Are The Schoolbooks Canon?

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 38950

cindysphynx wrote:
> Abigail wrote: 
> > Are the HP Schoolbooks canon?
> 
> Hmmm.  I was always pretty sure that they are canon.  There is no 
> question that they were written by JKR, after all, which is the 
> definition of canon.  
> 
> I'm not the final authority, though.  We'll have to get a ruling 
> from Lexicon Steve.
> 
> Steve?  
>
> Cindy

As soons as Cindy mentioned Steve (universally acclaimed as the 
*second* most important authority in canon matters, after JKR herself), 
I thought of another member of our little (!) comunity who has some 
pretty impresive archive of near-canon: Alberfoth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike), 
and his onion of canon-oriented material:

Mike wrote:
> The set of texts carrying at least some authority includes the
> following:

>     1.UK editions of PS, CoS, PoA and GoF (unmarked 2nd edition).
> (1st ed GoF has been ruled out; all translations, including US, and
> talking books should be considered derivatives.) 
>     2.QA and FB 
>     3.JKR's press releases 
>     4.Direct interviews with JKR (printed and recorded). (Presently,
> I have about 70 linked from my site - and these are only the ones
> I've managed to find on the internet!) 
>     5.Indirect interviews with JKR (i.e., the authors says what
> Rowling told him but doesn't give a direct quote.) 
>     6.The film, standard edition 
>     7.The film, director's cut (Not yet available; possibly never -
> but we can always hope and petition).

(A detailed explanation can be found in:
http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/canon.htm)

When using canon myself, I always use this as the main guide (with 
Steve's Lexicon in 2.5). To answer the original question, Yes, I do 
think that the schoolbooks are canon and No, I don't think there are 
major inconsistencies between them and the regular Harry books.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf