Kyle Good, a Scholastic spokesperson, has the unenviable task of returning a genie to its bottle. That genie would be the Harry Potter spoilers. Good told FishbowlNY via email: "The Harry Potter fans do not want to find spoilers online and overwhelmingly say they won't look (A CNN poll found that 95 percent say 'No, I won't look.')"

As launch night swiftly approaches for the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series, Scholastic has accused Deepdiscount.com of the early shipping of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In addition, leaks of pictures contained in the book have found their way onto the internet. Further, eBay is selling the book online a day before the official launch. And reviewers — like Michiko Kakutani in today's Times — reveal spoilers, and have drawn the ire of J.K. Rowling, but to no avail.

(Scholastic issued a press release yesterday urging fans who got their hands on the book early "to keep the packages hidden until midnight on July 21st.")

When asked if Scholastic should appeal to parents, on the off-chance that the kids might fall prey to online temptation, Good responded: "The parents already know. They are avoiding the uploads and so are the kids ... it will all boil down to 12:01 AM on July 21 and everyone will get that big book and love it!"

— Ron Mwangaguhunga

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