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No delay for Braille version of Potter book

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 has 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 instalment of the schoolboy wizard’s battles against the evil Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the National Braille Press in the United States is making the book availa ble to the blind at 12-01 am 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.

The National Braille Press is mailing out copies of J.K. Rowling’s book late this week so they will be delivered on Saturday for those who cannot make it to Boston to pick up a copy in person.

“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. — AP

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