Do the names flobberworm, puffskein or murtlap sound familiar to you? If they don’t, most likely you haven’t read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling. Basically, it’s a small encyclopedia of magic creatures, authorized by a famous creator of the Harry Potter series and published in 2001 by Bloomsbury. Remarkable is the fact that 80% of its profit was given to a Comic Relief Fund, a UK-based charity organization. At the first glance, it may seem like a marketing plan intended to bring some extra money. But no, it’s not what it looks like. Knowing the prehistory and origins of this particular story removes any doubts about bad conscience.
As it is described in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, during the first year of studying, Harry got a list of required supplies sent him by his school. It includes the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them first published by Newt Scamander in 1927. (Apparently, the time of Harry’s first year at school.) It also includes a forward from Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts principal and Garry’s personal mentor. Interesting illustrations of different creatures in order to represent each one are included in the book. Doodles on margins, most likely drawn by Harry and his best friend Ron Weasley, allow you to feel like a Hogwarts student, what is really magnificent.
Pottermore, Rowling’s companion website (which, by the way, enjoyed enormous success), transforms you from a muggle into a wizard. There you can find and buy electronic versions and audiobooks of Harry Potter series. Moreover, more than 18 thousand words of additional content also will be available for you. In general, all this swallows you into a wonderful world created by Rowling, and it requires some dedication from you to become fully absorbed into it.
If to talk about the film, it may be easily passed up reading an actual book. Regardless of its outstanding special effects, true devotees to Harry Potter story will find it much more satisfying to delve into the pages of the original volume. Don’t hesitate to meet up characters you might never see in person.
