The Tales of Beedle the Bard

I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book but I'm glad I did.

There is no doubt that by anybodies standards this is a quick read. It took me an hour and a half to read it from cover to cover last night. Whilst it's in essence a collection of bedtime/fairy tales, that may have been mentioned in passing in the Harry Potter books, it is a very different style of writing. There are effectively two sections to the book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, along with Dumbledore's thoughts and research on the history of each of the tales.

I loved each of the tales although 'The Warlocks Hairy Heart' is a little gruesome to be considered a fairy story, a fact that Dumbledore does point out. Whilst reading Dumbledore's research was interesting, I'm not sure I'd bother reading this part of the book again, although the tales themselves are so delightful that I can see them being read again and again. In fact, possibly one book to store away for the time when I possibly become a grandparent and have a young child to read a bedtime story to again.