There’s no new Harry Potter book to get excited about this summer, but that doesn’t mean the thrill is gone for lovers of fantasy lit. Davidson Public Library is getting ready to celebrate the release of the latest installment in a vampire series with a Potter-esque party and reader lock-in event.

“Breaking Dawn” the fourth book in the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer will be released at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, and the local library will be open to fans.

Also below, news about other library events and the next book in the DavidsonReads series.

Librarian Beverly Swanson said the branch will have some prerelease events for Twilight fans (more details on that will be available closer to the event) and then at midnight, will have some copies of the book available. Books can also be ordered from Main Street Books (call the store at 704-892-6841). Ms. Swanson said that once readers have acquired their new books, they will be able to spend the wee hours of Saturday morning at the library.

This is similar to the lock-in held last summer for the final book in the Harry Potter series, “The Deathly Hallows.” Ms. Swanson said the library became a silent zone of reading the instant that book reached reader hands, and she looks forward to a similar phenomenon for “Breaking Dawn.”

“It will be an opportunity to read with like-minded Twilight lovers,” Ms. Swanson said, adding that she is also a Twilight fan.

For those unfamiliar with the Twilight series, it follows the love between teenager Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, who is a “vegetarian vampire,” or one who prefers animal blood to human. The later two books in the series, “New Moon” and “Eclipse,” also feature the werewolf Jacob Black. “Twilight” debuted in 2005 and the series has since sold 5 million copies in the United States and dominated best seller lists. The movie version of “Twilight” is set to be released Dec. 12.

Other library events

The Twilight release party is one of several library events planned for kids this summer. The 3rd annual Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tourney will be held July 31. Davidson branch winners in this teen video game tournament advance to the county champion round, to be held at Imaginon in downtown Charlotte.

Also the library is in the midst of its summer reading program, which offers prize incentives to the following age groups:

• children under age 4 can jon the “Wee Read” club
• Age 4 to rising fifth graders are invited to “Catch the Reading Bug”
• Rising sixth through teenagers can sign up online for “Metamorphosis”
• Adults can opt for the online “Relax and Read”

The reading program runs through Aug. 6, and prizes include the chance to read down library fines – participants can read down $1 in fines for every hour completed on their reading record.

Town book

Speaking of reading, have you picked up a copy of the town book yet? The 2008 selection for DavidsonReads is “One Foot in Eden” by Ron Rash. Organizers are hoping town residents will be able to read the book over the summer and then join in community events throughout the fall, starting with a trip to the Duke Energy Explorium Saturday, Aug. 23.

“One Foot in Eden” is set in a Jocassee Valley town in South Carolina that is about to be flooded by an electric company as part of a mammoth dam project. Sound familiar? Sound like the Catawba River and Duke Power? Hmmmm! The book is also a murder mystery and has plenty of Carolina lore, including what to do with a dead blacksnake in a drought.