The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition - The Review

Instead of giving the overall book a review, I'll review each story separately.

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot: 5 out of 5. This is because it's a very enjoyable tale about a cold-hearted wizard who learns his lesson. The references to Harry Potter are also enjoyable. To quote the editorial long review of the 5 tales on Amazon, "the kindly old wizard at the beginning of this tale reminds us of Dumbledore quite a bit." Dumbledore's commentary (a nice touch) is hilarious because of the sugar-coated fictional version of this story presented at the end of it. I loved how it said that Hermione Granger translated this book. It made it seem more of an authentic wizard's story book.

The Fountain of Fair Fortune: 5.1 out of 5. This tale, in my opinion, may win the prize for the best written down fairy tale of all time. J.K. Rowling's beautiful illustrations to it are a treat to look at. The tale itself is well written, like all of them, and its characters are very real. It really makes the task of climbing up the hill to the Fountain seem extremely hard. I loved the ending, too. It was very unexpected. Dumbledore's commentary is at its highest point here, describing the catastrophic attempt to put the play on at Hogwarts. It's also interesting having one of the Malfoys complain about the story.

The Warlock's Hairy Heart: 4.5 out of 5. This particular tale is a bit more gruesome than the others. It should not be read to the easily frightened. It depicts a warlock who thinks that falling in love makes people act foolishly. He finds a way to prevent himself from falling in love, but after meeting a talented and rich witch, his mind might not stay the same. The rest of the tale I'll let you read. It also has frightening illustrations, once again, like all the other illustrations in the book, drawn by J.K. Rowling. She is a very talented illustrator; it's very difficult to draw a human heart accurately, and she pulls it off.

Babbitty Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump: 4.9 out of 5. An award should go to this one for having the funniest title. The story here is that our amazingly smart fairy tale king orders the execution of all wizards and witches and then orders a wizard to be his personal wizard despite the previous order. After hiring a fraud, it seems like this charlatan can pull it off, until a poor washer woman named Babbity cackles, leaving the king impatient to learn magic and a very bad situation for the charlatan. Dumbledore's commentary on form-changing wizards makes one think.

The Tale of the Three Brothers: 5 out of 5. This story I won't bother giving part of the plot away, since anyone can either read Harry Potter 7 to see it, or hear it in the movie. It's a very interesting tale though, and Dumbledore's commentary is riveting. It offers a new history to the Elder Wand.

My overall rating of the book is a ......

4.987987 ..... out of 5. This book adds the perfect finish to the Harry Potter series!!!