Harry Potter - Creatures: A Paper Scene Book by Warner Bros

Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2018. ISBN 9781526605849
(Age: 6+) Recommended. Themes: Fantasy, Art. Fans of the Harry Potter world will be thrilled with this very handsome volume featuring the fantasy world and dark creatures of the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest and the dragons of the Triwizard Tournament. There are four fascinating paper cut-out dioramas showing the strange creatures from the films that readers will be find themselves poring over. Some will be a tad frightening like the strange merpeople in the Black Lake all coloured in blue black with a slightly paler blue or the dementors in Dark Creatures, coloured in paper of the deepest purple. All have Harry Potter lurking somewhere, his distinctive glasses giving a clue to his whereabouts.
The artistry of the dioramas is incredible. The paper cut-out works are intricate and beautifully produced in deep, dark, rich colours and each begs to be inspected closely.
The introduction gives an outline of what is in the book and interspersed between the dioramas is a double page spread describing the creatures, some of the films' productions and how the creatures were designed and filmed, all with illustrations and photographs to stimulate the imagination. The descriptions of how the creatures were created for the films, using well known myths for some like the centaurs and the magnificent red dragons or J.K. Rowling's imagination for the unknown creatures give the readers an in-depth idea of the creativity of the film-makers.
This will be a delight for all art lovers who will be intrigued by the intricate work of the dioramas, while fans of the Harry Potter world will want to have this in their collection.
Pat Pledger