Will Harry die? Someone will die.

Author J.K. Rowling has said that two characters will perish in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book about a brave, beleaguered boy wizard, who has ridden his broomstick into the hearts of young readers the world over.

Will some grownups stew? For sure, some will stew.

Fretful grownups have been bewailing the dark themes in the "Harry Potter" books since the first one was published 10 years ago. Their author has acknowledged that her stories can be difficult.

"My books are largely about death," Rowling told the British magazine, Tatler, last year. "They open with the death of Harry's parents. There is Voldemort's obsession with conquering death ... I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We're all frightened of it."

Death may be a fearsome subject, but it's not a forbidden one in children's literature. When "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" goes on sale Saturday, uneasy parents can take heart in knowing that generations of children have survived, unscathed, the experience of reading a book in which a beloved character dies.

In Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," the second-youngest sister, Beth, dies, after contracting scarlet fever. In E.B. White's "Charlotte's Web," the title character, a spider, announces her imminent death to her best friend, a pig named Wilbur, and Wilbur throws himself down, sobbing, "in an agony of pain and sorrow." In Katherine Paterson's "Bridge to Terabithia," one of the two main characters, a girl named Leslie, meets a shocking end; her sorrowing friend, Jess, learns he has to stand up to fear and "not let it squeeze you white."

Death makes an appearance even in some picture books. In Tomie dePaolo's "Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs," the author writes of when he was 4, and his very best friend was his 94-year-old great-grandmother. After she dies, he sees a falling star in the sky, and his mother suggests that the star is a kiss from Nana Upstairs.

Part of life
Karin Rezendes, youth services librarian at the Lancaster Public Library, said she thinks children would be offended by the suggestion that they cannot handle reading about death, which is, after all, a part of life.

If books were all "fluffy-bunny happy endings, they'd hate it," Rezendes said.

Indeed, she said, children seem to like dark, scary books. Consider the popularity of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events," which chronicles the misery-plagued lives of a family of orphans named the Baudelaires.

Disney movies, from "Bambi" to "Finding Nemo," tell of creatures making their way in the world after losing their mothers. In children's literature, too, parents often meet a harsh fate.

In so many children's books, it's almost as if there has to be a way to get rid of the parents, so that the kids can go off on adventures, noted Rezendes.

In Rowling's books, Harry is just a baby when his parents, Lily and James, are slain by the evil wizard, Lord Voldemort. Harry is left in the begrudging care of his Muggle, or nonmagical, relatives, the Dursleys, until he is whisked off to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and to his destiny, which is to seek to vanquish Voldemort. Harry is saved, more than once, by the power of love, but his young life is far from easy.

Children can find it comforting to read about the troubles of a make-believe character, said Beth Wagner, manager of the youth services department at the Lancaster library.

Wagner read "Bridge to Terabithia" aloud to her daughter, and wept as she read. Wagner thought it was a good thing for her daughter to see a grownup so moved. "I felt like it was a really cleansing experience for both of us," she said.

Rezendes said books can offer children practice, in a way, for how to grieve.

She was about 9 when her mother read "Little Women" to her. Rezendes said she could tell Beth's death was coming. "I can remember having my mom stop reading it for a time," she recalled, "because I wasn't ready."

Nanette Blank of Mount Joy said she trusts her children to close a book if it's not going the way they want it to go. It's the same when her children are on the jungle gym, she said. She keeps an eye on them, but "I know they'll stop when they reach their limits."

Blank, who was at the library with two of her kids, said she has faith that Rowling will make everything OK in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

"Something sad could happen, but I suppose I'm just eternally optimistic," Blank said.

Her 9-year-old daughter, Elaine, said she would find the death of Harry's friend, Hermione Granger, sadder than the death of Harry himself. Harry can be so "rash," Elaine said, noting that the boy wizard is always rushing off impulsively to battle evil. Hermione is much more sensible, she said.

Ian Tahmasbi, 12, of Millersville, was at the library wearing a T-shirt that read, "7.16.05. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the title of the sixth book and its publication date.

Ian said he's figuring that either Harry, or Hermione, or their other best friend, Ron Weasley, might die in the final book. Voldemort's death is also a real possibility, he said.

A prophecy revealed in the fifth book, "The Order of the Phoenix," suggests that either Voldemort or Harry must die "at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."

Ian said he would feel sad if Harry was the one who died, "but if it ended on a happy note, I would be OK."

Characters have died in other of the "Harry Potter" books. "The author makes it in a way that it's not so bad," Ian said. "They die for a reason."

If Harry dies "to save everybody else, and not just be selfish," Ian said he thinks that would be fine. He'd be upset, however, if Ron Weasley or the Weasley twins, Fred and George, were goners.

Of all of the characters in the "Harry Potter" books, Ian said, he identifies most with Ron Weasley. "He comes from a really close family, too," Ian said.

Reading the "Harry Potter" novels has been a family affair for the Southams of Lititz.

Journey's end
Standing in the lobby of Penn Cinema one evening last week, waiting to see the movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Jessica and Mark Southam, and their three kids —Brendan, 15, Matthew, 13, and Emma, 11 — exchanged theories about which characters were at risk in "The Deathly Hallows," and which ones they thought were safe.

"I think Harry, Ron and Hermione are probably in the clear," offered Brendan, "but I wouldn't put any bets on it."

"I'm a little worried about Harry," said Emma, who was clad in a hot-pink T-shirt, emblazoned with an image of Harry Potter's thunderbolt scar. "I don't want him to die."

Their father said that he was mostly dreading the end of the Harry Potter saga.

"That will probably be the toughest thing, getting to the end of the book and realizing the journey is over," Mark Southam said.

The "Harry Potter" books have served a valuable purpose in their family's life, Jessica Southam said. They have given them a way to talk about thorny subjects ranging from diversity and prejudice — some of the pureblooded wizards discriminate against those with Muggle blood — to death and dying.

"It's hard stuff to talk about — it just is — but you really can't bury your head in the sand," Jessica Southam said, noting, "If as parents we can't take on these subjects, then who do our kids talk to?"

The Southams were grateful that they had discussed the subject of dying with their children when, in November 2005, the children's paternal grandmother passed away.

"The books had opened the door for us to have the conversation with the children," Jessica Southam said. "And then having a real-life experience come and sit in your lap. ... It's a teachable moment."

In Rowling's books, the deaths of significant characters may be painful to those left behind, but they tend not to be graphic. Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, falls through a veil that separates the living from the dead. Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is stricken by the Avada Kedavra curse, uttered by the enigmatic Severus Snape.

"I don't think it has to be gratuitous," Mark Southam said.

"Or grisly," Jessica Southam added.

Fourteen-year-old Laurel Petrulionis said she agrees with something Rowling is reported to have said: that people underestimate children. Laurel said she thinks books that discuss death in a thoughtful way can help kids by showing them how characters cope with tragedy and loss.

Laurel is an avid Harry Potter fan. Friday, as the clock ticks toward the midnight release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Laurel will be in Harvard Square in Boston, at a concert featuring Wizard Rock bands such as Harry and the Potters, and Draco and the Malfoys.

Her mother, Sandra Petrulionis, professor of English and American studies at Penn State Altoona, had to be in Massachusetts to give a talk, so she's taking her daughter to the Harry Potter bash.

Laurel said she isn't that concerned about the prospect of Harry dying in the final book, and indeed, thinks he might need to, in order for the saga to have closure. She worries, however, for Luna Lovegood, a character she adores, and for klutzy, sweet Ron Weasley. "The whole world would weep if Ron died," Laurel said.

Sandra Petrulionis, who is rooting for Harry's survival, said she is glad that her daughter is connecting with her emotions through the experience of reading books. If you keep subjects such as death at bay, then encountering them in life is "a much greater shock," she said, adding, "The very least we can do is to put our children in connection with their emotional health."

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