Patrick Stewart, Josh Gad, other celebs read on social media during coronavirus shutdown

Some actors are turning to reading aloud to help fans pass the time as many stay at home and practice social distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak.

On Saturday, Patrick Stewart, best known for his work as a Shakespearean actor, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: Next Generation” and as Professor Xavier in the “X-Men” movies, read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 in a video posted on social media.

pic.twitter.com/dA92uM4Hr3

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 21, 2020

He returned on Sunday night with Sonnet 1.

“When I was a child in the 1940s, my mother would cut up slices of fruit for me (there wasn’t much) and as she put it in front of me she would say, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away,’ ” Stewart wrote. “How about, ‘A sonnet a day keeps the doctor away?’ So … here we go: Sonnet 1.”

On Tuesday, he posted Sonnet 2 and the hashtag #ASonnetADay, so we might be here for a while — there are 154 sonnets.

Sonnet 2. This is one of my favorites. #ASonnetADay pic.twitter.com/aQBzrsETKv

— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 23, 2020

Actor Josh Gad, who plays Olaf in Disney’s “Frozen” movies, has been reading children’s books live on his Twitter feed since the outbreak started.

“Since we’re all stuck at home right now I figured we would have a little fun together,” Gad said March 13. “So, I’m going to see how this goes, but I decided I’m gonna read to you and your children — or just you, depending on what you prefer. I’m not gonna pass judgment right now since the world is a little bit of a hot mess.”

https://t.co/ijZeFccTF3

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) March 14, 2020

On Tuesday, Gad read “The Pea Patch Jig.”

Jennifer Garner and Amy Adams recently launched Save With Stories to raise money for an organization that help to provide food and school supplies to kids, which are needed during the coronavirus outbreak.

Their Save With Stories page on Instagram features celebrities reading children’s books.

View this post on Instagram

“The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark” by Ken Geist, illustrated by Julia Gorton (published by @scholasticinc) . THIRTY MILLION CHILDREN rely on school for food. Responding to the needs of kids during school closures, @savethechildren and @nokidhungry have a new fund @SAVEWITHSTORIES to support food banks, and mobile meal trucks, and community feeding programs with funds to do what they do best—and also—with educational toys, books, and worksheets to make sure brains are full, as well as bellies. . If you can manage a one time gift of $10, please text SAVE to 20222. If another amount would work better for you, please visit our website—link in bio. There is no maximum and there is no minimum—together we will rise and together we can help. . Thank you and stay safe. XX #SAVEWITHSTORIES

A post shared by #SAVEWITHSTORIES (@savewithstories) on Mar 16, 2020 at 9:45am PDT

Another project called Read Together, Be Together (#ReadTogetherBeTogether) kicked off on Monday with the aim to help make family reading a regular activity, according to People.

Several celebrities and authors will be part of daily virtual story times.

If you are looking for other videos of books being read online — for your children or yourself — a project called Storyline Online, created by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, has a vast collection of videos of actors and actresses reading books.