Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

by J. K. Rowling

Overview

For Newt Scamander’s book about magical creatures, click here.

J.K. Rowling's screenwriting debut is captured in this exciting hardcover edition of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay.

When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. Featuring a cast of remarkable characters, this is epic, adventure-packed storytelling at its very best.

Whether an existing fan or new to the wizarding world, this is a perfect addition to any reader's bookshelf.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338109061
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	11/18/2016
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	19,451
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, which have sold over 450 million copies, been translated into 79 languages, and made into eight blockbuster films. She has written three companion volumes in aid of charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (in aid of Comic Relief), and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (in aid of Lumos), as well as a screenplay inspired by Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. J.K. Rowling has also collaborated on a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts Parts One and Two, which opens in London’s West End in the summer of 2016. In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital company Pottermore was launched, where fans can enjoy her new writing and immerse themselves deeper in the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling has written a novel for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy, and also writes crime novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Hometown:

Perthshire, Scotland

Date of Birth:

July 31, 1965

Place of Birth:

Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England

Education:

Exeter University

Website:

http://www.jkrowling.com

Editorial Reviews

2016-12-06
A handsomely packaged version of the dialogue and staging directions for the recently released film. Rowling has expanded her slim 2001 Harry Potter spinoff into a multiepisode storyline, and this is the first. Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in 1926 New York with a bag—much larger inside than out—full of rare creatures. In short order, he not only allows several of them to escape, but falls afoul of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (the local equivalent of the Ministry of Magic). Mad escapades ensue, featuring wizardly duels and encounters with all sorts of exotic fauna from Occamies to Bowtruckles. The script presented here sticks closely to the screen version, but both the printed lines and the italicized stage directions add nuance and details that may elude even close viewers of the movie. Newt's walk, for instance, is described at the outset as conveying "an unselfconscious Keatonesque quality," and a later comment that "Occamies are choranaptyxic" invites more pondering than the live action allows. Also, rather than using images from the film, Rowling's rare and sketchy line drawings in the original edition have been replaced here with decorative swashes on every page and stylized animal forms, all done in elegantly calligraphic pen strokes. A glossary of film terms and partial lists of the film cast and crew are appended. Thin soup compared to a conventional prose narrative—but enough to carry readers along and to give them at least a sense of the characters and their milieu. (Fantasy script. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews