I would like to give this a 3rd star, but that's what I'm giving its partner, the Quidditch book. I enjoyed reading this, but was glad to be done with it. This is Harry Potter's actual text book, and the most entertaining part is his scribbles in the margins. I enjoyed learning more about the beasts of the Harry Potter world, and the little asides about how muggles have stumbled upon them from time to time. I think this is worth a read for any hardcore Harry Potter fan, but if you just have a passing interest in the HP world, it'd be more worth your while to pass this one up.