Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by J.K. Rowling
Published by Arthur A. Levine
Publication Date June 1, 2001
Source: Library
Genres: Fantasy
Goodreads

A copy of Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them resides in almost every wizarding household in the country. Now Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Comic Relief, which means that the pounds and Galleons you exchange for it will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that this is insufficient reason to part with your money, I can only hope that passing wizards feel more charitable if they see you being attacked by a Manticore.

- Albus Dumbledore

First Impressions

I had been looking forward to a new Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling to tide myself over until Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. With the adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them it seemed like the perfect time. 

Impressions While Reading

Unfortunately, my expectations were not met in this small volume.  Despite, Albus Dumbledore’s introduction and Harry’s notes scrawled in the margins it read like it was advertised — a textbook.  The descriptions of said creatures were small. Only a few sentences for each and were typically already the description provided in the Harry Potter series.  I would have prefered a longer book with more in-depth summary of let’s say a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or a hippogriff but instead only got mediocre mentions.

Final Impressions

Harry Potter’s additions were cute and a throwback to the seven books, mainly involving Hagrid, but they were few and far between and began to see why Harry was doodling in his book rather than paying attention. Personally, I would have found The Monster Book of Monsters much more interesting as unlike Fantastic Beasts, it would have had some bite to it.