Book: Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard

Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard

Tom Felton
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From the magical moments on set as Draco Malfoy to the challenges of growing up in the spotlight, get a backstage pass into Tom Felton’s life on and off the big screen.

Tom Felton’s adolescence was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame in beloved films like The Borrowers catapulted him into the limelight, but nothing could prepare him for what was to come after he landed the iconic role of the Draco Malfoy, the bleached blonde villain of the Harry Potter movies. For the next ten years, he was at the center of a huge pop culture phenomenon and yet, in between filming, he would go back to being a normal teenager trying to fit into a normal school.

Speaking with great candor and his signature humor, Tom shares his experience growing up as part of the wizarding world while also trying to navigate the muggle world. He tells stories from his early days in the business like his first acting gig where he was mistaken for fellow blonde child actor Macaulay Culkin and his Harry Potter audition where, in a very Draco-like move, he fudged how well he knew the books the series was based on (not at all). He reflects on his experiences working with cinematic greats such as Alan Rickman, Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ralph Fiennes (including that awkward Voldemort hug). And, perhaps most poignantly, he discusses the lasting relationships he made over that decade of filming, including with Emma Watson, who started out as a pesky nine-year-old whom he mocked for not knowing what a boom mic was but who soon grew into one of his dearest friends. Then, of course, there are the highs and lows of fame and navigating life after such a momentous and life-changing experience.

Tom Felton’s Beyond the Wand is an entertaining, funny, and poignant must-read for any Harry Potter fan. Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.

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! Possible Spoiler Alert !

This was quite a read. I was a low-key HP fan (didn’t finish the books sorry, but still a fan of what I had read; didn’t finish the movies either, wanted to wait till I finished the books to get on to the movies... now I think it's not going anywhere anymore LOL). And when Evanna first published her book, I thought in my head that I’d read the books the child actors eventually wrote. Next was Bonnie’s, so now it’s Tom’s.

I totally got blindsided though, as the Beyond the Wand started up so chipper and sunny and happy and all that. Evanna’s book intro stated already it’s mostly about her eating disorder, Bonnie’s was quite upfront about it being an environmental book. I thought Tom’s would just be some funny behind the scenes snippets of the projects he worked on, which it was, but then suddenly goes into the field of mental disorders. I think it was a mild form of depression (I’m no doctor and I don’t claim that I’m right, I just think it’s that), but, when the book got into that topic, I was totally unprepared for it.

I’m marking this as possible spoilers as I’m not sure if the left field aspect of this is intentionally unmentioned or not!

Now because I’ve read this, Goodreads and Amazon is reccing me the Alan Rickman book… but he didn’t write it, still contemplating what to read next.