All aboard the Harry Potter Knight Bus!

Pack up your trunk and make sure your owl is securely stowed in its cage before boarding the Harry Potter Knight Bus when it pulls in to a library near you this summer!

The purple triple decker bus — which seems to have driven right off the pages of the wildly popular books or the silver screen of the blockbuster movies — is leaving the TODAY Show plaza this morning and embarking on a cross-country journey to 37 lucky libraries in order to help fans count down the days to the release of the final book in the Harry Potter series.

At each stop, fans will be able to explore the bus which was first introduced in third Harry Potter Book, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” as an emergency transport for stranded wizards.  Fans can also plop down in the Knight Bus’ video booth and record their thoughts about Harry Potter.  Scholastic, which publishes the series and is behind the Knight Bus tour, has a list of questions to help prepare for the video on its Web site. 

“We know that one of the most incredible things about Harry Potter is the amazing discussion that it ignites among fans of all ages,” said Lisa Holton, President of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs, Scholastic. “The Knight Bus tour is the perfect way to let fans from across the country share their Harry Potter experience as they await the conclusion of this remarkable series.”

The Knight bus returns to New York for the release of book seven, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” at 12:01 a.m. on July 21.

The fifth movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” opens in theaters a week earlier on July 13.

'Amazing'
The Knight Bus got a rave reviews from the first fans to check out the experience on the TODAY Show plaza Friday morning.

“I think the bus is amazing and it’s a wonderful model,” said 11-year-old Karizma Chhabra, “It just carries me inot the book and I feel like I’m sitting right there next to them (the characters).”

Although geared toward the younger fans like Karizma, the Knight Bus, like the books, welcomes fans of all ages.

-- Jen Brown, TODAYShow.com

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