Several readers have emailed to let us know that they received a notice from Wal-Mart, stating that pre-orders of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will not be delivered until July 20th. UPDATE: Leaky spoke to Wal-mart and received confirmation that the email was a mistake – everyone who ordered the book on the 10th …read more!

EDITOR’S NOTE: We posted this the evening before last, but are “bumping” it up, as we have since received many emails from our readers who saw it this morning on CNN, as well as on other sites – including CBC Arts, which features an interview with Leaky’s own B.K. DeLong (click for RealPlayer audio). ~*~ …read more!

Amazon.com released some pics today of HBP being packed up and shipped; check them out below – some great closeups of the book herein: HBP packed up by Amazon, images 1-4 HBP packed up by Amazon, images 5-8 HBP packed up by Amazon, images 13-16 HBP packed up by Amazon, images 17-18

Several pieces of news about the Half-Blood Prince books being delivered here in the states. First, Scholastic has announced that the JKRowling specially signed copy of HBP for the winning library of the Scholastic contest arrived here in the States under much elaborate security. After J.K. Rowling signed the book in her office in Edinburgh, …read more!

Hello, this is Jim Dale calling… or at least his voice message, which is being sent to many readers who had pre-ordered Half-Blood Prince at Borders book stores. The voice of the man who narrators the US audio Harry Potter books says in his message: “Hello,your reserved Harry Potter for 40% off at Borders Express. …read more!

The next edition of RetroVision Magazine will feature a Harry Potter News Diary, chronicling in 35,000 words a month-by-month, year-by-year timeline of the Harry Potter phenomenon. It covers “everything from the first announcement that J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone had been picked up by Bloomsbury through the publication of this summer’s book …read more!

We’ve got another entry to the A.S. Byatt/Harold Bloom/William Safire school of HP-haters: Robert McCrum, who says: “The great children’s books were written by emotionally backward men and women who were writing principally for themselves….When all is said and done, JK Rowling is for children, their teachers and parents, the people who actually pay for …read more!

Today’s Poll is up in our Lounge asking the question ” Who will be the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain?”. Hmm.. there are some good choices; cant wait to see if Harry and the Quidditch team will be back in action in Book Six ( and goooo Hufflepuff 🙂 ) The poll to yesterday’s question about …read more!

More than a million HBPs have been ordered at BN.com, making it “the bestselling pre-order book of all time.” Also, BN.com will be showing a taped broadcast of the J.K. Rowling reading from Edinburgh Castle; it will also be shown at the Union Square, NYC party where Jim Dale will be reading. The press release …read more!

The Kansas City Star today says: “Who can say whether Harry Potter would be as successful without those fans old enough to order a martini? Sarah Blair can. “Absolutely not!” says the 26-year-old Potter fan from Gladstone. “All the fans I know are adults.” And speaking of adult fans, she’s too shy to say so …read more!