Quidditch Through The Ages: Dive deeper into the wizarding world of Harry Potter

When Severus Snape caught Harry outside Hogwarts with the book "Quidditch Through The Ages" in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, he made up the rule that no library books were allowed outside the school and seized it. 

Needless to say, Snape couldn't go very far with this rule as the book was not only taken out of the school library, it crossed the boundaries of the wizarding world and made itself available to muggles - non-wizard people.  

"Quidditch Through The Ages" is an essential companion of the Harry Potter series - a funny, fact-packed fantasy history of the seriously competitive wizarding sport. 

Though within the fictional world of Harry Potter, "Quidditch Through the Ages" is written by Kennilworthy Whisp - a renowned Quidditch expert - but for us muggles, it is a 2001 book written by the Harry Potter series author JK Rowling. 

This book benefits the BBC affiliated charity "Comic Relief". It was published by Bloomsbury Children's Books and Scholastic alongside the fantasy guidebook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". 

Over 80 percent of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various parts of the world.

In both the fictional and real-world, it is the definitive handbook on the history and intricacies of the game. Bursting with glorious illustrations, magical memorabilia and two super-sized fold-outs, this spectacular full-colour edition pairs JK Rowling's witty, inventive text with Emily Gravett's incredible artistic imagination. 

The book cleverly explained many things we surely wondered about while reading the original series. It shows the world of Harry Potter and its whimsicalness. The book is simply charming and entertaining. It is fast, focused on the history of the teams, which can make you laugh out loud a few times. 

It may not have the charm and essence of the original Harry Potter series but it's a great little read for the fans. How else will you know how the golden snitch came into being? 

The book says Golden Snidgets, a small golden magical bird with fully rotational wings, were hunted back in the day.  

In 1269, the bird was first used in the wizarding game of Quidditch just to make the game more challenging. It was announced that whoever catches the Golden Snidget would get 150 Galleons (wizard money). But this event pushed the bird towards extinction. 

Eventually to protect the species, Golden Snidget was replaced by the Golden Snitch (flying golden ball). Now isn't that a brilliant piece of information? 

The book contains articles from The Daily Prophet, a look at famous teams from all over the world like the Heidelber Harriers and the Caerphilly Catapults, and a general history of the sport and the rules. 

"Quidditch Through The Ages" features quotes from Bathilda Bagshot (Historian) and Rita Skeeter (Journalist) - two fascinating characters from the Harry Potter series. 

If you miss Dumbledore and wish to have him as your headmaster, this book has a foreword by Dumbledore, which is a lovely touch. 
The book is filled with diagrams, news clippings, excerpts from journals, and a wide variety of made-up names and absurd but plausible-sounding historical tidbits from JK Rowling's fertile mind. 

Potterheads will be delighted to know more about their favourite magical sport, and Rowling's clever, humorous way of telling it may make them wish that all history books were written this way.

It may not be educational in the sense that it teaches us about real-world stuff, but it is educational in the sense that it teaches us lots more about JK Rowling's fantasy series. 

Anyone who loves Harry Potter or is interested in sports or Quidditch, or is buying this book to support the charity, will not be disappointed by any part of this book.