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 installment of the schoolboy wizard's battles against the evil Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the National Braille Press is making the book available to the blind at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the same time that sighted readers can buy print versions of the book.

For the book to be released Saturday, publisher Scholastic Inc. made an advance copy available to the National Braille Press, and employees have been working feverishly for two weeks to get the Braille version ready for distribution, a labor intensive process because so much has to be done by hand.