Book info

• Title The Tales of Beedle the Bard
• Author J. K. Rowling
• Year 2008
• Genre Fantasy

A collection of well-loved stories for witches and wizards of all ages, The Tales of Beedle the Bard are the wizarding world's Grimm's Fairytales. This edition is translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger herself and contains helpful notes from both Professor Dumbledore and J.K. Rowling. A wonderful opportunity to read the stories that played a crucial role in the fight against Lord Voldemort, these classic fairy tales are sure to delight and educate in equal measure. There are five tales in all: 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' will be known by anyone who has read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune', 'The Warlock's Hairy Heart', 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot' and 'Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump' complete the collection.

Thoughts

I thought this would be my least favourite of the three charity specials produced by JK Rowling to accompany the Harry Potter series. The part this plays in the final book has always been a bit weird to me, but this was only short so it wasn’t too much of an investment to take an hour and indulge in some fairy stories.

The real gems are the notes after each story by Dumbledore, his thoughts on how the stories came into being, how much truth is in them, and how they reflect the wizarding world in “reality”. A good fairy tale always has a moral at the end, but these magical tales have rather different morals than we are used to.

Overall, I liked this more than I thought I would, and it was nice to see another glimpse of how life after Dumbledore is faring at Hogwarts.

Rating: 4 / 5