than a book like You Know Where to Find Me. The being said, although You Know Where to Find Me was the most difficult book I’ve ever written, and took the longest to write, it’s also the book that was the most gratifying to write: it said exactly what I wanted it to say, how I wanted to say it. I know it’s not a book for everybody, but for me, it turned out just the way I wanted it to.

TPW: Have you spent many long nights out in the city like Nick & Norah?
RC: Not lately! But I moved to Manhattan when I was seventeen for college, and I certainly remember what it was like to be that age and wandering the city in the middle of the night with friends, searching for music, food, love – all of it. So yeah, I had some Nick & Norah type of nights in my youth – maybe not so much in one night, but I definitely understand the experiences and excitement they felt.

TPW: What do you love about NYC and how does it inspire you?
RC: I love the energy of NYC. It’s always on. Sometimes that can be a drain, but for a person like me, who not only makes her living inside her brain, but is also very introverted, that kind of aliveness you feel in NYC proves a nice balance. The city inspires me most in the sense that it’s a place where so many people – especially young people – go to find something, or someone, or themselves. That search for identity is everywhere in the city, and I love exploring that in my characters.

TPW: How or when did you become such a big music fan?
RC: I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, which is a great radio town. Most people in my family were already big music listeners, so I grew up feeling like music (just like reading) was second nature. I always had the radio on (still do); I was always on a quest to hear more, learn more about music.

TPW: How did the writing process of Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List differ from that of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist?
RC: Nick & Norah came very quickly and easily with little discussion and no planning whatsoever, as if the book was writing itself (seriously, we both were surprised – going into it, we had no idea our brains would meld so smoothly). Naomi & Ely was just as much fun, but took a lot longer, and required a lot more discussion and planning – which was very much a reflection of different schedule restraints we had the second time around, and also, knowing each other better by that time.

TPW: What is your personal library like?
RC: My music library leans towards soul and funk, lots of alt-country and honky tonk, some classical, some indie, some pop, etc. Mostly soul. My book library is mostly YA – all the usual suspects.

Speed Round:
Most admirable trait in a person? Kindness.
Mixtapes or mix CDs? Mixtapes = cooler, mix CDs = highly more efficient.
What do you love most about yourself? My sense of humor.
What do you like least about yourself? My sense of humor.
Favorite bad word? Fuck. Duh!
Best musical discovery? Merle Haggard.
5 most played songs on your iPod?
1. Diet of Strange Places – kd lang
2. Gentle on my Mind – Aretha Franklin
3. Stairway to Heaven – Dolly Parton
4. After Hours – We Are Scientists
5. Fond Farewell – Elliot Smith
If you could change on thing that happens in your past, would you? Hell yeah! (Anyone who says no is lying.)

Many thanks to Rachel for answering these questions! Stay tuned for a review of Very LeFreak!

After all this time, you still look the same!

It’s been far too long, dear readers (if there are indeed readers out there). How did you do for NaNoWriMo? Did you win? Did you break a record or reach your own personal goal? I’m pleased to say that I finished at almost exactly the same time this year as I did last year: around 10 p.m. on November 30. 

I like my novel better than I did last year, I think. But it’s not done; I still have more story to tell. Instead of finishing it now, though, I’m planning to let it sit, then if I decide to re-write/edit, that’s when I’ll finish telling Lorraine Doveton’s tale. Right now, I’m basking in the December-ness of life and reading for fun. Life is good and back to normal. Oh, except for those pesky things called finals coming up next week. 

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you hello and let you know that I haven’t completely disappeared from cyberspace. Libba Bray is still planning on stopping by The Paperbag Writer, so be patient! I have a couple of other surprises, though. Elizabeth Kostova, author of the amazing The Historian, has a new novel coming out on January 12. Yours truly already read and enjoyed it and will be posting a review after the first of the year. In addition, another wonderful young adult author also has a new title coming out in January. Keep an eye out, because her interview for this blog will be up then! 

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Now reading: The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr and The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare

Current favorite winter music: Norah Jones’ The Fall and Bon Iver’s For Emma Forever Ago

Epic Book Fest Weekend

Obviously, I read. A lot. And so does my sister. So a couple of weeks ago, naturally, we did what any insane book lover would do: We drove 4 hours to the Baltimore Book Festival, and then the next day drove to the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. What (or who) made us, you might ask, road trip it to these events? For me, it was three people: David Levithan, Libba Bray and Judy Blume. David and Libba are two of my favorite YA authors and I, along with thousands of other teenaged girls in years past, have loved Judy Blume for a long time.

David and Libba appeared on a panel of five YA authors in Baltimore. It was called “Coming of Age: Love, Rage & Anxiety in the Young Adult Novel.” The other authors were Sharon M. Draper, Garret Freymann-Weyr, and Edward Bloor. It was such a wonderful event, and all of the authors (though I haven’t read something from all of them) were great.

Now,  before the event began, my sister and I made it to the tent, and she said, “Is that Libba Bray?” I slowly looked around and I saw that, yes, it was her. She was wearing her trademark Converse, of course. Then I proceeded to freak out and say, “I can’t do this! I’m not cool enough to meet Libba Bray!” Once she finished talking to someone, I decided to go up to her in case there wouldn’t be enough time later that night. I said something about not wanting to interrupt her and she was like, “I’m twittering. Clearly, that’s very important.” We chatted for a few minutes, about her appearing here at The Paperbag Writer on her blog tour and our mutual love of Douglas Adams and Converse. Can I please get something out of my system now: EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! I met Libba Bray! Ok, we’re done with that.

Apparently the Baltimore Book Fest is a happenin’ place, because as the panel began, David said, “It sounds like Baltimore’s fourth best hair metal band is playing now so we’ll try to talk over them. Hopefully by the end of the night, we’ll be Baltimore’s third best hair metal band. ” You could tell he and Libba are great friends because their banter was particularly funny.

Each author had a new novel out, so each talked a little bit about their’s and read an excerpt. Edward went first since no one else wanted to and read from Taken. Sharon read from two books, November Blues, and her new one, Just Another Hero. I’ll admit that I’ve never read anything from either of these writers, but my sister bought Taken (which I’m sure I’ll borrow at some point) and I enjoyed the excerpt from Sharon’s new book, too.

Garrett went next, and she seems like such a fun person. She read sitting down at the table (everyone else stood at a mike) because she didn’t want us to see her legs shaking. The first thing she said: “It feels like I’m having sex with a microphone, this is so weird!” I thought that was just an interesting first line of her new novel, Stay With Me, but it wasn’t. She just doesn’t like talking into a mike.

Libba read next and of course started off with an excerpt not from the fabulous new Going Bovine, but from a Prince song. She then continued to wow the crowd with her hilarious wit and insight into the minds of garden gnomes. David finished the reading with an excerpt from the beautiful Love is the Higher Law.

Once everyone read, David, as the moderator, asked each author which they enjoyed writing the most, love, rage, or anxiety? I honestly can’t remember all of their answers, but I know David was surprised to realize how much he enjoyed writing rage (because he has an angry character in an as-of-yet unreleased book). Libba argued that all three are interconnected, so it’s almost hard to write about one without the others. After this, the floor was open for questions.

Then the mad rush to the table with books galore ensued. All of the authors were very nice and graciously signed everything. I felt very lucky to meet all of them.

We went to DC the next day where it was just about the antithesis of Baltimore. There were tons of people and insanely long lines. We were able to see some authors speak (including Judy Blume, Jodi Picoult, and some kids authors) and my sister was able to get Nicholas Sparks’ signature before he went onstage. While it was a lot of fun and very cool to see so many great authors in one place, it wasn’t as fan-friendly, meaning you either saw authors speak or waited in their lines for a couple of hours before hand in order to guarantee a signature. It wasn’t possible to do both because of the amount of people that were there.

It was a great weekend and I’m so glad we got to go. And maybe, just a very tiny maybe, you’ll get to see me at a book fest someday. If you do, come say hi.

Finally, a couple of pictures, all taken by me.

Libba Bray

David Levithan

Judy Blume

I’m with the banned.

I couldn’t stop myself…the title of this blog came from a woman’s shirt I saw on Saturday at the National Book Fest in Washinton, DC. I thought it was perfect!

So, it’s officially banned books week. I won’t go all preachy on you, since I kind of already did that in my old post, Censorship Blows, but I wanted to bring it your attention.

Read author/poet Ellen Hopkins’ brilliant Banned Books Week Manifesto: http://bannedbooksweek.org/BBWManifesto.pdf

Watch a couple of videos, including the one I posted on aforementioned post:

 I Am Not a Pornographer (John Green):

Fear of a Pink Jacket: Censorship in Florida (Maureen Johnson):

That’s all for now, but I will be back later in the week with more videos, articles and other things related to censorship and Banned Books Week.

Also, New York Times Best-Selling YA author LIBBA BRAY will be stopping by the Paperbag Writer on her blog tour for her new novel Going Bovine! Stay tuned! I’m probably more excited than you are!

On the back burner…

Ok, so ever since I heard about Libba Bray’s latest novel, Going Bovine, I’ve been stoked about it. I mean, a dwarf? The ANSWER to why microwave popcorn tastes so good? String theory? The Church of  Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack-N-Bowl? I first heard about Going Bovine when I bought the final book in Libba’s Gemma Doyle Trilogy, The Sweet Far Thing. That was in December of 2007. It is almost December of 2009. That means that I have been waiting for this book for nearly two years. I will even compare it to the anticipation of the final Harry Potter book.

It’s supposed to come out on Tuesday 22 September. I happened to be in my local bookstore last night and lo and behold: Going Bovine on the YA shelf. What did I do? First, my eyes bugged out. This bookstore? I thought. The one that hardly ever has anything I want has this book out early? Then, I ran to my mother in the front of the store, shook the book in her face and whisper/screamed THEY PUT IT OUT EARLY! 

Then, I bought it. Now, I’m sorry, but Jellicoe Road will be on the back burner until I finish Going Bovine, which I’m thinking won’t take too long.

YA Novel Binge

So, it’s almost that time of year. November–when your eyes go cooky from looking at the computer screen too long; when you take any plot bunny you can get, just to get up your word count; when you freak out because there are only three days left and you need 12,854 more words and you are out of Twizzlers and you’ve lost your totem and there are already tons of purple bars all over the forum, taunting you because those who have purple bars have already won. Yes: it’s NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo, also known as National Novel Writing Month. Every November. Write a 50,000+ word novel in just 30 days.

My genre of choice is YA (young adult) fiction. Frankly, I don’t feel like I should write anything else. Literary fiction? Uh, no thank you (at least, not yet). Adult fiction? I’ll call you up in 20 years. Chick lit? Just…no. (Fun to read, no desire to write.) YA seems like the obvious choice. I think YA fiction actually reaches from around 13-20 or so, so I’m still in that age bracket. But also, I haven’t lived enough to write anything else, have I?

And I’m ok with that. There is a whole lot of really crappy YA writing out there. But there are some really amazing YA books. Either they were a pleasure to read or they helped me in some way. Maybe someday someone will take my book on an international trip and take solace in it at night when they are far away from home and homesick (true story).

All too often, YA writers are underrated, underappreciated and just don’t get enough respect. More times than not, the less-than-stellar writing (here’s looking at you, SMeyer) overshadows the books that really deserve the credit and praise. I don’t see a Printz Award sticker on any Twilight book, do you? But those are the kind of books getting all the attention now.

And hey, maybe that’s not a terrible thing. At least people are reading, right? It’s kind of how Harry Potter got younger kids to read, Twilight is probably getting some teenagers reading who otherwise might not crack a book open. But let’s forget Twilight for a minute.

In preparation for NaNoWriMo and my goal of writing the Next Best YA Novel (ok, that’s not really my goal. I know I’m not that good. Yet.), I am reading as many YA books as I can before November. Here are a couple I’ve recently read:

Paper Towns – John Green. In Paper Towns, John Green introduces the worldly, unattainable, mysterious character of Margo Roth Speigelman. At the risk of giving away too much, all I’m going to say is: Breaking and entering Sea World. Road trip. Walt Whitman. Green is an amazing writer and his humor is so effortless. I laughed out loud countless times during this novel and parts of it had me grinning from ear to ear. I loved it just as much as his other novel I’d previously read, Printz Award-winning Looking for Alaska. Whereas Paper Towns had me laughing, Alaska had me bawling.

How They Met and Other Stories – David Levithan. Levithan is one of the most poetic, lyrical YA authors out there right now. I need to stop and reread whole sentences, even whole paragraphs because they are written so beautifully, emotionally and truthfully. How They Met…is, obviously, a collection of short stories. Like any collection, some pieces are great and some are just ok. There are definitely some favorites, and while I can’t remember all the titles, they include “Starbucks Boy,” “the number of people who meet on planes,” and the one about the dancer. Some really beautiful stories about love.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockart. A Printz Honor book, The Disreputable History…is one of the most original, fresh YA  novels I’ve come across in awhile. For once, a female YA character calls herself a feminist. This book is a social commentary. Frankie goes to a co-ed  boarding school, and decides to shake things up by infiltrating the boys-only secret society, and having them play some pranks that critque the social and political climate of the school. Of course, they don’t realize this. Also, Frankie and her boyfriend both love words. I love wordy, intelligent books and this is definitely a good one! The end is a little unsatisfactory, but real. And real-life is sometimes unsatisfactory, right?

Some other well-written or original YA books that I would suggest include: Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson; The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray (some of my FAVORITES!); anything by David Levithan, including Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, co-written with Rachel Cohn (probably my all-time fave YA book); I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak; nearly anything by Meg Cabot, and of course the “classics”: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and anything by Judy Blume.

Currently reading: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.

She who knows Harry’s fate, the truth about Snape and where the Horcruxes are.

It was a nice evening on the Champs-Élysées (or Champs-Izzywizzy as some I know like to call it) in Paris on July 21, 2007. The streets were buzzing with chatter and people were eating ice cream left and right. Thinking back, it must have been a warm evening. The Champs-Élysées is home of the largest Louis Vuitton store in the world and you can find nearly anything you need on that overwhelming avenue. But the first place that my three friends and I visited once we got off our tour bus and took in the scene? A book store.

Yes, it was bothering us that everywhere else in the world, millions of fans were already pouring over their copies of the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series. But we, being out of the country, weren’t able to go to a midnight release party or, with touring and sightseeing, weren’t able to just stop at the first store we saw and pick it up–even though we were well aware that each of us had our own crisp, pre-ordered copy awaiting our arrival back the in States. We knew we would be in Paris on the release date (we had previously visited London, Dublin and Wales), and I had planned on a buying a copy as a souvenir. I didn’t care that it would be in French, I wanted to take part in the excitement and buy a fresh, first-day copy.

It started in fourth grade. I had been invited to take the fifth-grade reading class because English has always been my best subject. The first novel we read was called Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech–still one of my favorite children’s books to this day. The second one? It was a new book that I’d never heard of: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. And so it began.

For over half of my life, I’ve been a Potthead. An original Potthead. I fell in love with Harry’s world and wanted to be Hermione and wished so badly that when I turned 11, a letter would come for me, with my address in emerald green writing, bearing the Hogwarts seal . I’m still waiting for it.

For years, Harry Potter was a part of my life. After awhile, the craziness ebbed, but with the release of the final book, it started all over again. I re-read the entire series just a few weeks before embarking on my European adventure, in preparation for the Deathly Hallows.

So, we’re on the Champs-Élysées. We went into a book store and there were stacks and stacks of the coveted novel with the ugly European cover (sorry, but it’s true. Mary GrandPré is a genius!). They were all shrink-wrapped. I didn’t care–I hurried myself over the cash register, swiped my card and grabbed my bag. We weren’t even out of the store before the bag was ripped from my hands–by one of my friends–and the shrink wrap was torn from that glistening beacon of hope (too much? Oh, well. At the time that’s what it felt like.). It was actually in English! We wondered why, but didn’t question that miracle.

We read the synopsis, passed it around and turned it over in our hands. The final book. I tucked it gingerly back into the bag and held on for dear life until we got back to the hotel. Once we were all back in our room, it was insisted upon that we had story time. We took turns reading aloud the first chapter. Then I was ready for bed. True, I had been waiting years and years for this book, but I was tired. Seeing as though it was my book, everyone else had to give it up, too. (And for that, I apologize. Oh, how you must have hated me at that moment!)

It wasn’t until I got back home, finished the book and read an article that the finality finally sank in. I read this: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20048269,00.html. It’s a review of the book from the specical HP edition of Entertainment Weekly by a mother, Tina Jordan, who shared the series with her family. I read the last lines:

I told them how coming of age during the publication years — how the waiting and the uncertainty, hard as it was — only heightened the whole experience. Think about the kids who’ll come to Harry Potter already knowing the ending, I said. It won’t make the books any less great, but it will change the whole experience. You were the lucky ones.

Then I realized it. Never will I read about Harry Potter again, wondering about or agonizing over his fate. I’ll know the end. My (hypothetical) children will know the end. It’s like any great piece of literature. You might never have read or seen Hamlet, but you know everyone dies at the end. I was–am–blessed to have been a part of the Potter phenomenon. It makes me sad that the next generation won’t have the experience of waiting to find out if Harry lives or dies. They won’t have to wonder if Snape was a good guy or a bad guy. They won’t have to guess where the Horcruxes are. But Tina Jordan is right. We were the lucky ones.

…Oh, and I liked the Epilogue.