The Harry Potter Frenzy

In less then a week, on 16 July, exactly at midnight, the sixth Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be released in thousand of cities.

The Harry Potter frenzy got everyone. Millions of children and adults from Singapore to Boston, from London to New Delhi, are waiting impatiently to see/reed the new Harry Potter adventures.

"The phenomenon that is Harry Potter is completely unprecedented in publishing," said Diane Roback, children's-book editor for Publishers Weekly. "The size of the first print run (of Book Six), the scope of the demand, the age groups the books appeal to -- it all crosses any kind of line you can think of."

Barnes & Noble announced two weeks ago that the advance sales for the sixth Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", topped 750,000 copies, beating the number of pre-orders for the last Potter book. Amazon.com said that 560,000 pre-orders have been taken for the new Harry Potter book.

More then three million pre-orders were registered worldwide.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is due to be released at 00:01 a.m. on July 16 at Edinburgh Castle and the author J. K. Rowling will read from the book to a group on children invited in the Great Hall.

Meanwhile, the British bookies have placed their odds on Dumbledore, the Hogwarts master, dying in the next Harry Potter book.

According to Daily Mail, some of Britain's gambling chains have stopped taking bets on which character will die in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The bets came after author JK Rowling has revealed that there will be a death in her sixth Potter novel.

"We pulled the plug, because we were suspicious after getting a host of calls from Bungay, Suffolk, where the British printers of the book are located", said a spokesman for Ladbroke's bookmakers.

The Internet betting company Blue Square is still taking bets on Dumbledore. The odds are 1-5, says spokesman Ed Pownall.