First ‘Harry Potter’ book to be read in its entirety by Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning

J.K. Rowling’s 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 released over the next several months.

Rowling 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 to come. Each will be reading different sections of the book (known as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” outside the U.S.), with its themes of family, friendship, courage and overcoming adversity, to families around the world.

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 Spotifyat this link.

All 17 chapters of the book will be released between now and the middle of the summer. Videos will be posted weekly on harrypotterathome.com, with an audio-only version available for all for free on Spotify.

The Harry Potter At Home project is an initiative developed at short notice by Wizarding World Digital and J.K. Rowling’s agents The Blair Partnership, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of Wizarding World partners including Warner Bros. Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Pottermore Publishing. The initiative already includes an open licence to teachers allowing them to post recordings of themselves reading the Harry Potter stories onto educational platforms and networks; a dedicated hub of information and activities at http://www.harrypotterathome.com; and Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone available to stream for free via Audible Stories and borrowed more widely via online library services all over the world.

With over 500 million books sold, most households may well have access to a copy of Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone already and can read along too. It is hoped that this new slate of readings bring further comfort, entertainment and magic to children, families and carers confined to home everywhere.

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