Accio exciting news!

Moments ago, Scholastic announced the launch of the Harry Potter Reading Club, a place where educators, librarians, parents and more — anyone who wants to organize a book club! — can go to find all the tools they’ll need to host a Harry Potter Reading Club and turn reading into a celebration! But that’s not all — also today, we announced that J.K. Rowling will participate in a live virtual author visit to classrooms across America at 12:00 noon ET (9:00am PT / 5:00pm GMT) on Thursday, October 11!

Teachers can begin signing up their classrooms starting today! J.K. Rowling will be discussing the world of Harry Potter including Pottermore, an exciting, free online experience that offers Harry Potter fans the chance to explore and discover exclusive new writing by J.K. Rowling as well as immerse themselves in other interactive content and community activities.

So what else can you expect?

Per the announcement: The Harry Potter Reading Club website includes a comprehensive discussion guide for each of the seven Harry Potter novels. The guides provide questions to help club members start an insightful conversation about the themes and events in the books and, in certain instances, how the books may relate to readers’ own lives and the world today. Each month Scholastic will add new themed activities to complement the Reading Club discussions that will often relate to experiences on the Pottermore website.

“I have run my own Harry Potter Reading Club with my students for two years and seen them grow into better readers while having a great shared reading experience,” said Donalyn Miller, sixth grade teacher, Trinity Meadows Intermediate School in Kellor, TX.   “I am delighted to be an advisor for Scholastic on the new Reading Club so that many more children will discover and become deeply engaged in the series in their own clubs all across the country.”

The Harry Potter Reading Club will also feature a live feed at Twitter #hpREADS providing a community for club leaders as well as “Teacher Tips” from educators already running Harry Potter Reading Clubs. The site will also include a series overview, a glossary of terms and a pronunciation guide as well as information about author J.K. Rowling and illustrator Mary GrandPré. Harry Potter Reading Club members can also expect invitations to additional special events and contests.

Find out more here! And teachers, don’t forget to sign up and spread the word!