Harry Potter fans are in for a treat during coronavirus lockdown as J K Rowling is offering access to the first book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) free.
Working with a range of partners – including Bloomsbury (the publisher), Audible (the audiobook platform), OverDrive (a platform for ebook borrowing through libraries), Pottermore Publishing and Scholastic – there’s going to be a range of Harry Potter entertainment available while we’re all on lockdown.
Called “Harry Potter At Home”, we’ll start with the audiobook. This is the UK version narrated by Steven Fry and you’ll be able to get access to it through Audible, Amazon’s audiobook platform.
To access The Philosopher’s Stone free, you’ll need to head to stories.audible.com, which is Audible’s free resource of titles while the schools are closed. It’s available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese – you just have to head to the website, search for Harry Potter and press play.
For those wanting to read the ebook, it will be available through OverDrive, which is an ebook platform which manages loans through libraries. You need to be a member of a library that uses OverDrive, but that includes many public and school libraries.
You’ll need to be a member of that library, but if you have your library card handy, you can register yourself through the Libby app on Android or iOS.
You’ll then be able to search for what you want to borrow and read it – and there’s a lot more available through your library’s digital lending than just Harry Potter.
For teachers, J K Rowling has already granted an open licence (until the end of July) for teachers to read the Harry Potter novels to children via educational platforms, essentially meaning that the normal copyright conditions in those circumstances don’t apply.
The Harry Potter At Home treats go further, with a range of activities offered on WizardingWorld.com so there’s plenty for Potter fans to keep themselves entertained with.
Original source: https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/151696-jk-rowling-harry-potter-ebook-audiobook-free
