Harry Potter — Book of Spells
Tiger Electronics
Ages 6 and Up

What It Is

The "Harry Potter Book of Spells" is a combination of game, calendar and electronic organizer designed to look like one of the Harry Potter books. It includes an organizer, alarm, calculator and memory for storing personal information. This novelty item is meant to accompany the popular book series written by J.K. Rowling. In addition, there is basic information on all the characters and elements of the stories and a quiz game. The information is arranged in such categories as "Personal Notes," "Wizard Contacts" and "Favorite Listing."

Why It’s Fun

On the surface, the toy is supposed to allow kids to become more deeply involved in the world of Hogwarts. We’ve consistently discovered that the Harry Potter products kids respond most positively to are those in which kids feel as though they are becoming part of the world of Hogwarts rather than "playing" with action figures. Combining puzzles and games and an electronic version of such Hogwarts specialties as the Remembrall (that helps students remember facts, the Book of Spells offers a deeper play experience. The Quiz game allows the child to win points daily for the Hogwarts house (or dormitory) in which they live.

Who’s Going To Love It

Harry Potter fans will be able to use the Book of Spells to learn more about Harry and his surroundings. Newcomers can get to know Harry and the world of wizardry better. However, they may find the toy ultimately disappointing because of its limitations. For one thing, the quiz game, which is the most fun and involving elements of the whole toy can only be played once every twenty-four hours.. Once the game is played, the toy really becomes an organizer and a database of information from the books. Because some kids have so many different electronic gadgets, it’s doubtful that this will become the primary tool they use for tracking addresses and personal information.

Collectors of all things Harry Potter and die-hard fans who want to be able to look up information about the characters with a few clicks may enjoy this toy.

What To Be Aware Of

The toy is fairly heavy and bulky as an organizer and the limitations described above make it not as much fun as either the trivia games (which are just cards) or some of the other Harry Potter products. While initially intrigued by this, the kids (all of whom were Harry Potter fans) we gave this to got bored quickly and would not have spent their own money on it. (Always a telling question.)

Two "AA" batteries, not included, are required.