David Colbert’s The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter is a far better accomplishment than his similar book on Narnia. While still lacking in some respects, it is nevertheless a helpful guide to many of the background myths and legends of the Harry Potter series. The topics are arranged alphabetically, and what you learn will hopefully inspire you to dig further into the fascinating stories behind Harry Potter.
On a very positive note, if an interested child or teenager picked up the book to find out more about Harry’s world, he or she would also be introduced to a good amount of great literature of the past, not least the world of mythology. I do think that Harry Potter can and should be utilized, even in classroom settings, as a way to get folks interested in reading again. In that sense, this is a very valuable little volume, especially as it is really easy to read.
Since I’m better at complaining, though, let’s hit some of the negatives. The topic selection is a bit random, in my opinion. Some fascinating topics are left out - this could be the work of an editor or simply the fact that there are far too many topics to cover, and he had to select only certain ones.
J.K. Rowling gets a pass with Colbert on a lot of the issues where he attacked Lewis. This could be due to the fact that we’ve had decades of conversation about the controversial racism/sexism issues involved in the Narnia series. But the reading I’ve done shows that the literary world is not giving Rowling a pass on many of the same charges, and it’s surprising that Colbert would take such pains to constantly remind us of Lewis’ flaws while not even bringing them up in discussion about Rowling.
Really, the absence of a good amount of materials about the author herself is the book’s greatest weakness. His book on Narnia was heavily focused on Lewis as an author. Focus on Rowling is very much missing in this volume. There are occasional references, and the bibliography and endnotes make it obvious that he is aware of Quick Quote Quill, but attention to what Rowling herself has said is sometimes missing.
All in all, good information, even some that I had not read anywhere else. Reading it would not be a waste of time, though much of the same information (and more) can be found by spending an equal amount of time at Harry Potter Lexicon.
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