I have the Harry Potter book in hand.
There was a great turn out at both Barnes and Noble and Kroger. Barnes and Noble was SO crowded that not everyone could fit in, so a lot of folks spilled over to Kroger.

Kroger was totally unprepared for the crowd. They didn't have anything to open the boxes with, and only one register running.
The eager fans opened the boxes with keys and pocketknives while the skeleton crew got the self checkout lanes ready.

The Carpet book, posted online, is real.

"Christopher Paolini is 21 now, and he's had his Letterman gig and his Time magazine interviews and the thrill of seeing his fantasy novel, "Eragon," ride the best-seller lists for 100 weeks, in one version or another. There's even a Hollywood film in the works.
...He has an avuncular, precociously adult manner of speaking -- like a tweedy professor with elbow patches. The effect is startling but ultimately charming, because Paolini is so genuine, with a matter-of-fact self-confidence that's rare for his age. For that, he thanks mom and dad, who homeschooled him and his younger sister, Angela.

"I certainly give credit to my parents," Paolini said, "because they taught us never to be afraid -- to stand up and speak our mind, to talk to people as equals even if they are quite a bit older.

"My sister and I have never been in public schools. We never had the experience of being put down, of being told not to stand out. We were who we were." "

Homeschooled boy's books score big - movie deal for next year

This book is, as promised, a much darker book than the others have been. In this book, Harry Potter is 16, and about to come of age in the wizarding world.

The themes are, at the same time, a strange mix of adolescent and adult worries and obsessions. It is not a book for small children.
The charming magic of Hogwart's train and the beautiful castle diminsh beside a very complex story that at times is quite distressing with its pinch of reality.

The language is tame enough, the worst word read was 'slut,' but there was a thread of the story to go with it that may not be for small kids.

Harry Potter comes away looking less like the hero, and more like the lazy mediocre lad that Professor Snape often tells him he is.

This is the most gruesome book yet. The dark lord has pretty much taken power, and there is terrorism everywhere. Security themes play a very large role in this book.

There are many more murders in this book, and the magic and potions get a lot more serious, and much more deadly. There is a magic widely discussed that uses murder to commit dark unnatural amulets.

I am sure the religious right will not like THIS book.

I did enjoy the book, but JK Rowling does deliver - maybe too assuredly - on her promise to kill off a very important, loved character.

Luckily, the agent had handed the constantly rejected sample chapters of the first Harry Potter book to his 8 year old daughter, who bugged him constantly for MORE....

The 8 year old girl that saved Harry Potter