Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – The Original Screenplay
by J.K. Rowling [j Rowling] 

The inspiration for the 2016 Harry Potter “prequel” film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is currently in theatres, was a small chapbook that J.K. Rowling wrote under the pseudonym Newt Scamander. It was a cute, but little, encyclopedia of the mystical magical creatures of Rowling’s Harry Potter wizarding world, written by Rowling to benefit the charity Comic Relief in 2001 (see previous review). When the movie studios insisted on additional movies in the Potterverse, Rowling came up with the adventures of Newt Scamander as he researched his creature encyclopedia. This book is the story of the new film, told in screenplay form. I’ll have to admit, while I enjoyed the film, the fast pace, heavy accents and loud sound effects made hearing all of the dialog clearly nearly impossible, so I very much enjoyed reading this book to catch the parts of the story I missed. The drawbacks of reading a screenplay are that you really don’t get the level of description and character development, or internal dialog and introspection, that you do with a novel. However this was still a fun read, and handily supplements the plot of the film. Potter fanatics won’t want to miss this, and anyone who saw the movie but wants to get a better understanding of it will appreciate this as well!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the original chapbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by Newt Scamander (J.K. Rowling))

( official J.K. Rowling web site (U.S.) )

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Henry V: The Screenplay

Henry V: The Screenplay
by William Shakespeare [822.33 ShaW3b]

This is the screenplay to Kenneth Branagh's production of "Henry V." Many believe Laurence Olivier's "Henry V" to be the quintessential version, but this reviewer votes Branagh's film to be THE adaptation to define "Henry V." This book includes stills on nearly every page from Branagh's film as well as the screenplay, and an introduction by Branagh that explains how he came about to make the film. It was great fun to browse through the screenplay and hear again the voices recite their lines and see the photos. Also includes the credits. This book provided great enjoyment at only 107 pages. -- Recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Henry V is available in a variety of print, audio and video formats from the libraries. ]

[ official Internet Movie Database page for this version of the film ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.