Pottermania hits the global High Street vocabulary

Over the country,300,000 Potter fans, the most devout dressed in wizard outfits, poured into these midnight-openings, many of them having queued for more than fourteen hours.

What is the meaning of 'devout'?

• apathetic

• insincere

• faithful

• devoted

On the stroke of midnight, J.K. Rowling appeared before her entranced audience as if by magic through a secret panel, and started reading the first chapter of the latest adventure,

What is the meaning of 'entranced'?

• captivated

• bewitched

• disgusted

• turned off

With advance sales of 350,000 on Amazon UK and delivery planned from 500,000 copies UK-wide, marketing hype had forecast that HP6 would be the Books Sensation of All Time.

What is the meaning of 'hype'?

• parlay

• offer

• promotion

• exposure

With advance sales of 350,000 on Amazon UK and delivery planned from 500,000 copies UK-wide, marketing hype had forecast that HP6 would be the Books Sensation of All Time.

What is the meaning of 'forecast'?

• realisation

• signal

• prediction

• hindsight

Altogether, the series has sold 270 million copies worldwide, and J.K. Rowling has netted* a multi-million-pound fortune.

What is the meaning of 'netted'?

• caught

• earned

• harvested

• knitted

In America, summer camp leaders woke up the suddenly wide-awake campers at midnight, doled out hot chocolate and began their reading of HP6 aloud from specially delivered copies.

What is the meaning of 'doled out'?

• handed out

• scattered

• assigned

• rationed

The books have been translated into 61 languages including Ancient Greek; three Harry Potter films have earned £1 billion at the box office; and £430 million has been earned from DVD and video sales, and the 400 or so items of Harry Potter merchandise.

What is the meaning of 'merchandise'?

• produce

• cargo

• products

• package

TSo why do people in their millions buy the books? Is it because, whatever age we are, we love to revert to the child we once were? Reading polls tell usthat most readers these days look for pure fantasy.

What is the meaning of 'revert'?

• fall

• return

• develop

• progress

"The one with the power to vanquish  the Dark Lord approaches.... Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live whilst the other survives.

What is the meaning of 'vanquish'?

• move

• destroy

• defeat

• humble

Some see this as part of the Harry Potter ‘message’, believing that the stories provide the readers with parables* for our troubled times.

Parables are stories with a moral message.

• True

• False