Quidditch Through the Ages

Quidditch Through the Ages is short and lighthearted and provides a brief history of the game so prominently featured throughout the Harry Potter books series. There are explanations of its evolution and rules and even brief explanations of some spin offs played in other locales. I like the book because it further expands and adds depth to the universe.

I wish that in the broom section it gave a better explanation of the technical aspects of the Nimbus 2000 and Firebolt and why these were such superior models. While the Nimbus line is mentioned in the book the Firebolt is not listed and is of much to do in the books, so it would be nice to know more about its history.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Tales of Beedle the Bard provides five short stories, or fairy tales, from the wizarding world. The stores are: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot; The Fountain of Fair Fortune; The Warlock’s Hairy Heart; Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump; and The Tale of the Three Brothers.

The Tale of the Three Brothers featured heavily in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The short stories themselves do not provide much enlightenment into the wizarding world as a whole. They are short and written for children and are overly simplistic and lack depth as such. But the commentaries provided by “Albus Dumbledore” do add context and a greater sense as to how the stories wove into and were affected by the history of the wizarding world.

It makes for a fun and brief read.