The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials

by Steve Vander Ark

This unofficial guide to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is a 368 page companion work perfect for the curious reader who wants to know more about these remarkable books. Named one of 15 Great Web Sites for Kid by the Association For Library Services, a division of the American Library Association, the Lexicon is an authoritative, fun to read reference to the series.

For years fans who have heard Vander Ark keynote academic conferences on the Potter series have asked him for a book based on his website that attracts more than 25 million visitors annually. Extensive new commentary, which does not appear on the Lexicon website adds to the fun of reading this fascinating book.

The author has been featured around the world in more than 1,000 articles appearing in publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker, The London Times, The International Herald Tribune and the Associated Press as well as National Public Radio, the BBC and CNN.

A must for serious students of this classic series as well as fans of all age, the Lexicon adroitly indexes the Potter world, offers insights on the popular movies and includes hundreds of etymologies that explain the origins of names, places and spells invented by the author. Citations make it easy to find fictional facts spread across the million word plus series. The entire book is perfectly cross referenced with J.K. Rowling's interviews, public statements and appearances. The essential unauthorized literary companion to these wonderful novels, the Lexicon is the result of eight years of prodigious research. It provides fascinating analysis, new insights and a deep appreciation of Rowling's work.

Genres: Harry Potter, Fantasy, Reference, Young Adult, Books About Books

347 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2008

About the author

Steve Vander Ark was an educator and school librarian for fifteen years, teaching and reading aloud to kids from pre-school age on up. He also served as curriculum consultant and trainer in literacy and educational technology for teachers and parents. He has also been a theatre director, performer, composer, and playwright, entertaining audiences of all ages. He is the author of two books, In Search of Harry Potter and The Lexicon An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction.
Steve Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon website is visited by millions of visitors annually. For years fans have enjoyed Steve's presentations and keynotes talks at major academic conferences on the Harry Potter novels, including Sectus in London, Patronus in Copenhagen, Lumos in Las Vegas, and Prophecy in Toronto.

Vander Ark, who has read the Potter novels more than 40 times, has been interviewed many times by the media, including appearances on the Today Show and the BBC Radio, plus numerous interviews in publications such as the New Yorker, Time Magazine, and the Guardian. His interview for an A& E television special on the series appears as part of the extra section on the DVD edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. A former school media specialist, Vander Ark has been honored by fans of the series who appreciate his insights into the books. The Association for Library Services for Children, a division of the American Library Association, has named the Lexicon website one 15 "Great Web Sites For Kids."

Reviews

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

{Note: this review may contain spoilers}

Steve Vander Ark's website, the Harry Potter Lexicon, can be an incredibly useful tool at times, though difficult to navigate. The book is much the same way. A wealth of information is contained in this book, but in most cases, unless you know specifically what you are looking for, you may never find it. For example, there is no rhyme or reason as to how spells are placed in this encyclopedia. The most sensible way would be to list the name of the spell in its alphabetical place (for example, Diffindo) and the common name of the spell ("severing charm") in its place. Each should have a note referencing the other ("see also: 'Diffindo'"). This is almost never the case. Sometimes, in fact, the only information listed about a spell is the proper name. Of course, if you didn't know what the proper name was, and simply wanted to find the digging charm used in Deathly Hallows, you would probably never find it, as it is only listed as its proper name.
Another issue with the book is the fact that not all information about the characters is listed. I understand that it would be impossible (and slightly illegal) to write a complete biography of each character, but there are inconsistencies when listing birth and death dates. The disclaimers on the front, back, and inside of the book make mention of the fact that some information was left out- we can assume that the author was not allowed to "spoil" much of the actual series due to the litigation that hounded the publishing of this encyclopedia. When I noticed that several characters who died in the Battle of Hogwarts did not have their death dates listed, I assumed that the author was not allowed to share this information, for fear of spoiling the last book for readers. And yet, other death dates for characters who perished in the final Harry Potter book are listed. There is no reasoning provided for inconsistencies like this.
Finally, the book has several factual, grammatical, and spelling errors. The biggest one I have noticed so far (I am not quite finished reading the book) is that Fred and George Weasley are listed as being born eight months before Charlie Weasley. We all know Charlie is older- and it seems unlikely that Mrs. Weasley would have been able to give birth again that soon, anyway. This is a mistake that a fan should have caught and corrected easily. Alas, here it is, in this book.
The only true benefit I have been able to find so far is that so much extra information (from interviews, chats, etc.) is listed in the books. Information is culled from a variety of canon and non-canon sources, including the Famous Wizard cards, the Daily Prophet newsletters, Rowling herself, interviews, etc. This was most appreciated.
All in all, I'd say that you're either better off sifting through information on the website or getting this book from your local library rather than buying it. Most of the information is available for free online, from the author of this book, and I think that might be preferable to having a disorganized, sometimes sloppily written, unattractive book on my bookshelf.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an avid Harry Potter fan, and Fanfiction author, I adore this book. There's really just about any fact you'd need/want to know about the Harry Potter series in this book. I still use the site more often than not, but it's great to have this book on hand when writing fanfiction. I also get a kick out of just opening the book to a random page, reading everything on it, and walking away. It's like a quick Harry Potter fix for the obsessive part of me.

[Nessa [October Tune]]

It's a really nice book, I found out some things about the Wizarding World that I didn't know already. There were some very minor mistakes at some points, and I didn't agree with some of the fan theories that were talked about for some things, but I will certainly consult this book (or perhaps the website, if it has more information especially now the Fantastic Beasts movies are coming) in the future!

[Hannah Boehmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book cover to cover, and was honestly a little surprised to find it was a delightful lens to view Harry Potter through all over again. The italicized commentary added to many entries was a wonderful surprise, and there were multiple instances of insight that were new to me. I'm of the generation that was the same age as Harry as the books were released, I have read the series countless times, and have listened to the audiobooks many, many times through (I have Jim Dale's inflection nearly memorized - my love of HP has been very real for a very long time!). I'm unsure that I will go back and use this book as a reference text, but I can say I did thoroughly enjoy reading it straight through and adding annotations in the margins. The text winks at those who know the entire story arc, without being insanely spoiler-heavy or patronizing.

Published in 2009, The Lexicon is blissfully absent of both The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Cursed Child. I am disappointed and displeased with the new content created by JKR, as well as her unnecessary and harmful statements towards the transgender community, and for this reason, I prefer to find third party sources that discuss the original HP canon. Prior to reading The Lexicon, this was usually in the form of chapter-by-chapter reread and discussion (either written, like The Harry Potter Companion website or podcasts like Alohomora, Binge Mode, Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, The Real Weird Sisters, Unspoiled, Witch Please, Wizard Team, and Swish and Flick). This was a change of pace, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you are deeply steeped in the canon and still searching for more, I recommend reading The Lexicon cover to cover! I've heard The Lexicon website referenced over the years but had never dug deeply into it myself beyond the occasional search, so I'm interested to start perusing the site as well. Thank you to The Lexicon team, this was a nice refresher in a fun format :)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dictionary/encyclopedia, and it works fairly well as that as long as you have an idea what you are looking for. It is alphabetical, without any other indexing. As another reviewer wrote, it would be nice to have included tables showing lists of what characters are in what houses or lists of potions outside of tracking them down alphabetically. But you can tell the author put a great deal of work into this item, and for anyone doing research or wanting that extra bit of information to understand the books, I think this is pretty great.

My daughter is creeping up on the age when she will start reading HP, and I will probably purchase a copy of this for our house if/when she is interested to help her fully experience the HP world.

[paradiseofdust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una enciclopedia de Harry Potter no oficial, recopilada de una página web de hace bastantes años y con algunas inexactitudes. Como lectura, pues es una enciclopedia y se hace pesada.

Me resultaba irritante cómo la enciclopedia pasaba por alto datos importantes de la saga y en otros detalles insignificantes te ponía la explicación del siglo pero bueno... No me extraña que J. K. Rowling no diese el visto bueno.

Pero en resumen, para todo Potterhead es un libro guay que tener en la estantería y con una tapa muy chula.

[Ana Sandoval g · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una enciclopedia muy completa, no creo que le faltará nada, mucho de esto se sabe de los libros sin necesidad de buscarlo extra. Lo que no de las películas y en mi parecer solo le hubiera agregado cosas que se descubren del legacy que también está lleno de datos que completan el lore.

[Gwynplaine26th · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto in una notte. Indispensabile promemoria per veri Potterhead.

[Muška Záchejová · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ja vlastne ani neviem načo som to čítala. Klasický lexikón, len zo sveta Harryho Pottera. Nie je to zlé, len pomerne zbytočné.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro muy interesante, pero creo que algunas cosas se las saca de la manga

[Daniel A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials, the "hard copy", as it were, of Steve Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon online (which Vander Ark doesn't seem to have updated lately in any event), provides a good deal of valuable, if not essential, information in understanding where J.K. Rowling got her ideas for the Harry Potter series. On the other hand, however—as I said in one of my status updates on The Lexicon—I'm not entirely sure that this book is important for the reasons that Vander Ark intended. Yes, it's interesting to see how much Rowling was influenced by classic English comedy such as The Goon Show and Monty Python, but the knowledge that this book is very much a product of Vander Ark having lost an infringement lawsuit brought by Rowling and her publishers rather puts a damper on the entire effort; after all, when Vander Ark cites the legal opinion from the Southern District Court of New York as among his sources, it feels very much as if he's skirted the letter of the infringement ruling, and that ultimately knocks several points off the entire effort for me, as a lawyer trained in intellectual property.

That being said, The Lexicon does provide a pretty good resource, culled from various sources outside the Harry Potter works themselves, in an effort most readers wouldn't have the wherewithal—or obsessiveness—to expend, for Rowling's ideas and summaries of the backgrounds of the various characters, people, and places in the Potterverse. Nevertheless, with the ready availability of much of this information, if not more illustrative material, on Pottermore, much of it directly from Rowling herself, it feels a bit as if Vander Ark's Lexicon has outlived some of its usefulness. When Vander Ark only obliquely refers to some of the backgrounds of core characters such as Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, or Harry Potter himself—when any even casual fan of the series can see that Vander Ark is skirting both the details of the series and the ruling from S.D.N.Y.—you kind of know there's at least some problem with the work as a whole. Ultimately, while The Lexicon is interesting and enlightening, it falls apart for more serious fans of the Potterverse, if only because of the issue of what it includes, and leaves out.

[Claire M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to get into the whys and wherefores about the lawsuit because I could see both sides to it. The Lexicon is strictly alphabetical, which assumes that you have a pretty accurate working knowledge of the HP world. A index would have been damn helpful. For example, a listing of all the spells would seem to be a no brainer, but there is no index for this book. Who's in Slytherin house? You have to flip through the entire friggin book to find out who is in Slytherin. It certainly is nice to pick up this book and flip the "M"'s so that I can find out how to spell McGonagall (I always want to add another n), but it's frustrating if you want to, say, have a list of teachers at Hogwarts. I suppose this is part of the settlement deal between JKR and Mr. Vander Ark, but it seems like half a book. And I will find myself going BACK to the website because of the way this book is organized. IT NEEDS AN INDEX. In fact, I'm going to take away a star because I had anticipated that I would use this instead of the website and now I find that in most cases I will be returning to the website.

[MeriiXún~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reconozco que he tardado un poco en leerlo por el formato. Como su nombre indica, nos encontramos ante una enciclopedia que recoge prácticamente todo lo relacionado con el mundo de Harry Potter. En ella encontraremos, por orden alfabético, personajes, lugares, animales, hechizos, etc., y una pequeña explicación sobre ellos. En el caso de los personajes, en muchos casos hay una pequeña biografía y en los hechizos, se incluye su pronunciación además de una explicación sobre para que sirven. Para cualquier fan de la saga, es un libro interesante de tener, sobre todo porque sirve para refrescar cosas y para, llegado el caso en que fuese necesario, buscar algo en concreto. Aparte de eso, no aporta nada más. Evidentemente no hay apenas información nueva, aunque como digo va muy bien para refrescar cosas. Se me ha hecho un poco complicado de leer puesto que al fin y al cabo es una enciclopedia y leer todo el rato definiciones y explicaciones, sin nada más que el mundo de Harry Potter como nexo de unión, se hace un poco pesado. A pesar de ello, ha sido una buena lectura que me ha traído muchos recuerdos y que me ha servido para recordar algunos detalles.

[Runa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, so The Lexicon. The book that prompted a legal battle that pretty much split the fandom. A lot of trouble to get one book published, and in my humble opinion, it was worth it all. While it has its small problems, The Lexicon is THE Harry Potter superguide we've all wanted for so many years. The fans will like it, the newer readers just getting into the series will certainly appreciate it, and any re-read will have to be accompanied by this invaluable encyclopedia. Not all of the information is included, and the organization is not the best (It is, as in any encyclopedia, alphabetical, but I wonder if it should have had more effort put into the categorization. After all, chances of me going to look up 'abstinence' instead of a simpler 'passwords' are very, very slim.) Of course, not all the information is included, and you'll have to dig a little to find what you're looking for, but you will find what you're looking for. In a nutshell, essential for fanatics, essential for new fans, but ultimately, it is the website you should be consulting.

Rating: 4.5/5

[Sheela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I "read" this book, but it's really not a book. It's more like an encyclopedia of HP terms. I skimmed this controversial book that is based on his popular website, thinking it would offer insights into the world of HP. Instead, it's intended for people who might be reading HP for the first time and needs help with the terminology and the names. However, the best part of reading HP is trying to figure out the relationships yourself.

Though, he does offer some interesting tidbits throughout the guide that I didn't know before i.e Characters that got cut from J.K Rowling's original idea, etc. He has done his research, and it shows throughout the book.

[Debora M | Nasreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libro interessantissimo e assolutamente VITALE per chi, come me, è una scrittrice di Fanfiction del Fandom di HarryPotter.
Finalmente, con Lexicon alla mano, potrò riprendere a scrivere senza dover aver sempre sotto mano almeno 20/30 link di chroome aperti!

MI sarei aspettata maggiori immagini e una catalogazione per genere (insegnanti, incantesimi, creature magiche...), magari qualcosa di cartaceo e che racchiudesse le info presenti sul sito
www.hp-lexicon.org, ma ci accontentiamo.

Sono felice, soddisfatta e orgogliosa di aver comprato questo romanzo!

[Daph (Loving Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a incomplete encyclopedia of the Harry Potter Series. I found this book to be wrong in some things, like some of the elements of the series that are discussed in the book. I hoped it would tell me more about the background of certain characters and names, so when it didn't it was a big disappointment.

If you would like to buy a book that tells you more about the background and mythical explanations of the characters, names and so on, don't buy this book.

[Hermioneginny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dalla A di A merenda con la morte alla Z di Zuccotto di zucca, in questo dizionario è racchiuso il mondo di Harry Potter. Ho passato ore e ore sul sito creato dall'autore, mi aspettavo qualcosa di più approfondito, invece tutto rimane in superficie, senza svelare troppo... Peccato, mi sarebbe piaciuto avere per ogni nome tradotto in italiano l'originale inglese. Una HP addicted come me non è soddisfatta al 100%.
Spero solo che prima o poi JK si decida a scrivere la sua enciclopedia!!!

[Aegine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really the Lexicon of Harry Potter. They have everything from main characters to some insignficant potion ingredient. Plus, they have side notes on the names, creatures and basically everything!

[Lavecchiastrega · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il Lexicon è un agile volume, di facile consultazione che permette a tutti i lettori appassionati della saga di Harry Potter di poter controllare, approfondire, rivivere il mondo magico creato dalla penna di JKR.
Io non ho potuto farne a meno!
Consigliato per i Potteraddicted

[Lorenza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giusto una chicca che non può mancare alla collezione di una Potter-maniac come sono io... ma si tratta solo di un lungo vocabolario di luoghi, personaggi, incantesimi, animali, oggetti magici, eccetera, eccetera. Noiosetto ma comunque interessante.

[Georgesear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference tool, too bad about the courtroom drama. Can't wait for the "Scottish Book"!

[Savannah Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really well organized and up-to-date.

[Stacy G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It is the go-to book for everything Harry Potter. I loved it. I reccommend it for all harry potter fans.
It was amazing. I highly reccommend it to everyone.

[Christina]

I very much appreciate the author's notes, where he goes into the etymological and mythological roots of the various proper nouns JK Rowling put in the books. Quite interesting.

[angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

love this ! i bought a copy because it contains so much information a lot of which i learned in this book it's a lot of fun info for harry fans great reference book

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent to read comments, regarding my favorite book series. A lot of the things are what I have wondered about myself. Can't wait to read the rest of the series when they come out.

[hpboy13 · Rating 5 out of 5]

An indispensable book for any true hardcore HP fan!

[Maggie]

This book is a must read if you love the Harry Potter series! It is full of so much interesting information.

[Toni FGMAMTC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read that JK Rowling was opposed to this book so I hate to read it if so, but, at the same time, it's so helpful how everything is grouped and broken down and easy to pinpoint.