More Harry Potter? Why yes please, of course!
Synopsis
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander’s classic compendium of magical creatures, has delighted generations of wizarding readers. Now, in this updated edition with a new foreword by Newt himself and unveiling of six beasts little known outside the American wizarding community, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Thunderbird lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why shiny objects should always be kept away from the Niffler.
Proceeds from the sale of this book go to Comic Relief and Lumos, which means that the dollars you exchange for it will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that this is insufficient reason to part with your money, one can only hope that passing wizards for more charitable if they see you being attacked by a Manticore.
Review
Sarah’s Review
Laura is one of the few diehard Harry Potter fans who can claim yes, she has had this book since it’s original publication in the early ‘aughts. And so, for the last 17 years, she’s been telling me to read it. Enter the movies with Eddie Redmayne playing Newt Scamander, and a new version of the audiobook from Pottermore with him reading it and I was sold!
Think of Fantastic Beasts as a fantastical encyclopedia more than a textbook. It reminds me a great deal of Cressida Cowell’s Book of Dragons from the How to Train Your Dragons series. The illustrated edition is beautiful, the downside, there’s not a whole lot of information included, the focus is on identifying the creatures. There’s more information in the individual books about creatures like unicorns, basilisks, and dragons.
Laura’s Review
That is true, I am very proud of the fact that I have had the original Fantastic Beasts textbook since it first came out. I love that J.K Rowling published this book, along with Quidditch through the Ages, as it expanded the world of Harry Potter for me as a ten year old kid. My favorite part of the original version was not the information about the animals, but the annotations that Harry and Ron had added for some of the creatures including basilisks and acromantulas.
Due to my love of this book I was thrilled when a movie series was announced starring Eddie Redmayne, even if I had no idea how a textbook would be turned into a 5 part movie series. And with the creation of an illustrated version, I just now want some of these creatures as pets, especially a phoenix and maybe a niffler, as long as I hid my valuables…
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Celebration of Books 