Five new essays were posted on the Pottermore website: “Alchemy,” “Vernon & Petunia,” “The Sword of Gryffindor,” “Extension Charms,” and “Hatstall.” Thanks to this new content, Harry Potter fans now know about the symbolism behind Albus Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid’s names.
SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t want to know more, you should stop reading now!
Entertainment Weekly reports that “Rubeus and Albus are derived from red and white, two colors that are traditionally associated with alchemy…Hagrid represents the red base metal, which is associated with warmth and wildness, while Dumbledore is more in line with gold and the color white, which is impressive and intellectual, but can also be detached.” Together, these two characters make-up the ideal father figure for The Boy Who Lived.
Throughout the year, J.K. Rowling has revealed several new details about the Harry Potter series (primarily through Twitter). Readers have been made aware of the existence of an American wizarding school, that Moaning Myrtle’s full name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and that Fred Weasley’s death at the Battle of Hogwarts \"was the worst for\" the author. Do you have any other burning questions that you wish Rowling would answer? (via TIME.com)
Spoiler Warning: If you have not read all 7 Harry Potter books, read at your own risk. (I may be an evil cousin, but no one should be robbed the experience of reading the Harry Potter series.) However, if you haven't read them by now, shame on you. Stop reading this review and go read the bloody series!
We've all heard such timeless (Disney) classics as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. These are our beloved childhood bedtime stories, our fairy tales. Well, Wizards and Witches have classic fairy tales too! Five of which can be found in the Wizarding classic The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Just like Muggle fairy tales, each of the five stories deals with a different theme and teaches a lesson. However, as a Muggle, it may be difficult to truly grasp all of the lessons taught by Beedle the Bard. To help us better understand these magical tales, Albus Dumbledore has kindly given extensive commentary on each tale. (The commentary was published without Dumbledore's consent. It was found among his other belongings after his dead.)
Anyone who has read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is at least vaguely familiar with this book of tales. Hermione receives a copy, from Dumbledore if I am not mistaken. Well, Rowling decided to publish a copy of Beedle's tales for Muggle enjoyment. All the sales go to the Children's High Level Group, a charity that provides support to children in need. The children tend to be poor, disabled, or from ethnic minorities. If you want to support a lovely charity AND get a little light-hearted reading on the side, or vice versa, this is definitely the book for you.
If you are still not convinced that this book is worth the buy, here is my criticism of the book (which happens to be mostly good).
The tales themselves are nothing special. They're mostly just cute. The stories are imaginative, but they're nothing like the books. The books are very long, detailed, and everything mentioned seems to have some significance before the series ends (which is one of the reasons I love Rowling's writing so much). These tales are short. There's no time for that kind of no-loose-ends writing. However, Rowling makes up for it by adding Dumbledore's commentary. His words are thoughtful, witty, and all around awesome! Not only does he add insight into the theme and lesson of each story. He also rambles on about little side notes (from letters between himself and Lucius Malfoy to his criticism of Madam Bloxam's revised version of Beedle's "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot"), both of which were quite humorous to say the least. Dumbledore will keep you alternating between the thinker pose (hand stroking the chin) and simply laughing uncontrollably and a variation of a giggle fit.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Beedle's tales. The book is a very quick read, which was rather disappointing to me, but it's still a great little book.
I give The Tales of Beedle the Bard a respectable 3.5 daggers out of 5.
Yours without magic,
Gabriel Gethin
Great review! I agree completely-- and have to say that I, too was a bit disappointed. I suppose that I expected too much because of how I absolutely adore the Harry Potter books. It just felt sort of weak; I would rather she commit to another really intricate, excellent story (not necessarily HP) than publish this sort of half-there book. That said, however, I still absolutely ADORE jkr, and if I was ever fortunate enough to come across the ground she walks on, I would most certainly worship it.
what i liked about the book and thought was really special were the sketches and illustrations by j.k.r.