First ‘Harry Potter’ Book to Be Read in Its Entirety by Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning and More
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J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular book that started it all — “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” — will be read by a lineup of celebrities chapter-by-chapter, in a series of free videos and audio recordings to be doled out over the next several months.
Rowling’s Wizarding World announced seven readers for the special event on Twitter today: Daniel Radcliffe, Stephen Fry, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni and Eddie Redmayne, with more to come. Each will read different sections of the beloved fantasy (known as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” outside the U.S.), with its themes of family, friendship, courage and overcoming adversity, for families and fans around the world.
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All 17 chapters of the book will be released between now and mid-summer. Videos will be posted weekly on harrypotterathome.com, with an audio-only version available for free on Spotify.
Kicking off the series of video readings will be Harry Potter himself: Daniel Radcliffe, who will read the book’s first chapter, “The Boy Who Lived,” streaming today on Wizarding World (at this link) on Spotify (at this link).
Surprise! We've got a treat for you…From today, amazing friends of the Wizarding World are going to take turns reading Harry Potter book one.
And to start us off with Chapter 1, we think you’ll agree we have the perfect narrator…?? #HarryPotterAtHome
https://t.co/w9K77akbou pic.twitter.com/Q03PmjeD5d— Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) May 5, 2020
The special series is part of Harry Potter at Home, an initiative developed by Wizarding World Digital and Rowling’s agency, the Blair Partnership, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of partners including Warner Bros., Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Pottermore Publishing.
The initiative includes an open licence to teachers allowing them to post recordings of themselves reading Harry Potter stories on educational platforms and networks and a dedicated hub of information and activities at harrypotterathome.com. In addition, Amazon’s Audible currently is making the audiobook of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (narrated by Jim Dale) available to stream for free via Audible Stories.
With over 500 million copies sold to date, Rowling’s seven “Harry Potter” novels are the best-selling book series in history. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone” has sold more than 120 million editions and is the best-selling book of the series.
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