Our copy of the last Harry Potter book arrived early Saturday morning, and GoddessJ devoured it like a starving woman at an all-you-can-eat banquet. I got it late that evening, and read it at a much more leisurely pace, finishing it Monday evening. I find it hard to believe, but Rowling actually managed to live up to our highest expectations.

But the reason for this entry is only vaguely related to that: a press release by a certified grief counseling expert offering advice and services to parents and children “coping with loss related to [the] upcoming Harry Potter release.”

In part, I understand this. Many children don’t have the emotional maturity to truly understand that this is all make-believe, and no one is really hurt; they can feel grief for imagined characters as much as for real people, and those of us who follow the Harry Potter news already knew months ago, from the author’s own mouth, that there were going to be some deaths of major characters. But the rest of me is simply disgusted at how so many people are trying so hard to cash in on the Harry Potter craze.