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I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!!!Sep 20 '00 Write an essay on this topic.I understand the controversy regarding the Harry Potter books, but am interested in adding my one (or two or three) cents into the mix. First of all, the Harry Potter books are fiction, nothing more and nothing less. There is not really a Hogwarts, or a Beaux Batons, or any of the other schools that are dealt with in the books. Okay. Now, having gotten that straight, and hopefully quashing all of the rumors that Hogwarts is real, lets talk about the story. This story, or set of stories, is extremely reminiscent of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He, too, set his series in a strange world where magic worked and things weren't always what they seemed. The only difference between the two series is that in the Oz books, Dorothy can't REALLY do magic. (Or can she . . remember the Ruby Slippers). Both series are being banned across the country by librarians under pressure from people who see these books as preaching "Magic and Witchcraft" to our children, regardless of the fact that the books are obvious fiction. These people are afraid that children will read these books and try some of the "simple spells" in the Harry Potter series and do some actual harm to someone. What they don't seem to understand, or are hiding from, is that their continual reference to these "forbidden" books will just make children want to read them more, and they will find some way to do just that. Harry Potter, Dorothy of Oz, the Psmmead books of E. Nesbit, and other classic children’s tales (and I do class the Potter books as classics - they will be read and remembered by just as many children who read the other classics, and will teach them just as much) do no harm to the children that read them. These books make children use their imagination and stretch their way of thinking. The fact that the classics stay around is because people read them, re-read them and pass them on to their children. Maybe people remember these books and pass them on because these books remind us of a simpler time. Maybe it's because we all yearn, at some point, to be children again and regain our innocence. I don't know the answer to any of that. What I do know is this: Like other classics, all of which have their morals, the Harry Potter series of books doesn't just deal with a magical little boy. It deals with an age-old idea of David and Goliath. And it also teaches children to persevere through adversity, set goals and maintain them, and try when the going gets rough. Not bad lessons for an average child to learn.  |
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by kairosdreaming
by texas-swede
