Medium – Book
About the Book – In this beautifully designed and illustrated edition of the first Harry Potter novel, we meet Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry lives with his horrible relatives, the Dursleys, and has done since his parents were killed ‘in a car crash’. When he turns eleven, Harry starts getting mysterious letters, which are followed up by a visit from the half-giant Hagrid. He tells Harry that he is a wizard, and this starts Harry’s journey to the Wizarding school, Hogwarts. Once Harry arrives, he meets new friends, learns magic, and finds that the dark wizard who was destroyed when he tried to kill Harry may not be so dead after all.
My Rating – 5/5
My Thoughts – Unsurprisingly, this was the Harry Potter book I read first, and the one that got me into reading the whole series of books. It is a book which has always had a special place in my heart, which is why I have a few versions of it – the original one from when I was 11 (really had to do some maths there!), the illustrated version, the Ravenclaw special edition (because of course I would be a Ravenclaw…) and this edition. MinaLima are the design team behind the ‘look’ of the Harry Potter movies – the graphic design of all the items that appear in the shops, the posters, the newspapers etc. They have a museum in London that I am definitely making a visit to when the world re-opens, and have created this book, alongside other classic literature books such as ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
What MinaLima have done is take the text from the original book and add illustrations (drawn in a completely different way to the Jim Kay books), as well as ‘pop up’ interactive paper elements – kind of like a pop-up book for little children. So we get a fold out Hogwarts letter, a pop-up chessboard and an unravelling turban, among other things. It is beautifully done, and is a lovely way of adding an interactive element to a well-loved story. The whole series is one I can read again and again, and I really appreciated how the interactive elements and clever design and illustrations made me enjoy the book in a whole new way. Definitely recommended for Potterheads!
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