THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD (J.K. Rowling)

Fictional trends are like any trend in that they tend to start as a trickle and then envelop everything and everyone, well most everyone as I still hate Twilight, in their paths. Rowling was the literary uber giant before Meyer came along but the thing that differentiates her from the vampire chick is that Rowling knew her capabilities and ran full-steam ahead, actually developing her skills as a writer never losing sight of what it was that made her books so enchanting in the first place. For whilst The Twilight Saga taps into a wider social psyche, Harry Potter merely created a new one.

Inventing and admittedly borrowing a lot from the fantastical elements of writers past, Rowling managed to fashion a world so believable in its presence and so involving in its character that one actually felt a part of the wizarding world. Twilight has merely created this sense that people want to be a part of it. It's a cheap thrill that hopefully will run its course. Quickly. For character is what really set the Hogwarts world apart from the countless other fantasy-rooted literary worlds on the market. The strength, the hope, the courage, the honour and the humour all melded into one to establish the Potter phenomenon as something that will more than likely last generations.

At the conclusion of her seven part series Rowling seemed to be decisive that Harry would remain within the pages of those books but for the benefit of her followers she ventured forward with a pint-sized offering looking at some of the subsidiary elements to the Potter saga. Here in The Tales Of Beedle The Bard, she really seems to be merely giving Dumbledore one last hurrah before he is let go completely from any new work. For his demise within the series left a true hole with his foreboding presence and gentle wit unmatched by any of the other central characters. Here in this collection of silly and frothy moral tales, Dumbledore's sense of humour really shines through with his commentary on each of the selected tales.

This isn't anywhere in the league of the Potter series - it's not meant to be either - but it reassures the reader much in the same vein as a phonecall home to mum that our favourites are still there somewhere, hidden amongst the pages of those multicoloured books, always waiting for a revisit.