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.

What is unique about this audiobook compared tot he previous two is that there is no one true narrator. We have seven narrators, each takes on a different role. Warwick Davis reads The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, Evanna Lynch reads Fountain of Fair Fortune, Jason Isaacs reads Warlock’s Hairy Heart, Bonnie Wright reads Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump, Noma Dumezweni reads The Tale of the Three Brothers, Jude Law reads the footnotes written by Dumbledore and Sally Mortemore reads the introduction and footnotes written by JK Rowling. 

And I liked what each of these actors bring. Yes, they all worked with the world of Harry Potter, but they brought something new and different to each story. I loved Noma’s reading of Tale of the Three Brothers and both Bonnie and Evanna’s readings of their tales surprised me as both tales I find a bit too sugary to my tastes, and yet, they both added something new and exciting to the stories that made me like them more. 

Out of the three Hogwarts Text Books that have turned audiobook, this is the one I had the most pleasure listening to and it made me want to grab one of my copies and read with them. (I still question the point of the Quidditch Through the Ages audiobook, if I can be completely honest with you and I think I have been very open over my thoughts and opinions on Cursed Child…) but this was fun and quite comforting, especially in these dark times. Harry Potter fans will like this quick audiobook, me thinks.