The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition - Hardcover

J. K. Rowling

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0545128285 ISBN 13: 9780545128285

Publisher: Children's High Level Group, 2008

Synopsis

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers' attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger's new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore.

Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," "The Fountain of Fair Fortune," "The Warlock’s Hairy Heart," "Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump," and of course "The Tale of the Three Brothers." But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.

This purchase also represents another very important form of giving: From every sale of this book, Scholastic will give its net proceeds to Lumos, an international children’s charity founded in 2005 by J. K. Rowling. Lumos is dedicated to ending the institutionalization of children, a harmful practice that affects the lives of up to eight million disadvantaged children around the world who live in institutions and orphanages, many placed there as a result of poverty, disability, disease, discrimination and conflict; very few are orphans. Lumos works to reunite children with their families, promote family-based care alternatives, and help authorities to reform their systems and close down institutions and orphanages. www.wearelumos.org
 

About this title

About the Author

J.K. ROWLING is the author of the enduringly popular, era-defining Harry Potter seven-book series, which have sold over 600 million copies in 85 languages, been listened to as audiobooks for over one billion hours and made into eight smash hit movies. To accompany the series, she wrote three short companion volumes for charity, including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which went on to inspire a new series of films featuring Magizoologist Newt Scamander. Harry’s story as a grown-up was continued in a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which J.K. Rowling wrote with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany.

In 2020, she returned to publishing for younger children with the fairy tale The Ickabog, the royalties for which she donated to her charitable trust, Volant, to help charities working to alleviate the social effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. Her latest children’s novel, The Christmas Pig, was published in 2021.

J.K. Rowling has received many awards and honours for her writing, including for her detective series written under the name Robert Galbraith. She supports a wide number of humanitarian causes through Volant, and is the founder of the international children’s care reform charity Lumos. J.K. Rowling lives in Scotland with her family.

Reviews

Grade 4 Up—Muggles grow up with Grimm's fairy tales; wizarding children grow up with Tales of Beedle the Bard. The Bard's book is a collection of five tales, bequeathed to Hermione Granger by Professor Dumbledore. The passing of the book into her hands was intended to be both "entertaining and instructive." As in all good mysteries, information contained within its pages provided Hermione with clues essential to helping Harry in the series' last installment. In particular, "The Tale of Three Brothers" describes how three magical items appeared after siblings cleverly cheat death. It is these items that play a pivotal role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic, 2007). Those hoping to re-create the hours of pleasure spent curled up with a J.K. Rowling book may be disappointed at the brevity of this title, but they will undoubtedly enjoy the tales and Dumbledore's often lengthy, cynical-but-wise commentary on each one.—Robyn Gioia, Bolles School, Ponte Vedra, FL
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It is easy to be cynical about The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Harry Potter fans may see it as a inadequate substitute for the delayed release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Muggles—you ordinary, nonmagical humans—may wonder why another Hogwarts book is necessary, even if one of the stories in this collection, "The Tale of the Three Brothers," plays an important role in the final battle between Harry and Voldemort (in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). But critics found much in this book for even nonfans to admire—from the subtle moral messages of the tales to the voice which Rowling allows to emerge in the tongue-in-cheek commentaries. A few critics commented that the collection lacks Rowling's usual charm and originality, but most fans will be happy to have a few more moments with Dumbledore.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007), Hermione Granger is left a book from the late Dumbledore’s collection, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of fairy tales young wizards heard growing up. In 2007, Rowling handwrote and illustrated 7 copies of Beedle the Bard, one of which was auctioned off for millions of dollars with the proceeds going to charity. Originally, there was to be no mass publication of the book, but the desire for all things Potter by Harry’s fans could not be denied. And so, readers can now own their own copies of this odd little book of five tales, complete with the commentary of Albus Dumbledore. Of most interest will be “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” whose story directly impacts on Harry’s saga as revealed in the series final volume. But the other quirky tales have their own appeal, especially for dedicated fans. Using familiar fairy-tale elements, such as a magical pot and three brothers on a quest, the stories seem straightforward until Dumbledore’s edifying commentary turns them on their head. Without the usual hoopla surrounding publication of a Rowling novel, this little curiosity will probably attract only Potter fanatics, but it will also be of marginal interest to all those readers who still miss Harry and would like one more shot at the wizarding world. Grades 5-8. --Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Children's High Level Group
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0545128285
• ISBN 13: 9780545128285
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 111