Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

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.

Reader reviewed by Sarima89

Reader reviewed by 3hoildaybabies

I love this little book. It is actually pretty helpful as a companion to the series too...wondering just what is crookshanks? Well then just look in this little book! I love the way the book is written in by Harry & Ron too...this is a really cute touch! There are lots of intresting creachers in the book. I am looking foward to tring to find them in the series.

Reader reviewed by Blair

Fantastic Beast's and where to find them is not really a story with a plot and a climax and all of that, but it is supposed to be a reproduction of one of the textbooks used by Harry Potter and shared by Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series. It is more or less a dictionary of all of the stange and fascinating creatures in the world of Harry Potter, from acromantula to yeti.

I thought that this book was very clever. It was interesting to learn about all of th made up creatures. I love ho there is fake writing throughout the book that is meant to look like Ron and Harry's writing. It is very funny. I would recomend this book to all Harry Potter fans.

Reader reviewed by Veronika

I appreciated this one very much because you really seem to hold in your hands Harry's school book. I like all the annotations that make this book a little used.

Then the idea itself is great : discovering all the fantastic beasts. It's simply hilarous !

And finally, when you buy this book, money goes to an association, so it is also a good reflex.

Veronika

Reader reviewed by Dominique

A neat guide to the imaginary beasts in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series! This book includes both beasts in the novels, as well as ones that haven't made an appearance in the books. With great descriptions and cute little notes and diagrams on the side, fans of Harry Potter will enjoy this great guide! This book will leave fans wishing for more info and facts on mythical beasts!

Reader reviewed by ben

This tag-along book which goes with the Harry Potter Series chronicles the creatures that were mentioned in the books and some that weren't. You'll laugh out loud at the remarks made by Ron and Harry (and Hermione in the beginning). Rowling used her imagination quite a bit in order to write this short book and her creativity shows. The history and the foreward by Dumbledore is also quite funny. I recommend this book to anyone, and it won't take that long to finish.

Reader reviewed by Debjani Mitra

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander is one of Harry Potters school books which have been penned by J. K. Rowling. This 64 paged book can well be called an encyclopedia. It isnt a storybook, definitely, as it has no plot. It just provides information about the various creatures we have read (and not yet read) about in the Harry Potter books. This book contains an A to Z listing of all the beasts and various interesting facts about them. Each creature is rated on a scale of one to five to determine how dangerous it is.
However, it wasnt as good as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact, after I had read quite a bit, I started to loose interest. And eventually, I ended up taking a number of breaks before finishing the book (which was very much unlike me as I usually finish a book in one go). I would have preferred it if J. K. Rowling would have given a more vivid description about the creatures- their origins, their relationship with muggles and wizards and their ways of life.
Personally, I found the introduction more interesting than the main matter. One of the many things the intro contained the Forward by Albus Dumbledore which I found particularly good. However, the best aspect of the book was the conversations between Harry, Ron and Hermione which were scribbled over the pages. Although, I highly suspect, Hermione would ever scribble in an educational book. Nevertheless, the little chats were quite entertaining and provided a good laugh! The few illustrations gave an interesting touch to the book.
In all, it was a good read. A perfect way to burn time while waiting for the seventh Harry Potter installment!

Reader reviewed by linda

This tag-along book which goes with the Harry Potter Series chronicles the creatures that were mentioned in the books and some that weren't. You'll laugh out loud at the remarks made by Ron and Harry (and Hermione in the beginning). Rowling used her imagination quite a bit in order to write this short book and her creativity shows. The history and the foreward by Dumbledore is also quite funny. I recommend this book to anyone, and it won't take that long to finish.