As the title indicates, the pictures concentrate on the students and teachers at Hogwarts, forming a sort of yearbook. This is intended as a very nice compendium of shots from the first five movies. I am glad to see that there is at lealst one shot of the recurring lesser characters: Crabbe, Goyle, Nevill, Seamus.

It has been somewhat carelessly done, however. It is understandable that action movie stills may be a little blurred. But surely the editors could have found at least one decent portrait of everyone. The pictures of Professors Hooch and Snape are blurry, the pictures of Professors Sprout and Quirrell are quite dark. Really, how much effort would it have taken? ( )

Pictures - no words! Or at least, nearly no words. Very nice slightly over-sized photos from the Harry Potter movies through Goblet of Fire. Set up very much like a school annual, with pictures of students, staff, sports, and candids of student life. ( )

"Hogwarts Through the Years" is a nice keepsake for any die-hard fan of the Harry Potter films. It features photos from all five movies to date ("Harry potter and the Order of the Phoenix"). There are pictures of the Hogwarts staff and student portraits of the various Houses as well. Included are pictures of Quidditch scenes and other Hogwarts school organizations (stand-outs were Dumbledore's Army & the Inquisitorial Squad).

The book has a glossy hardcover, which lends it a nice appearance (looks great standing next to my other hardcover HP books). But I can only give this book four stars since Instead of high-quality images, some of the photos of students are nothing but cropped, low-resolution screen caps from the movies. They're blurry and look bad juxtaposed with the other higher-quality images. And I did wish that Scholastic waited for the movie adaption of the magical beasts instead of presenting the readers with paintings.

Still, I don't regret the purchase; it does provide you with a longer time to pore over the movie stills of the world of Harry Potter than you normally would if you were watching the movies.

Book Details:

Title Hogwarts Through The Years Poster Book
Author Scholastic Inc.
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )