Beedle the Bard: a quick, good and very dark read

Over the holiday weekend I read J.K. Rowling's newest work, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. A small book of five "popular bedtime reading[s] for young wizards and witches", with an introduction by Rowling, commentary by Albus Dumbledore and translation by Hermione Granger. 

Rowling's Bard lived in the fifteenth century and his stories are to wizarding what "Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are to Muggle (non-magical) children."

Die hard fans of the Harry Potter series will instantly squeal at the possibility that Bard's tales could be a tiny, eighth Harry Potter novel. Sorry, folks. It's not, which is why I think it was a difficult read for me. 

I sailed through the page-turning stories of plagues, death, evil, trickery, and of course, magic! with glee. The stories are Harry Potter-odd, easy to read and offer up some unexpected twists. 

Unfortunately, I found myself skipping over the Dumbledore commentary -- and I think that part is supposed to be kind of a big deal. For me, it was more of a mind-bending challenge to try and remember what the heck Dumbledore is referring to most of the time. And I grew tired of that. (I even got tired of reading Rowling's commentary attempting to explain Dumbledore's commentary.)  

But the weirdest/most surprising thing for me is how dark the tales are, especially the third one, The Warlock's Hairy Heart. 

Maybe it was because I read the book over Christmas, but I just didn't expect to be reading such dark stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's great! It's just dark.

Still, I'd highly recommend Tales of Beedle the Bard, just skip the Dumbledore bore.

I'd love to hear your take on it. Will you let your little kiddos read it? Am I just getting old?