A review by jowithtwoiis
The Tales of Beedle the Bard: The Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling

4.0

I'd never read these and the branch got a copy of the new edition with Lisbeth Zwerger's illustrations. I curled up and read this on the 31st (yes, to get one more book in, LOL) and I was pretty happy with both the stories and the illustrations. The stories run from happy endings to outright tragedy but they are all well told, giving you a sense of their having been in world and written down for far longer than they have been. The commentaries by Dumbledore left me a little cold - they were too middle of the road, striving (I think) to be inoffensive; they did not provide much in the way of either edification about the stories themselves or additional insights about Dumbledore or his personality. I could have done without the commentary and been perfectly happy with the stories.

The real stars of this edition are the illustrations by Lisbeth Zwerger. They perfectly capture the stories and provide added charm to the proceedings. My favorite though is an outstanding "unfinished" portrait of Dumbledore that really needs to be a giant poster or something. It's that gorgeous and may be my favorite take on Dumbledore ever. (Hey J.K. Rowling - please let us buy copies of this art - as a fundraiser for charity perhaps?)

All in all it was a fun, quick read and I'd recommend it to any Harry Potter fans that may need convincing to re-read it (but why would you?).