Emma Watson Hides Free Books on London Underground

Emma Watson has hidden a hundred copies of a book on the London Underground for lucky passengers to find.

The Harry Potter star and gender equality campaigner set up a feminist book club Our Shared Shelf in January, and on Tuesday she got involved in the Books On The Underground movement, in which “book fairies” leave their favorite reads on the transport network, to spread the word about the club’s November recommendation, Maya Angelou’s Mom & Me & Mom.

Watson shared a picture of her holding copies of the book and making a ‘sssssh’ gesture with her finger on Facebook. In the caption, she wrote, “I’ve been hiding copies of Mom & Me & Mom for Books on the Underground on the tube today! See if you can find one tomorrow! #OurSharedShelf”

She also shared footage of herself descending an escalator into the Underground system and grinning at the person filming as she leaves a copy behind a lamp. She hid around 100 copies in ticket halls, passageways, and on trains and some of them also feature handwritten notes from Watson herself.

“Books on the Underground is simple – we share copies of all sorts of different books around the London tube network,” Cordelia Oxley, director of Books on the Underground told London’s Evening Standard.

“The campaign with Emma Watson is perfect as it promotes her feminist book club Our Shared Shelf, and also reminds people to look around for a hidden book when they’re on the tube!”

Watson isn’t the only celebrity to be leaving books in public places recently – former Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston has been buying copies of his memoir A Life in Parts from bookshops and leaving them there with a handwritten note.

One lucky fan found one he left in Heathrow Airport in October and took a picture of the message, which reads, “Thank you for checking out my book… I bought this copy for you seriously. It’s yours for free… Enjoy the book and have a nice day.”