LEWISTON – At the Lewiston Public Library, someone reserved the first copy on Oct. 29, 2001. At the Mr. Paperback bookstore, the orders began in January, on the same day publishers announced that the book was finally written.

On Saturday morning, at one minute after midnight, Harry Potter’s story will continue.

The upcoming book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is expected to be both huge and heavy.

The J.K. Rowling novel, the fifth in the Harry Potter series, is already setting U.S. records for a first printing. Scholastic, the book’s American publisher, has completed an initial printing of 6.8 million and has planned a second batch of 1.7 million.

The book, 896 pages, will be the longest yet in the series and the most expensive, with a cover price of $29.95.

Like magic, the books about the boy wizard will start arriving in Lewiston-Auburn by Thursday.

“We know they’re in Maine already,” said Cheryl Perrino, manager of Mr. Paperback in Lewiston. “We don’t know how many there will be here.”

Her store has already sold more than 200 copies, pre-orders that have been accumulating since the book’s publication was announced. Perrino expects the first shipment to number at least 400 books, enough to meet the initial demand. But those will likely sell out in less than a week, she said.

Waiting lists

Demand has been building ever since the series’ last book, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” was released in the summer of 2000.

The books follow the education of Harry Potter, a boy who was orphaned when his parents were killed by an evil wizard. At 11, he learns that he, too, is a wizard. Each of the books follows a year at his school, Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Little children, teens and adults want desperately to know what happens next, Perrino said. For people who cannot buy the book, the Lewiston Public Library is holding a read-in.

Beginning Monday, they will spend two hours every afternoon, from 2 to 4 p.m., reading the book aloud.

They figure it will take three weeks to read.

“We’ve done what we can to get it to people,” said David Moorhouse, the children’s librarian. The library has ordered 20 copies.

“It really took a bite out of our budget,” he said. “It cost as much as half a complete Encyclopedia Britanica.”

Even so, the library has a waiting list with more than 40 names. It might be fall before people can pluck the book from the library’s shelves, he said.

For librarians and booksellers, there will be no sneak peaks.

Laurie St. Pierre, the owner of the new Book Burrow and Cafe in Auburn, had to sign a contract with Scholastic in order to sell copies at her store. She’s not allowed to open the boxes until Saturday morning.

But she’ll have customers waiting in her store at midnight. St. Pierre is planning games and other events. She’ll have a magician and puppeteers.

At 12:01 a.m., she’ll open the boxes and begin selling the books. And she’ll gather invited guests to spend the night at the store reading the book aloud. She is also planning a poetry reading and a musical performance, a grand opening celebration for the store, which opened three weeks ago at 1 Great Falls Plaza.

At Mr. Paperback, Perrino has planned her own events, with games, prizes and a version of the sorting hat. The “Harry Potter” hat speaks and separates the schoolchildren into their houses. Her store will close by 1 a.m., she said.

Then, she plans to go home and begin reading.

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