How to Reuse Your Copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Once You've Read It

So now you've finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." It was a good conclusion to the seven-book story, wasn't it? And I bet a lot of you did what my wife and I did: bought one copy for each person in the house, because no one else could wait until another person finished reading it.

That means that if you're reading this, there's a good chance you have at least one extra hardback copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" lying around. So what do you do?

You could make a secret hiding place in it. Hardback books are great for this, and hardback "Harry Potter" books are no exception. Just cut out the inside of each page, leaving a border of about a half-inch, to make a rectangular hole inside the book.

Then brush glue along the pages' edges to seal the the pages together. Now you have a "Harry Potter" book that looks normal from the outside when it's closed, but when it's open it reveals a hiding spot - very cool. You can hide all sorts of things in there - cash, jewelry, "Harry Potter" Wizard Cards, etc.

As a variation on the previous suggestion, you could make a decorative storage box. Just do the same thing as above, but afterward, remove the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" paper book jacket, lay the book on a table and decorate the front cover however you want. The front cover will be the lid of your box.

If you have two extra copies of "Harry Potter", you could make a set of bookends. Just buy normal metal bookends at an office supply store like Staples (they're around ten dollars), insert the vertical part of the bookends in the middle of the book's pages and glue the book shut. That effectively adds a sturdy metal base to your book, making it a great bookend.

Of course, you could sell your extra copy. If you want to aim for a national market, try Amazon or eBay. As of this writing, there are more than 50 used copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" listed on Amazon. However, most of them are priced above what Amazon itself is charging for a brand-new copy, so if you want to sell yours, you'll probably need to mark it down a bit.

Also, it should be in good condition, so if your cheese puff-fingered kids have been all over it, maybe you should try one of the other ideas in this article. For a smaller market, you could try your local used bookstore. However, in my experience, used bookstores typically give you less than half of what you paid for a book, and sometimes only a few dollars, so your mileage may vary.

Finally, the most altruistic choice would be to donate it. Try your local library, school, Goodwill or a charity. I'm sure there are plenty of kids out there who would love to read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" but whose families can't afford it. Why not let them have the same enjoyment of reading it that you did?