The Potter tsunami

Some might have thought Scholastic Inc., U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling, went overboard in ordering a 12-million-book first printing of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last installment of the celebrated children's series.

Apparently not. Yesterday, Scholastic announced that 11.5 million books were sold in the first 10 days, a publishing record, after the book was released July 21, and that a rush back to press as orders mounted bumped the in-print total to 14 million. In the first 24 hours, 8.3 million were sold. Scholastic announced that there are now 140 million Harry Potter books in print in the United States, 350 million worldwide.