Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling


I've been reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard before bed. Nothing like a fairy tale to get you ready to sleep right? Well that was true about most of the stories. I'm a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I admit it, I can even be a tad obsessive about it.

I was pretty excited about the Tales of Beedle the Bard and even pre-ordered it from Amazon.
I was a bit surprised that there wasn't a lot of commotion about this book. Maybe I just missed it.

The book itself is short, just 107 pages. There are five stories in the book and they are quite short. Each story is followed by commentary by Albus Dumbledore. That is by far the best part. Dumbledore was quite snarky and it made me laugh. The first story is "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot". This is a cute story about the importance of helping others. The second story is "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" and this was my favorite. It is a lovely little story about finding what you really want.

The third story was my least favorite. "The Warlock's Hairy Heart" was terribly disturbing. Not unlike some of the original fairy tales, this one was a bit bloody. If you are reading the stories to children, you might want to skip that one.

The fourth story was "Babbity Babbity and her Cackling Stump". It reminded me a bit of the story "The Emperor's New Clothes. But only at the beginning.
The fifth story is "The Tale of the Three Brothers" which is the one that should be familiar to all who've read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. This tells the story of the Hollows, the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak.

Overall, I'm happy with the book. It's a little extra for Harry Potter fans. It will go on the shelf next to the books. The only disappointment I have is that it's just a quick little read. I'm waiting for J.K. to take on her next real novel. I look forward to what she has in store for us next.

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