The lovely people at Harper Collins sent me a copy of Harry Potter Film Wizardry to review.  Before even opening the book I knew it was going to be the perfect item for Potter fans EVERYWHERE.  The book is a nice size and the cover has such a nice texture (I realize it is weird to talk about the texture of a book, but I’m a graphic designer, I notice these things) and the overall design is awesome; inside and out.  They even used the stars that are found on the top of the pages in the US editions of the book all over the cover, I loved this little touch.  Moving on to the inside:

There are tons of tiny details all over this book, starting with the opening page where it says “If found, please return this notebook to Mr. Filch, Seventh floor, Room 234-00.”  So you are going to want to look at every INCH of the book to find all the hidden treasures.  The book begins with a forward by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson & Rupert Grint, and then an introduction by David Heyman.  After that the book goes through each of the films with tons of behind the scenes information and photos.

In the sections there are lots of fun props to pull out and examine, such as Harry’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts, a mini catalog for Borgin and Burkes, Honeydukes packages, an invite to the Yule Ball, the Maurader’s Map, just to name a few!  The pages are full of never before seen behind the scenes photos, concept art, sketches, props (some we have never seen before) and promotional photos.  Even the backgrounds of the pages are full of detail, so make sure you pay attention to those while you read.

The book is set up like a scrapbook so it is a really easy read.  The text contains interviews with the cast and crew, excerpts written by cast and crew, funny anecdotes, descriptions of the sets including how they went about designing certain things, information on the main actors and characters and how they were developed, and so much more!  With this book fans get to see what it was like during the 10+ years of creating the films so we have a sense of what went on behind the scenes while we eagerly awaited the next film.

I don’t have anything bad to say about the book, except that I wish it had gone on forever! Fans of the filming process will really enjoy reading this book as will general fans, there is something in here for everyone to enjoy.  This definitely gets an A+ from me, so make sure you get your copy!

The book comes out one week from today, on October 19th, so head over to Amazon and pre-order it: Harry Potter Film Wizardry!

Saraiva have released four new scans from the Harry Potter Film Wizardry book that will be released on October 19th.  The scans features pages on Gryffindor and Slytherin, the House Ghosts and Fluffy, Platform 9 and 3/4, and Daniel Radcliffe.  You may see the pages here in the gallery!

My review of the book will be posted on Tuesday, and let me tell you right now…it is AMAZING!

Pre-order the book here at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk!

SnitchSeeker have been sent a bunch of new images from the upcoming book Harry Potter Film Wizardry which feature a bunch of new promotional photos from Deathly Hallows!  There are also numerous interviews and other fun tidbits!  The book is, in essence, a 150 page scrapbook filled with images, call sheets, sketches and more from the making of all the Harry Potter films.  You may see the photos here in the gallery (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)!

Preorder the book here at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk!

As part of the American Library Association’s READ campaign Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are featured on three posters to promote reading.  The posters will go on sale on October 18th, here, for $40.  ALA Graphics is also having a Harry Potter trivia contest on Facebook, where you can win a set of the posters.

In celebration of the Harry Potter phenomenon readers Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson join the READ campaign.

For more than a decade, J.K. Rowling has captivated imaginations and inspired a generation of new readers with the Harry Potter series. Soon after learning at the age of eleven that he is a wizard, Harry Potter attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Here, he meets his best friends, Ron and Hermione, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and a cast of eclectic teachers. While Harry, Ron and Hermione navigate the joys and hardships of growing up, their adventures in the wizarding world become darker and more dangerous.

On November 19th, the final installment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes to the screen in the first of two parts. As the three friends race to find the Horcruxes that are the secret to Lord Voldemort’s power and immortality, the Dark Lord’s Death Eaters wreak havoc on the wizarding world. As the war wages, Harry Potter draws closer to the task for which he has been preparing since he became “the boy who lived”: the ultimate battle with Voldemort.

Thanks SS!

JK Rrowling has won a few categories at the Teen Read Awards.  The winners were announced yesterday in Canada. The books won in the following categories:

Best All Time Fave: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  (it beat out Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Catcher int he Rye and The Book Thief)

Best Book to Flick: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (beat Push, New Moon, The Chronicles of Narnia and Whip It)

Voldemort lost out on Best Villain to a character from Prophecy of the Sisters.

According to Scotland on Sunday, some handwritten pages that were originally written for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be on display during the Wigtown Book Festival. The festival, which starts tomorrow, will be continuing until October 2nd.  The pages will be housed at ReadingLasses bookshop in Wigtown.  More information on the festival may be found here.

The original, signed manuscripts, originally written as part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will be on show during the Wigtown Book Festival, which starts tomorrow. The Ballard of Nearly Headless Nick – a ghost who haunts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – was eventually edited out of the second book in the series before publication.

But fans of the stories, which Rowling started writing as a single mother living in Edinburgh, will be able to read the framed pages displayed at ReadingLasses bookshop in Wigtown. The shop, owned by Gerrie and Susan Douglas-Scott, and Bex Woodsford, focuses on books written by and about women. “We’re very exciting that this bit of Harry Potter is coming home to Scotland for ten days,” Gerrie Douglas-Scott said.

The manuscripts were originally donated by Rowling to the Scottish Language Dictionaries in 2005 to help fund a new Scottish language dictionary. They are now in the hands of Ilyas Khan, a book collector and publisher of Asia Literary Review. The manuscripts have not previously been displayed in public. The exhibition was said to be a one-off and the pages will not be going on a world tour.