Top Security for Harry Potter Read Aloud
High security will surround the arrival of the first copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Aotea
Centre, The Edge® for the Harry Potter Read Aloud this weekend.
The book will be the first out of the box at Borders and will be taken across Aotea Square to the Aotea Centre under
security guard escort. A police officer will join the escort at the entrance of the Aotea Centre to ensure that not a
word is read before the 11.01am launch.
Hundreds of Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers are expected to gather at the Aotea Centre for the launch of this
much-anticipated fifth book in the Harry Potter series. The event starts at 10.30am with a Harry Potter quiz and a visit
by a key Harry Potter character.
Well-known children’s writer Margaret Mahy will be the first to read aloud from the book at the event which will
continue throughout the day and night until the very end.
Margaret will be followed by Prime Minister Helen Clark and other readers include favourite children’s personality Suzy
Cato, actors Michael Hurst and Jennifer Ward-Lealand, television presenters Simon Dallow, Alison Mau, Mike Puru and Evie
Ashton, Warriors players Mark Robinson and Marcus Perenera, writers David Hill, Gavin Bishop and Lynley Dodd, plus
former Governor General Dame Cath Tizard, and comedians Jan Maree and Radar.
At 768 pages and an estimated 255,000 words, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest children’s book
ever written and it is estimated that it will take around 27 hours to read aloud.
The Harry Potter Read Aloud will finish as the Storylines Festival Free Family Day gets underway at the Aotea Centre.
Youngsters attending the read aloud are encouraged to dress up as their favourite Harry Potter character and can take
part in a game of quidditch for muggles on Aotea Square on Sunday 22 June at 2pm. Children are invited to bring their
own broomsticks, but unfortunately there is no magic to make them fly!