The first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, has just come to life in a new way.
We’ve had audiobooks, we’ve had the movies, but now we’re getting stars from around the globe recording free readings of the book.
Various celebrities, including THE Daniel Radcliffe, Stephen Fry, Dakota Fanning, Noma Dumezweni, Claudia Kim, David Beckham, and Eddie Redmayne are taking it in turns recording the book’s 17 chapters on video with a chapter being released each week. The videos will be available for free on harrypotterathome.com, which is part of Wizarding World, and the audio will be accessible exclusively on Spotify.
The first chapter is read by Radcliffe himself and went online earlier this week.
This book reading is part of Harry Potter At Home, an initiative from Wizarding World and author J.K. Rowling to entertain fans with Harry Potter material during lockdown. It follows the recent loosening of licensing restrictions to allow teachers to read the books virtually to their students while the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing.
As for Spotify, this is a huge win, particularly with the news last month that Audible had scored exclusive streaming rights to Stephen Fry’s reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone… we’d say that Spotify has definitely upped the ante.
The playlist can be accessed here for Spotify users (free or premium), including Spotify Kids, or you can watch video versions on the Wizarding World website. New chapters will be released each week until the end of June.
