BOOK REVIEW: Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton

A fascinating look into the actor who brought Draco Malfoy to life.

I first started reading the Harry Potter books right around the time that the first movie was coming out and The Goblet of Fire was being released. I was at a point where I wasn’t reading all that much as I was just starting my teaching career and had absolutely zero time. I was teaching 7th grade in an inner city middle school and was trying to figure out how I could engage these students in reading “literature.”  I loved being an English teacher, but I also knew that I wasn’t going to instill a love of reading in 12-13 year olds that had a lot of distractions outside of the school with the classics. They just didn’t see the value in reading.

I took a deep breath and a big risk while holding on to the belief that I was a good enough teacher to make it work, and I bought 30 copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with my own teacher’s money. My intent was to read the book as a class, study it, analyze it to pieces by focusing on friendship, challenges, stereotypes, and literally ANYTHING that they brought up and asked about. I had loose ideas of where I wanted to go, but if I was going to get my kids to love this book, I needed them to connect with it.  The reward for them was that we were due to finish the book right when the movie was going to be released, which naturally meant….field trip!

After 23ish years in education, this literature unit with these kids was one of the absolute BEST moments of my career. I still think about them, and how much Harry Potter rejuvenated my own love of reading, but bridged children’s literature with adult literature for really the first time. My students came alive and watching them all eating their popcorn in the theater and debating “passionately” on the bus ride home about changes and omissions was worth every hour of sleep lost planning activities, giving feedback on work and reading the next chapter ten minutes before class started.

Two decades ago, I lined up with a bunch of young hopefuls all wanting to be cast in the story of a boy who lived in a cupboard under the stairs. It didn’t seem like much of a story to me. Frankly, I thought it was a bit ridiculous-sounding.

So, this little anecdote has nothing really to do with Tom Felton’s book, but I do need to establish how much I value this series and the actors/actresses that brought the stories to life. It is hard to showcase how life changing this series was. My students talked about this for weeks. I ended up purchasing multiple copies of books 2 and 3, so my students could borrow them. They were reading!!!!  Voluntarily!!!!!

Naturally, at that age there was an interest in the villain characters in the book. As a result many of my students really liked Draco, and Tom Felton was a great Draco. Granted, the casting for all the roles was absolute perfection. While Draco clearly doesn’t have as much screentime as Harry, Ron and Hermione, Draco’s character is critical and his character develops throughout the series in a way the others don’t.

I listened to the audiobook, and I found such joy in having “Draco” read to me. How really can one write a review on a memoir? It’s his life, and even though he is in the public eye, there were things that I didn’t know and clearly took some courage to put out there for the world to see and judge.

His early life was fun as he talked about his struggles to try to be a normal teenager while starting his acting career. But what was clear from the very beginning was how much he loves his family and how much their support of him influenced the path his life took. What it must have been like to grow up in a house full of boys!

I wasn’t familiar with any of his work prior to Harry Potter, so that was fun to learn about, but the bulk of the story really did revolve around the decade he spent being Draco Malfoy. The behind the scenes perspective was done respectfully and with an authenticity that just made me want him to tell me more. He discusses what it was like to be on set with a bunch of 9-13 year olds. OMG…I work in education…I can only imagine what it was like to give them all broomsticks!

Learning some of the cinematic techniques used to film the more complicated scenes was a neat insight into the entire film-making process, and overall it was just really cool. It’s clear that it always isn’t as state-of-the-art as one may think it is. If you like movies and enjoyed Harry Potter, this really is a must read.

It's easy to bask in the sun, not so easy to enjoy the rain. But one can't exist without the other. The weather always changes. Feelings of sadness and happiness deserve equal mental screen time.

The part that got me was his after Potter years. If you look for it, you can always find stories of the challenges that child stars have as they become adults. On a set, every second of every day is planned from the 3 hours of onset school to table reads of the script. As an adult there are so many experiences that come about and there is no one else there. I had absolutely zero idea about Tom Felton’s mental health struggles or his alcohol addiction. His candid telling of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and the staged intervention that led to a not so great experience at a rehab facility stunned me.

I follow Tom on Instagram, and his continued friendship with the others actors from the cast warms my heart. Maybe it’s because they were all kids and their most formidable years were spent together in the public eye. They went through something that very few people have; they will always be known as those characters from Harry Potter, so at least they have someone that understands.

This really was a great book, it was easy and quick to read, or in my case, listen to. The different scenes in the filming he highlights made me laugh, especially the Snape scene where people kept stepping on his robes. But, it is not only about Harry Potter, it really is about finding who you are, accepting what you need and what you want, and the power of family. 

Where does this land on my bookshelf?

I’d place it on the top shelf. Not at the tippy top, but it’s definitely there. I don't read nonfiction very often. I tend to prefer to escape from the real world, but every now and then I’ll pick up a memoir. I’m so glad I finally got around to this one. If you love the Harry Potter universe, this is a must read. Not only do you get insight into how the movies shaped Tom Felton and how he shaped the character of Draco, but you get to see a little more about Draco’s character through Tom’s eyes and how he was able to take his talents and create a very complex character that you love to hate.

** I’ll be discussing this book and all things Harry Potter with my co-host, Liz, on the May 2023 episode of my podcast, Speaking LITerally, find it wherever you listen to all your other favorite podcasts - or scroll a little further to find links! **

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