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Reading order for Harry Potter auxiliary books?


Preface: I ran into this question in real life -- getting kids I know hooked on Harry Potter. To my utter surprise, I realized we don't have this question on the site yet. So here it goes, in hopes that someone has an answer


What is the best reading order for the Harry Potter ancillary books? (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard).


Should they be read after all seven of the main books, or should they be read at different points during the main books? Or, for example, should individual sections of FBWFT be read in sync with which monsters are mentioned in the individual Potter books? Should The Tales of Beedle the Bard be read before or after Deathly Hallows?


Preference is given to answers based on J.K. Rowling's own opinion, but I am also open to well-reasoned suggestions based on pure logic, even if they contradict JKR.




Answer



I don’t believe JK Rowling has ever suggested a reading order for the books.


The easy answer is to read them in publication order: Beasts and Quidditch were published between Books 4 and 5, and Tales was published after the release of Book 7.


That’s a bit short, so here are a few more thoughts on the topic:




  • Quidditch through the Ages seems most spoiler-free of all the three supplementary books, and could probably be picked up as soon as Quidditch has been introduced in Book 1. As I noted in a previous answer, this book doesn’t seem to mention any events that take place after Book 1, so it might be a good starter.




  • I would avoid Tales of Beedle the Bard until most of the final book was finished. Although it doesn’t contain any explicit spoilers (I think), if you’ve read it already then it strongly hints at what’s to come, especially the discussion of the Hallows in the Tale of the Three Brothers. Not necessarily a spoiler, but I think it’s better to let this thread unfold naturally.





  • Fantastic Beasts doesn't contain many spoilers, but a lot of Harry and Ron’s annotations won’t make sense unless you’ve got to at least halfway through Book 4. You could probably pick it up after the dragon task, as I don’t think it references anything after that – but I’d wait until that’s done. I think it’s much better to read and understand these comments, than to be mildly confused about what they mean and what might be to come.




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