The Tales of Beedle the Bard

J.K. Rowling's book The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a wonderful book.  This book ties into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.  In that book, Hermonie recieves a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, left for her from Dumbledore.  She reads them all, and realizes that they are fairy tales for wizarding children, like our Cinderella or Goldilocks.  One of those stories has an enormous impact on what Harry, Ron, and Hermonie do in book seven, but I won't go into detail here in case someone hasn't read it yet! (But you should, Harry Potter is a really great series!) Anyways, there are different stories in this book, from Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump to The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.  All of the stories have a message, and there is an insert written by Dumbledore after each story.  Dumbledore talks about what he thinks about the story and the message, and also gives us a history about the impact that particular story had on wizarding society.  Some stories were liked by the wizarding population (think the Fountain of Fair Fortune), while some of the stories were considered too gruesome for wizard children (like the Warlock and the Hairy Heart).  I really enjoyed these stories, and I'm glad that J.K. Rowling decided to write this book.  It really lets us get a better look at the wizards of Great Britain, and lets us come into a part of their lives we haven't really visited before, the young wizards: children.  I hope J.K. Rowling continues to write more books like these, stories about wizards.