I was one of the lucky few to attend an early screening of Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix and was amazed to discover that the 900+ page novel had been masterfully edited down to a thrilling 2 hours and 18 minutes. I may be, ahem, slightly older than the target audience, but I still enjoyed it. Forget what you've heard about Harry's first kiss -- I was inspired by the leadership that ensued among the students who banded together after the Ministry of Magic takes control of Hogwarts.

The film is a true must-see, and if you don’t love Harry, you may be alone. A new Neilsen study found that the Harry Potter books have sold 22.5 million copies in the UK and 27.7 million copies in the US. The films have grossed $3.5 billion worldwide. The ad spend on branded merchandise totaled $269.1 million in the U.S and the four Harry Potter soundtracks sold more than 1.1 million copies stateside. The fifth film debuts July 11th on 4,100 screens. Go Harry! The publishers that rejected JK's pitch before Scholastic cannot be doing well.

-- Valerie B.