The Wizarding World connects the seven core Harry Potter novels with the later Cursed Child stage script, the three optional Hogwarts Library companion books, and the separate Fantastic Beasts screenplays. New readers should begin with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and finish the seven novels in publication order. None of the companion branches is required to understand Harry's main story.
The Hogwarts Library collection contains three short companion books presented as texts or storybooks from the Wizarding World: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. They are optional rather than part of the seven-novel Harry Potter story. For the most spoiler-safe route, read the collection after Deathly Hallows.
View Series →Fantastic Beasts is a three-volume sequence of published screenplays following Newt Scamander and the conflict with Grindelwald decades before Harry Potter's story. These are film scripts rather than prequel novels. Read them in publication order if you want this branch, preferably after the seven Harry Potter novels; they are optional and are not needed for Harry's main story.
View Series →Harry Potter's core story is told across seven novels, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Publication order is also the story order and is the clearest route for every first-time reader. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a later stage-play script: read it only after Deathly Hallows, and treat it as an optional continuation rather than an eighth core novel.
View Series →