Informational

by J. K. Rowling

Find Fantastic Beasts at your local library

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a part of the Hogwarts Library by J. K. Rowling. In this book, a fictional author Newt Scamander describes each and every creature that is considered a beast, or a non-human being with magical abilities. There are the commonly known unicorns, fairies, and centaurs, but there are also the less famous jabbers, demiguises, and erklings. 

What was most interesting to me is that this book overturned many common assumptions about magical creatures. Muggles, as non-magical beings are called, often display fairies as cute, minute human-like beings who possess magical powers and the ability to talk. However as I found out in the book, fairies are actually unintelligent beasts measuring 1-5 inches and are often used as a decoration. I enjoyed this book because J. K. Rowling put a different perspective on these mythical creatures whom we normally perceive as whimsical and wonderful.

There were many things I didn’t know, such as the fact that centaurs actually preferred to be called beasts, and that erklings are elfish creatures that eat children. J. K Rowling really expanded the world of Harry Potter by introducing us to more previously unknown things, which I thought was really creative and exciting.

In the original seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, Rowling mentioned many of the beasts by name. This book helps a lot because most of the time, J. K. Rowling did not go into much detail about the beasts in the original series, leaving die-hard Harry Potter fans wanting to know more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Since I’m a big fan of Harry Potter, the setup that allowed me  to “loan” some books from the Hogwarts Library was particularly satisfying. Perhaps one day I can become an expert of magical things, too.