Having only got through half of the Harry Potter books that factor maybe had a negative impact on reading this because J.K Rowling is writing for an audience totally immersed in her world.
As a result of not being a Potter expert you come to this cold and as a result the book has to stand and fall on its own merits. Okay so it has to be put into perspective that this is for charity and everyone knows how popular her books are so it will raise money.
As a collection of fairy tales it is not too bad but what undermined it for me were the notes that followed each story attributed to Dumbledore the headmaster of Potter’s school Hogwarts. He puts the stories into a historical context and shares the reaction to them from wizards at the time of publication.
But most of the observations he makes about the actual stories you have already realised as an adult reader and too much space is spent spelling the obvious out.
But still this is a kid’s book and it does what it should with a combination of make believe and author-penned illustrations it will take children back to the land of witches and wizards as well as helping out some of the poorest children and so for that it has to get a thumbs up and my grumpiness ceases.