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Wizards and Witches, Get Your Harry Potter Passports at the Local Library

Courtesy of Pottermore.com

Today is Halloween—and across the Ozarks tonight, there are bound to be scores, if not hundreds, of children dressed up as the boy wizard known as Harry Potter. This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the iconic book going on sale in the United States, and the Springfield-Greene County Library Center is leaning into the magic. She spoke with KSMU's Jennifer Moore, and you can hear the interview below.

If that music elicits in your mind images of a broomstick, or a flying car, you might be a Harry Potter fan—it’s the melody that carries the soundtrack for the Harry Potter movies.  Sarah Bean Thompson is the youth services manager at The Library Center.  In Springfield, she cannot keep The Harry Potter series on her library shelves; kids, parents, and grandparents check it out constantly, she says. That led the library staff to think, “Hmm…How are we going to celebrate the anniversary?"

“We have transformed all 10 of our library branches across the Springfield-Greene County Library District into different places within the Harry Potter world,” Thompson said.

For example, The Library Center is decorated as Hogwarts; step inside other branches, and you’ll see the iconic Platform Nine and Three Quarters or The Leaky Cauldron.

Kids in Grades 2-12 who visit five of those locations and get their “passports” stamped before the end of November will receive a personal invitation to The Yule Ball.

You can learn more by seeing the library district's programs publication, Bookends. Below are a few of the upcoming local Harry Potter events:

*  Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - Magical Beasts - Fair Grove Branch Library
3-5 p.m. for grades 5-12.
Stop by for some magical after-school fun and games, and leave with a Hagrid-approved miniature copy of "The Monster Book of Monsters" and a dragon egg. Guard both carefully! Harry Potter event.

*  November 8, 6 PM:   'Tweens Book Club, Grades 4-8 in The Library Center Story Hour room: Harry Potter book series

*   November 9, from 6-8 PM at The Library Station branch, Frisco Room:  Quidditch
Teens in Grades 6-12 can learn the game of Quidditch while sipping some "butterbeer."

* Friday, November 9 - ADULTS AGE 18 AND OLDER:
Harry Potter Game Show Extravaganza
Adults, put your Harry Potter knowledge to the test as you compete with others for Harry Potter-themed prizes. Adults age 18 and over can sign up for a chance to be a contestant when the doors open at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of The Library Center in Springfield.

* Wednesday, November 14, Fair Grove Branch Library: Magical Beasts
Kids Grades K-4 can get a Hagrid-approved book and a dragon egg from 3:00 - 5:00 PM.

*  November 15, 6 PM:  'Tween STEAM activities
Grades 4-8 will create something from the world of Harry Potter in The Library Center Story Hour room.