By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer

After reading aloud each one of the 2,713 pages of previous Harry Potter books, Wendy Tardif of Auburn figures her three boys may be pooped.

Perhaps a new Harry Potter book doesn’t thrill like it once did.

Tardif’s oldest son, 19-year-old Ryan, may never pick up the sixth volume, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which will be out at midnight on Friday. The mom pre-ordered two copies anyway. She has two other sons, Thomas, 13, and Michael, 16.

Maybe they’ll read it.

“I’ve read every one of them aloud,” said Tardif, who will read the book even if her sons don’t. When the boys were little, as they were when the series’ first books were published, they loved listening to her read the story of the orphan who became a wizard and battled the evil Lord Voldemort.

“That’s not cool anymore,” Tardif said.

It’s still selling, though. A lot.

Worldwide, more than 200 million copies of the previous five books have been sold, according to publisher Scholastic.

For the new book, Scholastic has printed a record 10.8 million copies for sale in the United States. And the hype machine is in high gear.

Hyping it

In Times Square in New York City, a giant screen is counting down the hours till its release. Armed guards watch over special preview copies signed by author J.K. Rowling and shipped to America aboard the Queen Mary 2.

And Scholastic’s Manhattan headquarters, nicknamed “Harry Potter Place,” is displaying a copy behind glass to be unlocked and given away at the time of release.

Friday night’s midnight sale is expected to be accompanied by more than 5,000 parties at bookstores and libraries across the country.

Some of those will be right here.

The Book Burrow and Waldenbooks in Auburn, Mr. Paperback in Lewiston and Devaney, Doak & Garrett in Farmington are all planning parties with costumes and games beginning at 10 p.m.

The Book Burrow and Mr. Paperback will each be visited by a magician.

The Burrow will also feature games on a giant checkerboard while Mr. Paperback plans to have its own sorting hat, a magical device from the books used to divide children at wizard school into each of four houses.

Still hot

Cheryl Perrino, manager of the Mr. Paperback store, said demand for the new book is just as intense as the previous novel. Nationwide, that book sold 5 million copies in 24 hours.

Hundreds of local people have already pre-ordered the new one at the Lewiston store, Perrino said.

At the Book Burrow, pre-sales have been brisk, too. The store has even been contacted by a Pennsylvania family planning to be traveling here at the end of the week.

The parents wanted to take their child to a Potter party and called the Book Burrow, owner Laurie St. Pierre said.

Of course, the bookstore may have been helped by its name. “The Burrow” is where Harry Potter’s best friend, Ron, lives.

Libraries, too, are preparing for the new book. Its release brings mixed feeling, though.

The Lewiston Public Library plans to have 15 copies on Monday. All but one will go to people who have put in their reservations more than a year ago.

The last copy will be held on reserve, so people can come to the library and read it, said David Moorhead, who runs the library’s children’s department.

He, too, will read the book with the hope that this one will be better than the last.

Page quantity, quality

Author J.K. Rowling has become “sloppy,” Moorhead said.

“The first two books were perfect examples of children’s literature,” he said.

Then, the books grew. The first book was the shortest, at 309 pages. Editors, it seemed, stopped cutting. The last one ballooned to 870 pages.

The new volume is 672.

Moorhead has watched children lose interest in the novels as their length has grown, he said.

At the Norway Public Library, the release of the new book is being used as a springboard to other books.

All summer, the library has been highlighting stories of knights and castles and dragons. In the coming week, they plan to hold a “School for Wizards.”

And they plan to move forward even if they don’t get a copy of the newest tale of the most famous wizard since Merlin.

“I want children to read more than just Harry Potter,” said children’s librarian Karen Ellis.