Book Review: Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard
by Tom Felton (Biography Felton)

As a fan of J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter books and the movies based on them, I was interested to see what actor Tom Felton had to say about his experiences portraying Draco Malfoy, the kid you love to despise in all of the stories. The book was incredibly funny — much more than I was expecting — and brutally honest about his experiences on set and off. I could empathize with Tom’s descriptions of being born the youngest in a family of four (his brothers called him “maggot”) and how those older brothers would get him in trouble. Yet through all of his experiences, he has nothing but good to say of his family, the actors he worked with, and his adoring fans. The best part of the book besides the descriptions of working alongside Britain’s finest actors is the honest reflections on his own life and the mistakes he made over the years which led to a stint in Rehabilitation. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of the Harry Potter series and with an interest in the child actors that grew up together in the films. I will mention that there is a lot of swearing in the book as well as drug and alcohol abuse, so I do not recommend Beyond the Wand for children.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try all of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, all of the Harry Potter movies starring Daniel Radcliffe or The Borrowers by Mary Norton (Tom Felton was in a film version of The Borrowers as a child prior to being cast as Draco Malfoy).)

 

( publisher’s official Beyond the Wand web page ) | ( official Tom Felton web site )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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