海角大神

鈥淗arry Potter鈥� fans in Canada and the United States picked up 2 million copies of 鈥淗arry Potter and the Cursed Child鈥� over the past two days, a continuation of the pattern seen in the huge sales of the original 鈥淧otter鈥� series.聽

The latest installment in the "Harry Potter" series is not a novel, but a book version of the script used by the cast and crew of a play currently running in London's West End. 聽It was released on July 31, a date Harry fans know as his birthday.聽

The play is credited to Jack Thorne and is based on a narrative by Mr. Thorne, director John Tiffany, and 鈥淧otter鈥� author J.K. Rowling.聽

The enormous sales figures echo the extraordinary success of the original seven-part 鈥淧otter鈥� series, published by Scholastic between 1998 and 2007 in the United States.

鈥淗arry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,鈥� the seventh and then-final book in the series, became the fastest-selling work ever after its publication in the summer of 2007. (The sales for 鈥淐hild鈥� don't match the initial numbers for 鈥淗allows.鈥�)聽

Lily Zalon, a high school senior in Connecticut at the time of the release of the final 鈥淧otter鈥� film in 2011, told the Monitor at the time that the first book 鈥渂ecame my entire childhood.鈥�

The 鈥淧otter鈥� books 鈥渟haped my moral views, my understanding of how people should treat each other, and how we should behave in the world," Ms. Zalon said. 鈥淚t's a pretty good guide to being a decent human being.鈥澛�

Sales for the latest installment show that Harry Potter's appeal hasn't waned, even as a new film set in the world of Harry (though taking place decades earlier) approaches, the November movie 鈥淔antastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.鈥�

鈥淛.K. Rowling has proved that she still has the magic touch,鈥� wrote following the sales of 鈥淐hild,鈥� while writes that the numbers 鈥渞eflect 鈥� the huge appetite that remains among Rowling's fans in her global audience for anything having to do with Harry Potter and with her name attached.鈥�