Not even quarantine can stop the magic of Harry Potter. Starting today, the entirety of the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, will be read aloud one chapter at a time by a rotating cast of celebrities, including the great wizard himself, Daniel Radcliffe. Each chapter will be free to stream in both video and audiobook form.
Fittingly, Radcliffe leads the way and pages through chapter one, “The Boy Who Lived”, his voice steady yet animated enough to delight franchise fans young and old. Future chapters will be read by David Beckham, Dakota Fanning, Stephen Fry, Eddie Redmayne, Claudia Kim, Noma Dumezweni, and many others.
Videos of each reading will be released weekly from now until mid-summer on WizardingWorld.com, and will be available as an audiobook over on Spotify. The series is part of the Harry Potter At Home initiative, which was developed by J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World Digital and Rowling’s agency, the Blair Partnership, to provide free Potter content for families during lockdown.
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In addition to this particular reading series, the initiative gives teachers the opportunity to share recordings of themselves reading Harry Potter books aloud on various educational platforms.
Head here to watch Radcliffe’s video in full, or stream his reading below.
For parents looking for even more kid-friendly content, Audible recently made hundreds of audiobooks free to stream (including the British version of The Sorcerer’s Stone, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone). Other celebrities such as Tom Hardy, Michelle Obama, and Dolly Parton have also been hosting their own children’s reading series, giving parents plenty of opportunities to keep their little ones busy during our homebound spring.
