Hotmail
No delay in Braille edition of new ‘Potter’
‘I am so happy,’ says 14-year-old fan who’s been blind since birth
 | Boxes of J.K. Rowling's new book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" are on display at a street book vendor on Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on July 18. For the first time, there will be no delay for a Braille edition. |
Mary Altaffer / AP |
 | Video: Harry Potter |
 Keeping tabs: Potter madness July 23: 72 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold out worldwide in just 24 hours. Many people lined up outside of book stores to obtain the book, not even waiting to get home to start reading. |
BOSTON - Fourteen-year-old Ashley Bernard has been a huge Harry Potter fan since she was 7, but each time a new book comes out, she’s had to wait longer than most of her friends to get a copy.
Bernard is blind, and the first six Potter books were not published in Braille until some time after they hit book retailers. Not this time.
For the seventh and final installment of the schoolboy wizard’s battles against the evil Voldemort, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the National Braille Press is making the book available to the blind at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the same time that sighted readers can buy print versions of the book.
“I am so happy. I have a lot of friends who really like the books so they are going to be talking about it. If I don’t have the book right when they do, I’m going to be totally lost,” said Bernard, who has been blind since birth.
“When you don’t have a Braille version, people always say, ‘Couldn’t you get someone to read it to you?’ But it’s not the same thing. Would you want someone to read it to you?” she said.
|
“We have an army of white owls getting ready to drop them on doorsteps across the country on Saturday morning,” said Diane Croft, vice president of publishing and marketing, referring to the method of transporting mail in the Potter books.
For the book to be released Saturday, publisher Scholastic Inc. made an advance copy available to the National Braille Press, and employees have been working feverishly for two weeks to get the Braille version ready for distribution, a labor intensive process because so much has to be done by hand.
|
The National Braille Press usually does a press run of 200 to 300 copies of a new book, but will produce 1,400 copies for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
“This is largest press run we’ve ever done for a book,” Croft said.
In 2000, when the Harry Potter fervor was intensifying, the press produced copies of No. 4 in the series, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” in just a few weeks, an unheard of accomplishment in the world of Braille publishing at the time.
|
And as thousands line up at traditional book stores before the 12:01 a.m. release of the book, the Boston headquarters of the Braille press will hold its own “midnight magic” Harry Potter costume party, where more than a dozen children are expected to pick up their copies.
Bernard, who said she has read every Potter book a couple of times “at least,” plans to be there to be one of the first to get the book.
“I like the character development. I like the plot, I like the action, I like how she describes everything so vividly so you can feel like you’re there almost,” Bernard said.
Bernard said getting the book at the same time as her friends is particularly important for the final installment of the series, with anticipation about the ending reaching a fevered pitch.
“I don’t want to be disappointed that someone is going to tell me what happens,” she said.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM FINAL HARRY POTTER BOOK |
 Sales for final Potter book now top 11 million |
| Add Final Harry Potter book headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide