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It adds to the Harry Potter world and is a thoroughly enjoyable read. It seems like a real text book that would be used in the Harry Potter world. A must have for any fan of the series.
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First I would like to say how much I enjoyed this book, despite its shortness. It offers insight into animals we have already seen and some that we will(hopefully). While I wish that the descriptions were much, much longer, it offers a breif description of many animals from around the world.
Some people are complaining that certain animals are not in this book. Here is why:
Voldemorts snake: It is a Basilisk
Thestral: Look under "Winged Horse." Only one sentence though
Blask-Ended Skrewts: Because Hagrid bred these monsters illegally, he is the only one to know this and has not registered them with the MoM
The only monster that I can think of right now that is not included is the boggart, though I am sure that there are others. I think that Rowling should write some more books like this one in order to give us more info into the world of HP. I would like to see one on things like vampires, hags, and goblins, since they are not in this book because they are termed "beings" (able to speek and comprehend the human language), and one on the MoM and wizards in other countries (schools; MoM's; and habbits, such as flying carpets in the middle east).
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This book would be great for any HP fan. Although small and thin, the book contains information that any HP fan would thoroughly enjoy. You would have to have seen the movie or read the books to understand and relate to the humor in this book. As a HP fan, I really thought this book was a good buy!
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This is a reprint by Obscurus House of Newton Artemis Fido Scamander's classic magizoological reference work. Forward by Albus Dumbledore. This particular edition is the first to be offered to the non-wizarding public.
The introduction covers the classification of magical creatures into beings, beasts, or spirits. The history, politics, and fine points of this division is examined.
Next, there is a section on the concealment of magical beasts from the non-wizarding public. This includes the establishment of safe habitats, as well as the use of disillusionment charms, memory charms, and other techniques. The activities of the Office of Misinformation in spreading false information are also examined.
The Ministry of Magic classifications of all known magical creatures from XXXXX (known wizard killer) to X (positively boring) are listed and defined.
The main body of the reference lists all known magical creatures alphabetically. The M.O.M. classification, physical description, habitat, behavior, and distribution are clearly and concisely noted for each entry. These entries are: Acromantula, Ashwinder, Augurey, Basilisk, Billywig, Bowtruckle, Bundimum, Centaur, Chimaera, Chizpurfle, Clabbert, Crup, Demiguise, Diricawl, Doxy, Dragon (all breeds), Dugbog, Erkling, Erumpent, Fairy, Fire Crab, Flobberworm, Fwooper, Ghoul, Glumbumble, Gnome, Graphorn, Griffin, Grindylow, Hippocampus, Hippogriff, Horklump, Imp, Jarvey, Jobberknoll, Kappa, Kelpie, Knarl, Kneazle, Leprechaun, Lethifold, Lobalug, Mackled Malaclaw, Manticore, Merpeople, Moke, Mooncalf, Murtlap, Niffler, Nogtail, Nundu, Occamy, Phoenix, Pixie, Plimpy, Pogrebin, Porlock, Puffskein, Quintaped, Ramora, Red Cap, Re'em, Runespoor, Salamander, Sea Serpent, Shrake, Snidget, Sphinx, Streeler, Tebo, Troll, Unicorn, Werewolf, Winged Horse, and Yeti.
I have only two questions concerning this edition: 1) why are there so few illustrations, and 2) why no Blast-Ended Skrewts?
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This is a just a charming little book, absolutely in the marvelous JK Rowling style that we have all learned to love. This book served the marvelous purpose of sucking my children into reading the whole series. My older son was quite intimidated by the size of the main books, until this one came out, when he was about 10. He loved all the trivia in here and lept on to the larger books with alacrity so he could find all of the animal characters in them. It made Harry Potter seem like Pokemon to him. The younger one followed his older brother's example and became an even more enthusiastic fan.
I just have one little gripe. The book is out of date. It lacks descriptions of some of the main magical creatures in the series, e.g. blast ended skrewts, thestrals, and the serpent who is Voldemort's companion. A new edition is in order. Now such an edition might seem a bit tricky, because the other was supposed to be the edition with Harry Potter's handwritten notations in the margin, but the necessity for the new edition could easily be attributed to a magical printer's error.
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