Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide

If you want an unofficial guide to Harry Potter's characters and commentary on their roots in other fantasy classics, use George Beahm's Fact, Fiction And Folklore In Harry Potter's World, an intriguing survey of over 300 entries to locate the myths, legends, literature and history in the Potter novels. From beasts and wizards to zombies, owls and amulets, this visual Harry Potter companion is much more than whimsy: it traces the literary roots - and often, the origins- of Potter's creations in traditional mythic literature.

Much like his previous book, Muggles and Magic, this newest work by George Beahm is packed with interesting information and insights. Most of us, having general knowledge about mythology and folklore (and therefore understanding some of the clever connections and allusions Rowling makes in the naming of characters and items), sense that there are likely many references we don't quite get. Fortunately for us, Beahm has done all of the work required to make reading Harry Potter a far richer, more complex experience. From his exploration of the significance of names to his thorough catalog of the various attributes of the fantastic creatures that appear both in Harry Potter and world mythology, Beahm gets it all down in an extremely comprehensive and easy-to-read way. One of the best things about this book is its layout. For example: this Guide has one of the best tables of contents that I've seen in a reference book of this sort, and the index is equally wonderful. If it's mentioned in a Harry Potter book and Beahm's explored its deeper meaning and connections to our world, a reader will easily find any creature, item, term, or character she's looking for. In Beahm's last book, I found myself somewhat distracted by the numerous sidebars and inserts. In Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide, the sidebars and inserts are perfectly placed--they are unobtrusive but won't get overlooked, which is all to the good: they're wonderful asides to the main text and only help to enhance the reader's understanding of the connections between Rowling's world and the more fanstastic aspects of our own. The illustrations are also wonderful, offering the eye a place to rest and setting off the main text in a whimsical manner. Finally, Beahm again demonstrates his ability to write informational prose in a thoroughly engaging manner. We learn a good deal about a great number of things in this Guide--without feeling like we're sitting in on a World Mythology or Mythology in Literature seminar conducted by someone like Professor Binns. Although it may seem that it would be difficult to make anything connected with Rowling and Harry Potter boring, such is definitely not the case. Large chunks of information, no matter how interesting their original source, are difficult for me to take in unless the writer can balance the perfect style and tone with the content. Beahm is a natural at this. In reading Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide, I learned all sorts of things I'd never even guessed at without realizing that I'd learned them. And that alone is the best reason to recommend this book: I have a far greater appreciation for the care that Rowling has taken in creating Harry Potter's world--a world that invites the sort of exploration that Beahm does so well.

George Breahm has written a very concise book on the fiction and folklore that encompasses Harry Potter. This book does not cover any new aspects of the HBP Book 6, but Breahm gives a very easy-to-read and detailed review of the first 5 books in the series. For even more INSIGHTS, CLUES and MYSTERIES, I also recommend to serious HP fans to read the newly released ULTIMATE UNOFFICIAL HALF-BLOOD PRINCE BOOK 6 TRIVIA BOOK by author Daniel Lawrence as it is a great guide to the HBP Book 6, Movie 4 and the new mysteries leading into Book 7. Authors Breahm and Lawrence are to be applauded for their works.

Author George Beahm has done a nice job with this book. Discussions of folklore and creatures are entertaining, although it must be noted that the book only covers the first 5 books in the series. Author George Beahm presents the information in a well-organized and easy approach. As a big HP fan, I personally consider Breahm along with author Daniel Lawrence of the new HARRY POTTER BOOK 6 TRIVIA BOOK as the two best experts on HP insights. I found it fun to read this book for an early Books 1-5 refresher and then read author Daniel Lawrence's ULTIMATE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE TRIVIA BOOK to fully see how much information I still didn't know about HP. Great companion pieces to your HP collection. An avid adult HP fan, I recommend the above.

About four years ago, the first book that purported to be a reference to the reality behind the magic of the Harry Potter universe was released, and I bought it with the intention of posting my review to the Harry Potter for Grownups yahoogroup. That book, however, didn't capture any of the vibrance of the Potterverse, and in fact, seemed more like a list of mythological creatures and entities than anything actually related to the world JKR had created; heck she didn't even mention Grims, which are traditional mythology of the British Isles. George Beahm's book, however, *gets* the Potterverse. He explains the traditional folkloric and mythological unterpinnings to hundreds of things that JKR includes in her books, from the Philosopher's Stone to unicorns, making this a valuable offline resource. While a lot of information is available online on each of the individual topics, there is nothing offline which has the comprehensiveness, combined with clever writing and terrific art. The best part is, it's not written on a level for little kids, which is especially important given the rising maturity level needed to enjoy and fully appreicate the HP books themselves. The book is interesting for kids above the age of ten or so, if they're sufficiently Potter-obsessed, but it's also informative for the older teen or adult fan - pretty much anyone who doesn't actually have a classics degree. Having spent years participating in the online side of the fandom, I've been of mixed feelings about the need for offline resources to the elements of the Potterverse. It's grand to learn and discuss in online communities - and there are many these days, from Mugglenet to FictionAlley.org's Park - but Beahm's book is such a handy resource that I have to recommend its comprehensiveness and organization to any true Potter-fan.