It's the summer of Harry Potter. And the first time in Potter history that a movie and book about the boy wizard have been released so close together.

The film of J.K. Rowling's fifth book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," hits theaters July 11.

Ten days later, the seventh and last book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," goes on sale at midnight at bookstores.

That convergence both thrills and puzzles Rowling's fans.

"I think it's smart. You can never get enough Potter," says Kelly Turner, 30, a financial service representative in Columbus, Ga., who remembers asking, "What's the big deal?" until she happened on the first movie, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," on HBO in 2002.

"I was hooked and immediately bought all the books that were out at the time," she says. She's now in her 21st reading of the series.

But Emerson Spartz, who founded the Potter fan site www.mugglenet.com eight years ago when he was 12, questions what "seems like a cross-promotional nightmare."

Spartz, a student at Notre Dame and co-author of the best-selling "What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7," says, "I would think that both Warner Bros. and Scholastic would want to spread the buzz out for a longer period of time."

The movie's timing came first. It was announced more than a year ago. The book's publication date was revealed in February.

Scholastic's Kyle Good says the timing had little to do with the movie: "We just wanted to get it in the hands of readers as soon as we could."

Warner executive Diana Nelson says the studio scheduled a summer release knowing that it could coincide with the final book.

"We're thrilled that it did," she says. "It truly will be Harry Potter month."

But could the final book, in which Rowling has said two characters will die, overshadow the fifth movie?

"Only in the best of ways," Nelson says. "We've always said this franchise is driven by the books."

Carol Fitzgerald, president of www.BookReporter.com, a Web site for book discussions, says the convergence of book and movie "will only build excitement."

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, which analyzes Hollywood box office trends, sees no "downside for either the book or movie" in what he calls "nirvana in the Harry Potter universe."

It's the fourth Potter novel to be released in the summer, which Good calls "a great time for reading and relaxation for kids."

After the film of "The Prisoner of Azkaban" was released in June 2004, sales of Harry Potter books rose 87 percent in the next four weeks, according to data from USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list.