Part 3: The Big Day!

First thing in the morning on Friday, Mom and I headed to the Carnegie Hall box office to pick up our tickets for the event that night.

Outside the theater, we met dozens of New York City school children who had just had their books signed by J. K. Rowling. These kids from P.S. 009 in Brooklyn were so adorable! They were really excited to show us their books, and hammed it up for the camera.

With the tickets safely stored in my backpack, we headed for 5th Avenue to do some shopping and sightseeing.

F.A.O. Schwartz was our first stop. It was appropriately decorated with a Harry Potter theme. The main hall was full of life-sized stuffed hippogriffs, unicorns, and enormous dragons that practically touched the ceiling. There were even stuffed versions of Fluffy, the three-headed dog, and Aragog, the Acromantula.

My favorite stuffed animal was Buckbeak, the hippogriff. For only $400, he could have been mine!

The store's Harry Potter section had a Diagon Alley theme. The displays were designed to look like storefronts such as Flourish & Blotts and Quality Quidditch Supplies. The Lego room even had life-sized models of Hagrid, Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Of course, no trip to F.A.O Schwarz would be complete without a dance on the giant keyboard from the movie "Big."

We visited all kinds of fun shops that day. The enormous Toys 'R Us even had an indoor Ferris Wheel!

Among all the fancy shops and restaurants, we came across the 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church and decided to take a look inside. It was beautiful! We stayed for a while to listen to the organist practicing.

That night, we got dressed up and headed across the street to Carnegie Hall for the main event. I was so excited, I could hardly stand it! We weren't supposed to take pictures, but when we saw that everyone else was, Mom ran back to the hotel to get her camera. Thank goodness the hotel was right across the street!

We had perfect seats, in a box right over the stage. The girl next to us said her sister entered herself and 60 of her friends, hoping that one of them would win and bring her along. She ended up winning three times!

When J. K. Rowling finally came out on the stage, the audience went crazy. First, she read an excerpt from Chapter 19 ("The Silver Doe") of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She did a really great job performing the voices of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

After the reading, Rowling answered questions from audience members for about an hour. My favorite questions were the ones that focused on Rowling's writing process, and how she organized and developed her intricate plot. One boy asked how the last two books would have been different if Rowling had killed off a certain character in "Order of the Phoenix," as she had originally planned. Another asked why she chose a particular character to dispatch of one of the villains in "Deathly Hallows." Her answers to these questions were fascinating, revealing just a small glimpse into the mind of a great author.

Finally, it was time for all 2,000 books to be signed! Most people took the free copy of "Deathly Hallows" given to us as part of the prize, but a few brought another favorite Harry Potter book. One girl even had a large Braille edition of one of the books.

The book-signing assembly line moved quickly, but Rowling was very friendly and personable, taking the time to look everyone in the eye and speak briefly with those who wanted to say something. She even shook my hand!

It was a thoroughly thrilling evening, and it was hard to see it end.