Quidditch Through the Ages explains perhaps the most innovative sport ever invented within the pages of a book, from its early beginnings to its more modern and established rules. Quidditch seems to be a mix of soccer, baseball and hide and seek, the most famous sport that no one will ever play.
J K Rowling Introduces the Evolution of Quidditch Through the Ages
Beginning with how the broom became a popular mode of transportation over short distances for witches and wizards, Kennilworthy Whisp then delves into early games played on a broom before Quidditch had been established as a sport.
JK Rowling has written the library book as a realistic history of an evolution of a sport, being more than a simple game that sprang into being, with this new book Quidditch becomes a more complex and interesting game that has taken centuries of development to reach its final form.
Quidditch Through the Ages an Almost Comprehensive History
Unlike Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, although just as short, delivers a lot of background on the sport of Quidditch, first introduced to Muggles in the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
While Fantastic Beasts could have gone into more detail about each creature, especially in terms of measurements, locations and precautions, Quidditch Through the Ages explains how the game started and where it ended up, even including moves specific to the game. Although Rowling certainly could have gone into more detail about some of the events that led up to the creation of the sport, with more clippings and insider accounts of the early game.
Conclusion
Unlike Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which use notes from Harry Potter and Dumbldore respectively to engage readers and tie the books into the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch Through the Ages really stands on its own.
Maybe is it because Quidditch is so popular among readers that Rowling thought that notes weren’t necessary, or more likely it was to keep the style of the books seem real. Fantastic Beasts is disguised as a textbook and therefore contains Harry’s notes. Beedle’s tales are extremely famous and a commentary of famous stories has become the norm, while Quidditch Through the Ages is disguised as a library book, one that wouldn’t have notes all over it or wouldn’t need a commentary to support it.
Again, like Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, the proceeds of Quidditch Through the Ages help the Comic Relief foundation support struggling children. One can’t help but feel, however, that Rowling could have done a little more to make the book seem like a real book from the world of Harry Potter, rather than just a small excerpt from the wizarding world.
Publication Information
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: November 2001
ISBN: 978-0439321624
Vasu Chetty - I gained a passion for reading and writing at a young age, my mother inculcated in me the value of manipulating English prose into a ...
