The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
I love Harry Potter. I do. I’ve only read the series once and listened to them once (I think I’m in love with Jim Dale too) but I am looking forward to the day when I can reread the entire series. And I LOVE the movies. I think they just get better and better. Harry Potter release day has been on the calender for awhile (and was really sad when it got pushed back six months!) and my husband knows I’ll be terribly upset if we don’t have a babysitter to go see it on the IMAX. Naturally, I was curious about The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling and was thrilled when I won the book from Ruth at Bookish Ruth.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard are as stated by the introduction:
. . . a collection of stories written for young wizards and witches. They have been popular bedtime reading for centuries, with the result that the Hopping Pot and the Fountain of Fair Fortune are as familiar to many of the students of Hogwarts as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are to Muggle (non-magical) children.
. . . it was a surprise to discover a set of notes on The Tales of Beedle the Bard among the many papers that Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives. Whether this commentary was written for his own satisfaction or for future publication, we shall never know; however, we have been graciously granted permission by Professor Minerva McGonagall, now Headmistress of Hogwarts, to print Professor Dumbledore’s notes here, alongside a brand-new translation of the Tales by Hermione Granger.
The stories are definitely strange. A one footed hopping pot? A hairy heart locked away in a box? But they kept me entertained. My favorite was probably The Tale of Three Brothers (which if I’m not mistaken is not an original tale, I’ve heard of this before), where three brothers meet Death at a river crossing and Death gives each of them a gift of their asking.
Dumbledore’s commentary gave this book the extra something that this book needed. Without it I don’t think it would be as fun. Overall, a nice read for Harry Potter fans but I really missed Harry and his gang. Makes me want to go back and read about him instead.
Links of interest: J.K. Rowlings website. Harry Potter website. All net proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Children’s Voice campaign through The Children’s High Level Group.
Genre: Fantasy, ages 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic, December 4, 2008
Hardcover, 111 pages. ISBN: 9780545128285
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
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Category: Book Reviews, Fiction, Middle Readers
Tags: fantasy, published 2008, Q-T Author, Q-T Title, short stories
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I reviewed this book last December (I think) and I was not very impressed. Perhaps it was mood, but I didn’t find the stories all that charming and I was disappointed that one of the stories was a reprint from the HP books. Sounds like you liked it a bit more than I did.
on May 17th, 2009 at 12:22 pmI was disappointed in this book – I think I was expecting the magic I found in the Harry Potter books, and it just didn’t deliver that for me.
on May 17th, 2009 at 1:07 pmI didn’t dislike this book. I’m a HP fan and my 5 year old is a FANATIC. I think how well you like the book might depend upon your expectations when you read it. It was exactly what I was expecting. Does it stand alone? Not at all. But I didn’t expect it to. We were entertained…my daughter imagined she lived in a wizard family and I was reading her the stories at bedtime like wizards would. (silly girl!)
No where near the level of the HP books. And I miss ‘Harry and the gang’ like Natasha. Both of my kids really liked it…and it was written more for their level.
Put it this way, if JK Rowling did a second book like this we would definately read it.
on May 17th, 2009 at 1:46 pmBy the way…I like the categories on the left. I find it hard to keep track of my posts and I have so few compared to you! Like it!!!
on May 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pmAs obsessed as I am with the series, I’ve not read this book. Not sure why, I just knew it wouldn’t match up so I didn’t bother. I’ve read the series all the way through three times (once I carried the entire hardcover series to Poland with me, much to the complaining of my husband). I probably need to re-read the sixth before the movie comes out. I am SO THERE on opening night!
on May 17th, 2009 at 5:47 pmLike Sandy, I haven’t read this yet. Companion pieces generally just don’t do it for me. I probably will read it at some point, I bought it immediately, but I don’t expect to be thrilled with it.
I will be at the movie opening night, though!
on May 17th, 2009 at 6:44 pmThere is an award for your blog on my site: http://mrsvsreviews.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-lovely-blog-award.html
on May 17th, 2009 at 8:21 pmHi Natasha. I’m one of your resident lurkers, but I just wanted to come out of hiding to say that you are quite correct; the Tale of the Three Brothers is not an original tale. It was actually based upon Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, particularly the Pardoner’s Tale, in which three friends go looking for death, and a wise old man tells them that death is hiding beneath a tree. Instead, they find a pile of treasure under the tree, and basically end up killing each other out of their own greed. Anyway, just thought I’d let you know in case it was bugging you, and a little bit of trivia never hurts
on May 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pmI’m so glad you reviewed this today! Ben got it for Christmas and read it to himself (”It was okay”) but Evan hasn’t read it and I need something for he and I to read tomorrow morning while Ben does his standardized testing. Perfect!
on May 17th, 2009 at 9:24 pmI definitely enjoyed this book. It was certainly no Harry Potter but it was a nice fix since like you, I just haven’t had a chance to reread the entire series from start to finish just yet. One of these days I’m hoping to have a chance. I’m definitely pumped about the new film coming out. Maybe I’ll at least have a chance to reread Half Blood Prince before seeing it on opening night.
on May 17th, 2009 at 9:39 pmI liked the story about Death and the Brothers as well and am sure I’ve heard a variation of it once upon a time. I missed Harry and the gang as well, but only two months until the movie!
on May 18th, 2009 at 5:21 amI put my sticky little hands on this the day it came out. I reviewed it a while back myself. I was a bit disappointed in Rowling with this one, I guess my favorite of the bunch was the Warlock’s Hairy Heart.
on May 18th, 2009 at 9:21 amI liked the Hopping Pot story. I thought this book was pretty fun. Of course it is not up to par with the series, but it is what you would expect as a companion book. Plus, the proceeds go to charity, and the book didn’t cost that much to begin with. So how can anyone complain about that? I definitely thought the Dumbledore comments made the book better. I noticed another commentator was mad that one of the stories was the one used in Book 7. I think Book 7 also mentions that Hermione got the story out of the Tales of Beedle the Bard book from Dumbledore. So essentially, that is why the story is the same. Tales of Beedle the Bard is supposed to be the same book entioned from Book 7. That makes sense right??
I’m done. Thanks Natasha!
on May 18th, 2009 at 11:02 amI enjoyed this collection of stories, but agree that Dumbledore’s commentary definitely helped. I would like to go back and reread the Harry Potter series one day too, maybe even straight through.
on May 18th, 2009 at 7:25 pmI bought this one when it came out and swear I will get to it eventually! Thanks for the review.
on May 19th, 2009 at 10:15 pmWasn’t the 3 brother’s story in the last HP book, too? Its been a while since I’ve read it.
on May 21st, 2009 at 5:37 pmHubby bought this for me for my birthday but I still haven’t gotten around to reading it. I’m not sure if I’m going to re-read the Potter books first or not…
on May 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm