Review Detail

Rowling wrote Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, along with Quidditch Through the Ages, as a supplement to the Harry Potter series. Profits from both books benefited the charity Comic Relief.

It is designed to be a reproduction of the textbook owned Harry Potter, first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It includes several handwritten notes and doodles by Harry, Ron and Hermione.

The textbook is written by magizoologist Newt Scamander. Rowling originally published the book under the pseudonym Newt Scamander without her name on the cover. Later additions were published under her name though.

The book is set out like a traditional academic textbook with a foreword, introductory notes and scholarly footnotes. The main part of the book is written similar to an encyclopaedia and features in alphabetical order 85 magical creatures from Acromantula to Yeti.

The foreword is written by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

The only downside is the book is not illustrated. It would have been interesting to have seen illustrations of the various magical creatures but I guess you will just have to use your imagination.