FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kids celebrate Harry Potter at Grissom Library

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Wizard hats, magic wands, potion, jelly beans and chocolate frogs helped kick-off a six-week celebration of Harry Potter on Sept. 11 at Virgil I. Grissom Library.

John, left, and James McCaw make velveteen bags to hold their jelly beans as part of the Harry Potter Kick-off Program on Sept. 11 at Grissom Library. Photo by Karen L. Gill/Newport News Public Library System

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Wizard hats, magic wands, potion, jelly beans and chocolate frogs helped kick-off a six-week celebration of Harry Potter on Sept. 11 at Virgil I. Grissom Library.

About 33 children, teens and adults attended the free Harry Potter Kick-off Program, which celebrated the arrival of “Harry Potter's World: Renaissance, Science, Magic, and Medicine,” a traveling exhibit that will be on display in Grissom Library through Oct. 16. The exhibit explores the world of the fictional character Harry Potter and its roots in Renaissance magic, science, and medicine.
The six-banner traveling exhibition was created to explore the link between Harry Potter and the history of science using materials from the National Library of Medicine.

At the Kick-off Program, children made a velveteen bag to hold their “magic” jelly beans, decorated wizard hats, made potion by mixing various flavors of punch and created magic wands with long pretzel sticks, white chocolate and sprinkles.

Costume contest winners were then announced. Winners were:
Best Hermione: Katie Watson, age 9
Most Likely to Ace her Owls: Rachel Watson, 7,
Best Accessorized: Michael Riley, 11
Best Spellcasting: John McCaw, 11
Best Ron: James McCaw, 11
Best Overall: Caden James, 7

Each of the winners selected from various Harry Potter-themed books as prizes, including the grand prize, which was a complete set of all the books in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

“It was awesome,” said 9-year-old Katie Watson, who traveled with her family from Hampton to the program. “I get to make my own wand with the book I won.”

Adults and teens joined in the fun as well, with an opportunity to enter the trivia contest and view the exhibit. “I enjoyed it myself,” said Tom Watson, Katie’s father. “I think all the kids did, too.”

Other upcoming Harry Potter programs are:

Movie Showing: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Sept. 18
Families can enjoy a screening of a Harry Potter movie, 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 18.

Author Talk by George Beahm, Sept. 21
George Beahm, author of “Fact, Fiction and Folklore in Harry Potter’s World” and “Muggles and Magic,” will speak about his books on the Harry Potter universe, 7-8 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 21. Adult Program.

Movie Showing: “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” Sept. 25
Families can enjoy a screening of a Harry Potter movie, 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 25.

Movie Screening: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” Oct. 2
Families can enjoy a screening of a Harry Potter movie, 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2.

Harry Potter Book Series Discussion, Oct. 9
Families can join Kara Keeling, English professor at Christopher Newport University, for a discussion of the Harry Potter series, 2-3:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 9.

Movie Screening: “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” Oct. 16
Families can enjoy a screening of a Harry Potter movie, 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 16.

All of the programs are free and open to the public. Part of the Newport News Public Library System, Grissom Library is located at 366 DeShazor Drive, Newport News, VA 23608. For more information, please call Grissom Library at 757-369-3190.


The Newport News Public Library System consists of four public libraries, a public law library and a bookmobile. Programs presented by the Library System are free and open to the public. For more information on Newport News Public Library System programs, please call 757-247-8875 or visit www.nngov.com/library. View photos from the Newport News Public Library System’s programs at www.flickr.com/photos/25845028@N05/. View all Library News Releases at http://www.nngov.com/pressroom/press-releases/library-press-releases. To make accommodations for services and program attendance under the Americans with Disabilities Act, call the Library at 757-591-4858 voice/TDD three days prior to the event for assistance.

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