As millions of young readers eagerly await the release of the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series, one local company credits the child wizard with a boost in business.

Cohoes-based Mohawk Paper Mills Inc. has already shipped as many as 12 truckloads of textured paper that will be made into the cover of the book.

Publisher Scholastic Corp. said Jan. 15 that "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix," the fifth book in the best-selling series, would go on sale in late June.

"We're told we're going to get more orders because when this book comes out, there's going to be a resurgence of the past books as well," said Thomas O'Connor Sr., chairman of the board at Mohawk.

Scholastic Corp., the U.S. publisher of the Potter books, uses Mohawk's Tomohawk-grade paper to make jackets for hard-cover editions of the books.

Book jackets for Harry Potter will be one of the company's largest pieces of individual business, said Thomas O'Connor Jr., Mohawk president, in an interview in 2002.

The company started preparing the batch of textured paper for the new release about a month ago. The last book sold around 40 truckloads worth of paper, said O'Connor Sr.

"So think of the person that's got the pages. I don't make that kind of paper--I sure as heck wish I did," he said.

At one point, the first three books in the Harry Potter cycle simultaneously topped three best seller lists. The fourth novel, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," sold an estimated 3 million copies in its first weekend. There are currently 65 million Harry Potter books in print, according to Scholastic.

The O'Connor family has owned Mohawk Paper since 1931. The company, whose annual revenue is around $125 million, employs around 375 people in plants in Cohoes and Waterford.

No one at Mohawk has seen the printed cover yet, said O'Connor Sr. "It's a big secret," he said.

Thanks to The Buisness Review.