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

Reviewed by Meygan

Hear ye, Hear ye! Attention all wizards, mudbloods, and muggles! There will be a movie adaptation for J.K. Rowling’s companion book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! All Harry Potter fans should be jumping with joy and planning what Harry Potter attire to wear on the opening night. For those of you who have not read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, well, what are you waiting for? Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a collection of creatures recorded by Newt  Scamander. This book takes place seventy years before Harry Potter and the gang attended Hogwarts, so I am sorry to say that Harry or any of the other characters, to my knowledge, will not be making an appearance in the movie. 

In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, readers will learn about various strange and rare creatures such as dragons, pixies, lobalugs, and more merpeople. For example, did you know that the Diricawl is a plump, fluffy, flightless bird that is capable of disappearing? We muggles knew it as the “Dodo bird”. Little did we know that the Dodo bird isn’t extinct after all! But don’t tell this to too many people—the International Confederation of Wizards want muggles to believe we drove this bird into extinction so everyone will understand why we shouldn’t slay our fellow creatures. True Harry Potter fans will recognize many of these creatures and beings from the series. At least one term in the book should stand out to fans: Kneazle. What is a Kneazle you ask? Hint: Crookshanks was one. If you are stumped, then you’ll have to read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to find out!

This book is a short, easy read. It is less than 50 pages but is still stimulating because of the fascinating descriptions of the creatures and beasts. Note: This is not a story. This book is meant to be more of an encyclopedia of the magical creatures and beings mentioned throughout Harry Potter. So why write a book about these creatures and beasts? Well, to quote Newt Scamander, “The answer if, of course: to ensure that future generations of witches and wizards enjoy their strange beauty and powers as we have privileged to do!” 

According to Harry Potter Wiki, the movie will be a trilogy and the first film will be released on November 18, 2016. Yes, we have to wait just a little over two years, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that the movie will be worth the wait. J.K. Rowling will be involved in the movie as serving as a screen writer.