This demand for children's literature was unprecedented, so the threat to the adult bestseller list was unheard of - until Harry Potter. Eventually, the publishers asked The New York Times bestseller list to exclude children's literature and make it a separate list. At Christmas 2000, Harry resided on the children's list in the top 20 titles.

When The Goblet of Fire came out in the United States in July 2000, bookstores were struggling to keep up with demand. Heartland Books in downtown Kent tried to be prepared for the anticipated fourth novel.

"We had trouble keeping them in stock, especially Book 3," says owner and manager Fred Skok. "We thought we were ready on the first day the fourth book went on sale. We thought we had enough."

As it turns out, Skok's store, like many others across the nation, sold out quickly because of preorders.

"We had a great many copies on reserve. We didn't end up having enough for the shoppers who came in that first day," he says.

Many eager Potter fans were lined up in front of stores for the midnight release of the fourth book. Stores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble had special events for these early sales. Heartland did not have this promotion, but it didn't stop customers from coming in the middle of the night.

"I got calls to see if we were going to be selling at midnight, but we didn't have plans to," Skok says. "There were actually people here waiting outside at midnight that night. It was pretty exciting."

Tom Nix, a sophomore information design major, was one of those customers who went to Borders bookstore in his native Cincinnati at midnight for the 734-page book.

"I had read the first three, and I wanted the next one as soon as possible," he says. "So I was there that first night. I read it in a day. I couldn't put it down until I was finished."

Months after the release of the latest book, the series is still selling strong, but readers are waiting for the rest of the books.

"The sales have kind of trailed off a bit," Skok says. "Most fans have already bought and read the first four, and now they are just waiting for the fifth."