Entry 9: Other Books, Plays, and Miscellaneous Items

            J.K. Rowling has written several companion books to her Harry Potter series. These include books such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, as well as others. These are books that were mentioned throughout the stories, and acted as textbooks or other reading material in the Harry Potter universe. Reading them really expands on the official lore and kind of acts as a gateway for those that want to peek further into the Harry Potter world.

            Several stage plays were also adapted based on Harry Potter. There is a trilogy of plays that adapt the story in its own way that gained popularity, and one of the actresses from the movie even showed up to play her own character within the play. A new play is being produced right now that acts as a sequel to the original series of seven novels. It features the original characters as adults with their children attending Hogwarts, and new stories are to unfold as it progresses. J.K. Rowling herself is very excited about the project and speaks about it frequently on her social media.

            Harry Potter has also been adapted in many other forms. There is the Harry Potter trading card game, in which you collect several cards that you can buy in packs and build your decks to compete against friends with. While you can still buy some cards for this today, it never quite picked up the same as other popular card games among children such as Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokemon. There are several other kinds of Harry Potter games too, such as Monopoly and Trivial pursuit, and several board games adapted from specific books in the series rather than the series as a whole.

            Harry Potter candy is even a thing. Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans are these kind of jelly beans that, literally, come in every flavor within the Harry Potter universe, ranging from cotton candy, to dirt, to vomit. These have been made for everyday purchase, and having personally eaten some, I must say they can actually get quite gross. It is really fun though to play Bertie Bott roulette with some friends though and see how long you can go before you cringe at the nasty flavor you got. There is even more as far as apparel, costumes, and posters go, the list can really go on forever.