Title: J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World – The Dark Arts: A Movie Scrapbook
Author: Warner Bros
Genre: Fantasy, Children’s Literature
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 10th August, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 48
Price: $24.99
Synopsis: Celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter magic!
A fascinating guide to the Dark Arts of the Harry Potter films and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, these pages cover both Dark wizards and the heroes who rise up to combat them – from Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix to the Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts class and the Aurors of MACUSA. This collectible volume comes filled with removable artefacts, such as ‘wanted’ posters, stickers and other extraordinary items.
Learn all about Voldemort, Death Eaters, Horcruxes, the Obscurus and more in this collectable movie scrapbook – packed with info, inserts and images from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them films.
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The ever-expanding Wizarding World of JK Rowling started in 1997 as a novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the beginning of seven book saga that would spawn companion text books – Quidditch Through the Ages by Kenilworthy Whisp, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, and Tales of Beedle the Bard, the Wizarding World’s version of fairy tales. From here, eight movies, and a prequel series of movies centred around Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has been spawned. As a result of these movies, several movie companions have been published, that focus on characters, and methods in the movies, sets and magical creatures.
The most recent of these is The Dark Arts, due out this month, exploring the darker side of Harry Potter. Starting with an introduction to the Dark Arts, the book then moves into profiles of Dark Wizards, such as Voldemort, discussing how they created his look in the movies, and the effects and make used to do this. Moving onto other Dark Wizards, Bellatrix Lestrange and her fate at the hands of Molly Weasley, a member of the Order of the Phoenix is included, and so a section is dedicated to this brave group who fight Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Each section on various aspects of Dark Magic is accompanied by fold out letters, posters and other paraphernalia that had been featured in the movies, which enhances the experience of reading the book and adds to all the fun, rediscovering Sirius Black’s wanted poster, and the list of Dumbledore’s Army, with a few secrets from the films that readers might not know, and will have fun discovering in this book as I did. The final pages of the book are dedicated the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and touch on those characters and Newt Scamander especially, who has a book of his own in the same series. This was a divine surprise from Bloomsbury and a wonderful accompaniment to my Harry Potter library.
Exploring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in this way adds an extra dimension to the books, films, scripts, play and music already out there in the world. It gives fans a chance to explore the movie beyond what is seen on the screen and interact with images, and articles from wizarding newspapers, such as The New York Ghost. It is a fantastic book, and one that will be treasured for years to come. A wonderful surprise from Bloomsbury that I read in one night, and that I am sure I will explore again, maybe even as I watch the films, or after watching them again.
Enjoy another wonderful book to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter!
