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The Harry Potter series finished over a decade ago, but it’s still hugely popular with children.
It’s easy to see why. J.K. Rowling’s series about the boy wizard is funny, imaginative and emotional. When my son first discovered the books, aged six, he was instantly hooked. Now he’s 10 and he still loves them.
If you haven’t started with the books yet, completing the series could prove expensive. If the cost of Harry Potter: the Complete Collection is off-putting, here are two ways you can read the complete series free of charge.
Solution #1: Amazon Prime and/or Kindle Unlimited
Before we start, remember that you don’t need to have a Kindle device to read Kindle books! You can download the Kindle app to read on your phone, tablet or computer.
The first two books in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, are available to all Amazon Prime members.
If you’re not a Prime member, you can get a month’s free trial of Amazon Prime. Remember to cancel your subscription if you don’t want to become a paying member of Prime. There are other good children’s books you can check out, too.
The other books in the series are available as part of Kindle Unlimited.
Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s subscription service for eBooks. It’s like Netflix for books. When you subscribe to it, you can download and read as many eBooks as you like. Not all Kindle books are available on Kindle Unlimited, just a selection.
You can normally get a free trial of Kindle Unlimited if you’re new to the service. If you cancel before your trial is over, you’ll pay nothing. But be aware that, if you don’t cancel, you’ll be charged a monthly fee. All books get returned when your membership ends, so realistically you’ll have to read quite fast to get through all the books!
So, if you time it right, you could do a month’s trial of Amazon Prime to read the first two books, then do a month’s trial of Kindle Unlimited to fit in as many of books 3–7 as you can.
The advantage of this method is the books are available instantly, so you can get going without waiting.
The disadvantage is it’s a limited trial. This means you only get a total of two months in which to read the books, and you need to cancel your subscription to avoid a charge. Having said that, my daughter gobbled up the first two books in about a week on my Prime subscription, so it’s definitely possible!
Solution #2: borrow the eBooks via your library
Many public library services now offer eBooks for you to borrow and download.
It’s similar to borrowing a physical book from the library: you find a title you want, borrow it (or place a hold if it’s already on loan) and you get it for a specified period (e.g. two or three weeks). The advantage of borrowing eBooks is there are no late fees – the book just gets returned at the end of the loan period.
You need to be a library member, and you’ll need to find out what eBook service your library uses. There should be information about this on the relevant library service’s website.
To borrow books, you’ll need to download an app to your device and connect your library card. This should be pretty straightforward.
Each library service has a different selection of titles, so there’s no guarantee your library service will have the Harry Potter series. The series is extremely popular, though, so it’s likely to be included in your library’s eBook catalogue
Your library’s eBook service is still worth checking out, even if they don’t have the Harry Potter books, as there are likely to be lots of other children’s books available.
The advantage of using your library’s eBook service is that it’s completely free.
Disadvantages include the fact that your library service may not have the Harry Potter books, and even if they do, you may have to wait for the book(s) you want as someone else might be borrowing them. Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth looking into and placing holds on the books you want to read.