Self-Isolation #re3 - Tales of Beedle The Bard

• Title And Author: Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling
• Publisher: Pottermore
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 144 Pages or 1 Hour 35 Minutes

REREAD TIME! Ok, not reread or #re3 (as I call them on the Pewter Wolf) as this is the audiobook version, which was only released a few weeks ago. But, this is a reread as I have read and reread this how often. I mean, it’s Harry Potter related, OF COURSE I have read this goodness knows how many times! 

And while I was in two minds over whether to write this or not (for several days, I did say I wouldn’t as WHAT COULD I ADD?!), Am surprised that I haven’t written this up on the Pewter Wolf before. So, while in self-isolation and trying to avoid my eProofs TBR as if it was the [retracted badly-timed joke here], I thought I would listen to this and write a quick thingamabob here. 

So, history to Beedle. Ok, most Harry Potter fans know this but Beedle was reference in the last Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows. And in it, it’s a collection of wizard fairy tales, very similar to Brothers Grimms’s. After finishing Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling decided to hand-write Beedle to people as a way of thank you. One went to her first UK editor (who, I believe, auctioned off his copy a few years ago with most proceeds going to charity), and a second going to her American editor. Another copy was auctioned and the proceeds went to charity and, less than a year later, the collection was published to general public. The sale of this collection went towards charity and continues to do so. 

So, Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of five wizard fairy tales: The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, Fountain of Fair Fortune, Warlock’s Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump and The Tale of the Three Brothers. Also, as this is seen as a Hogwarts Textbook (much like Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages), this has a little extra with footnotes written by Albus Dumbledore.

#re3 - Quidditch Through the Ages

• Title And Author: Quidditch Through the Ages by JK Rowling
• Publisher: Pottermore
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed by BorrowBox & Essex Libraries
• Length: 64 Pages or 3 Hours

Ok, this is a #re3 for me. Of course it is, it’s Harry Potter related! But I have never listened to the audiobook version before so not sure whether to class this as a review for the whole audiobook or just for the bits I haven’t read, but this audiobook has extras that aren’t in the book edition. 

So, for those of you who don’t know: Quidditch Through the Ages was first referenced in the Harry Potter series as one of the books the characters read from Hogwarts Library and, back in 2001, JK Rowling published this and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (another Hogwarts text book) to raise money for the charity, Comic Relief. Several years later, while continuing to raise money for Comic Relief, money also went to JK Rowling’s own charity, Lumos. 

Basically, Quidditch Through the Ages looks through the history of Quidditch, the UK and Ireland teams, positions and balls. Plus, the audiobook has over an hour extra content of looking into the history of the Qudditch World Cup and newspaper reports of the Quidditch World Cup 2014 and transcript of the Quidditch World Cup Final 2014 from Ginny Potter and Rita Skeeter. 

Which, at the time of requesting the audiobook from my library audiobook app, I didn’t know the extra content was there. I saw it and went “Why Not!”

eBook Review - Pottermore Presents...

Am going to be cheeky and do my write-up of all three Pottermore Presents range. That's - hang on, long titles alert! - Short Stories from Hogwarts about Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, Short Stories from Hogwarts about Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists and Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide. 

Mouthful, huh?  

Each of these contain short chapters touching on different subjects relating to each collection. Within Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies, there are chapters talking about Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin. In Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists, there are chapters talking about Professor Umbridge, Professor Slughorn and Azkaban. And in Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, there are chapters about the Hogwarts Express and Hufflepuff Common Room. And these are to name a few. 

This is very much for Harry Potter fans. And it's very interesting as someone who doesn't check out Pottermore every day (and I call myself a Harry Potter fan!), it's nice to read these information and get more background information on characters and places I wanted to know more about. 

Out of the three, I loved Short Stories from Hogwarts about Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies. I loved how this collection talked about McGonagall, Lupin, Trelawney and the myserteous Kettleburn (who we heard but never seen). This was the one I think most fans will enjoy reading the most. I did enjoy Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists as the idea of power and politics and how they can corrupt is one of the main themes within the Harry Potter series. 

There are problems with these collections. As some fans have pointed about, these have been released on Pottermore for a short time (you can't find them now as Pottermore, I feel, isn't exactly searcher friendly) and they question why you should pay these information if it was released for free. Possible milking the cash-cow? Possible damage control over fans reaction to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Special Rehearsal Edition Script (my review to the book is here and my review to the actual play... one day... maybe... [And I have two spoiler-filled discussions about Cursed Child, which you can read here and here... remember! Spoilers!])

Also, these collection are only available as eBooks, and there is no plans to release them as physical books. Some readers don't like using eReaders, so why isn't it available as physical? Is this because there are plans to release the long rumoured (and long wished for) Harry Potter Encyclopedia...

These collections really do depend on the reader. Some readers will love these and will hope for more, while others might be disappointed and would want to avoid. But either way, it's interesting for me to read this information and take from it what I will.