Harry Potter Reading Magic, a free digital hub has just been launched, with the aim of inspiring a new generation of children to read and discover J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone:
In 2020 reading and interest in books by children and young people increased by over a third during lockdown (National Literacy Trust survey) and with that in mind, on the back of last year’s Harry Potter At Home campaign, the Wizarding World and Harry Potter publishers have come together once again to continue to find new and interesting ways to inspire and engage more younger readers. Wizarding World.com is delighted to launch today Harry Potter Reading Magic, a free digital initiative aimed at encouraging new readers to start their Harry Potter reading journey.
Running throughout the summer, children and families are welcomed to the Harry Potter Reading Magic hub on wizardingworld.com, a destination to discover more about the exciting story and themes of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and have some fun along the way. And this year, the Harry Potter Reading Magic initiative sits alongside Bloomsbury’s rescheduled 7th annual Harry Potter Book Night on 24th June, with fans all over the world joining in magical events and activities themed around Diagon Alley.
Over five weeks, young audiences with their parents and carers will be able to get to know more about the iconic characters of the wizarding world including Hagrid, Professor McGonagall and of course Dumbledore, as well as discover more about Hogwarts and its magic. They can look forward to chapter-challenges, quizzes, craft activities and enjoy specially curated weekly themes that will help journey young readers through the first book.
Additionally, the first Harry Potter audiobook is available to stream free on Alexa from Audible beginning on June 23rd and throughout the month of July by saying: “Alexa, read Harry Potter Book One.”
If you’re new to the Wizarding World through Fantastic Beasts, now is the perfect opportunity to enter the world of Harry Potter, immerse yourself in the lore and see how and where some of your favourite characters end up. Dumbledore, for instance is embarking on quite the character journey through the Fantastic Beasts series to end up as the beloved headmaster in Harry’s day. In the words of our younger Dumbledore, Jude Law:
“To not look at, and embrace, all the things that we love about Dumbledore would have been foolhardy, but, at the same time, I was really relieved that David [Yates] and Jo both said, ‘Look, there’s so much yet formed, yet resolved in this man’s life, that there’s a good 80 years for him to become the professor that we know in the Potter books.’ That gave me a lot of freedom to explore, and really start afresh in a way, but at the same time, there are traits that I really wanted to make sure are in there. To me, he always had a sort of mischievous, slightly anarchic look at the world, which I think was important to keep in there. And then also a gravitas that I think gave him this sense of caring and passion and, sort of, belief in, certainly in moral issues.”
