Flourish & Blotts

• What do you think Flourish & Blotts sells? How do you know?
• Why is there a dragon above the door?
• Where do you think this is?
• What do you notice about the buildings?
• Why are there so many chimneys? Why are there so many owls?
• Have you ever been anywhere like this?
• Would you like to shop here? Which shop would you go into first?
• Who were Flourish and Blotts? Write their story – how did they come to meet each other? Were they wizards? Why did they open a book shop?

“They bought Harry’s school books in a shop called Flourish & Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all.”
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

• Some of the books stocked include ‘The Invisible Book of Invisibilty’, ‘The Monster Book of Monsters’, ‘The Book of Charms & Spells’, ‘Magical Drafts and Potions’, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, ‘Unfogging the Future’ and ‘Easy Spells to Fool Muggles’. Write a chapter of one of these books – perhaps work as a class to create a book with one of these titles. [Email your work to onceuponapictureblog@gmail.com for it to be published.]

Illustration credit: Jim Kay
Courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s Books
www.jimkay.co.uk