Be a Better Muggle!

Harry Potter Groups makes magic for blind readers.

This July, people around the world were eagerly awaiting the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final book in the series. But for blind readers, access to any recent book release can be challenging. Only a tiny portion are produced in Braille, often months—if not years—after the ink-and-paper editions hit the stores. And the cost for the production of this particular book is $63.00.

So Petra Pan of the HPforGrownups Yahoo! Group decided to step in and make some magic for non-sighted fans. Using Yahoo! Groups, Petra kicked off a fundraising effort for the National Braille Press (NBP), with a goal set at $7,777.00. And Yahoo! agreed to match every dollar raised up to $7,777.00.

Thanks to Petra (who is sighted), and many others, the National Braille Press released 1400 copies of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on July 21st, 2007, marking the first time in the series’ history that both the print and the Braille version were released on the same day.

Join HP7 fundraising effort on Yahoo! Groups.