Why does floo powder travel beat out flying by broom? When does the Knight bus come for a damsel in distress?
How do Portkeys work and why is it not a good idea to use them in a recycling area?
Why can't a wizard simply whip up something to eat when he is hungry? How come poor wizards live in sub-par houses if they have magic at their wand tips?
Here's a fun and informative treatment that lends itself not only to reading for entertainment but for coffee table discussion and keeping it around for reference.
Author Tere Stouffer hasn't missed a trick, including information from mythology, old wive's tales and even authors who might have inspired J.K. Rowling.
All seven books are covered and the references to various incidents and witches and wizards make it timely and rather personal to the Potter fan.
It's great reading for both the uninitiated and the ardent magic lover as Stouffer explains Quidditch, giants, why one has to run into a brick wall to catch the Hogwarts Express and how owls always know where to deliver their mail.
Ogden, Utah, gets a brief mention as possibly the birthplace of Ogden Firewhiskey.
This guide is well organized and lends itself to skimming as well as serious point-to-point study.
Nothing is taken too seriously and yet all of it is taken at face value, which makes for a different kind of literary experience.
Read this and you're assured of a place of honor at the next Harry Potter world, book, or movie discussion.
(Did you know that Knockturn Alley sells mostly items that are legal to sell but illegal to own?) (Are you aware that the Hogwart's library has a rather hard to find invisibility section or that the school motto is "Never tickle a sleeping dragon"?).
In this book one can learn all one wants to know and then some about wizarding schools, spells, magical creatures, potions along with the difference between spells, charms, hexes, jinxes and curses.
One interested in becoming a wizard for a day or for a trick-or-treating stint may want to memorize the spells chapter.
This is not to say that every question is answered. There's the question of how the teachers at Hogwarts know a child is born to magic and how the Ministry of Magic gets paid when no one pays any taxes.
Stouffer never really claims to have all the answers, but she's done a pretty fair job of collecting valuable information from the stories, enough to offer a framework about the wizarding life that makes almost total sense.
It makes for an entertaining read at the very least.
