Ivan Seeking said:
Last night there was a news story about this. It was mentioned that the author has probably inspired more children to read than anyone in history.
Yes, that's one thing I think is wonderful about these books, something that inspires so many children (and adults) to read can't be bad! And these are some hefty books for children! I think back to the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mystery series that were so popular when I was young; it's the same sort of popularity where everyone is reading them, so it makes it more fun because the kids can all talk about the books too.
By the way, mine did show up with today's mail.

Actually, that might not be a good thing. Now I'll be tempted to start reading as soon as all my household chores are done today (I'm really avoiding cracking it open until then, or else nothing will get done), and I won't have it to read on my flights to Canada! Darn, that means I'll be doing work on the plane, no good excuses not to do it.
Well, I better get back to my chores, I have a book waiting for when I'm done.
(I should just note that I actually wasn't really jumping up and down with excitement when I saw it appear with the mail, just tempted to do so. I have certainly been looking forward to it since reading all the other books this winter, but haven't exactly been counting days until its arrival or anything quite that crazy).