The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition

by J. K. Rowling


My parents got this book for me for Christmas. It's only available from Amazon.com, but they've sold out. It's disguised to look like a School Book from Hogwarts, as you can see. *Hat not included - it came from my Halloween costume.

When you open the book, you find that hidden inside is a small red velvet bag that contains the actual book. Also, in a pocket inside the front cover, there is a light orange envelope that contains large prints of all the artwork in the book.

As you can see, it has a hard leather cover that is decorated with fancy silver corners, a blue-eyed skull in the center, and a fancy clasp on the edge. There's also a green ribbon to use as a bookmark, as you can see in this picture:

The inside of the book has cool writing, and it has several nice illustrations. I think that J.K. Rowling illustrated it herself.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of short stories that take place in the Wizarding world of Harry Potter. On page 5, it says that the book was translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and that Commentary is by Albus Dumbledore. Some of my favorite stories are The Fountain of Fair Fortune, and Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump.

If you're interested in the story, you can pick up a paperback version at your local book store, or at Amazon. If you want the fancy one like I've got, you'll have to wait until more are made. Since it is so special, I think I'm going to keep this book in my family forever.

I'd recommend this book to any fan of the Harry Potter series.

Nightmare Academy: Monster Madness

by Dean Lorey

As promised, here is my review of Monster Madness. It is the second in the Nightmare Academy series. In this story, Charlie hopes to become a Level 2 Banisher and Nethermancer. In order to do so, he must complete a certain mission, which is to go out, and bring a girl named Dora back to the Nightmare Academy. Dora has the ability to portal monsters to earth, but she is not yet aware of her abilities. After the kids contact Dora, they encounter a Dangeroo, who ends up temporarily kidnapping Violet.

After returning to Nightmare Academy, the Headmaster tells them that there is someone named the Guardian, whose job it is to keep the Named (terrible monsters) from reaching earth. The Guardian is dying because a human touched him. To save him, they need to get get milk from the Mother Hydra, which will cure him.

The rest of the book has many unexpected twists and turns, and a lot of danger. I don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say that all is not well at Nightmare Academy.

The next book will be called Monster War. I don't think it's on sale yet, though. I can't wait for it to come out. I'd recommend this book to kids aged 9 and up, who love book with a lot of adventure. Once again, here's a link to amazon.