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Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them

J K Rowling Delivers One of Harry Potter’s Textbooks From Hogwarts

Aug 23, 2009 Vasu Chetty

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them is by no means a comprehensive guide to magical creatures, but it supports a noble charity and is very fun to read.

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander is a fictitious textbook used by Harry Potter in his first year in the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the magical subject Care for Magical Creatures, although students do not actually take the subject until their third year.

Fantastic Beasts in Harry Potter’s World

The book contains many different creatures from Harry’s world, many of which have been featured in the novels. The Troll in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the Acromantula and Basilisk from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a Hippogriff and Werewolf in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the dragon known as a Hungarian Horntail and a Sphinx in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, even Bowtruckles and Nifflers from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry has faced some of the most feared and dangerous creatures of the wizarding world, some he has found quite less scary than the book defines, but most are worse than Scamander makes out.

J K Rowling’s Textbook is Far From Comprehensive

Although many of the creatures found in the Harry Potter books are mentioned, plus a few more, many are not found within the pages of Scamander’s book. Boggarts and Thestrals for instance are prominent within the novels, but are nowhere to be found within the pages of the textbook. Not to mention the book is far smaller than any textbook ever written for any Muggles subject, it has some interesting creatures, but is far from a comprehensive guide to all the creatures of Harry’s world.

Harry Potter’s Notes in His Textbook

One of the most interesting features is that the textbook contains notes from Harry and his friends throughout. Some are silly, most are fun and there are even ones that really unite the textbook with the other Harry Potter books. Much like Dumbledore’s notes in Tales of Beedle the Bard, Harry’s notes adds new information which is interesting, but not always relevant to the plot of the Harry Potter series.

Conclusion

Fantastic Creatures & Where to Find Them was written to support the charity Comic Relief, just like Quidditch Through the Ages, which is a noble cause, but doesn’t fully cover all the magical creatures from the wizarding world. While fans may find it fun to read about some of the creatures in and not found within the pages of Harry Potter, it is a very fun, yet shallow resource into Harry’s world.

Publication Information

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: November 2001

ISBN: 978-0439321624

The copyright of the article Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fiction is owned by Vasu Chetty. Permission to republish Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.