I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical of
Harry Potter
. Will I read it? Never! Before you judge me let me explain a bit further…When I was in the fifth grade I had a pen pal in Ohio. She wrote me a letter telling me that she and some friends had checked out a book of love spells from the library. Now granted, it was the fifth grade (What book of spells can a fifth grader truly check out (one that has any type of substance) without someone raising an eyebrow?) however, I didn’t think about that in my nine year old mind…All I thought about was, that doesn’t sound right. I immediately wrote her a letter telling her to be careful. A few weeks later I got a response that basically said, Yeah, we’re careful, but it didn’t work anyways. The point? At a young age, with little church background I felt like witchcraft, spells, etc. were dangerous. I still think that it’s a dangerous thing…Do I think we should ban these books? I’m split. Ban them? Perhaps not, but if you let your child read these books, read them together; then you’ll be the first person they’ll turn to if they have questions.
So did I ever read Harry Potter? Yes, I read book #2 (at the time I thought it was the first book). What did I think? Well, I was ready to read the next book...and I can fully see the appeal for kids. The book was action packed and kept me wanting to read more. Honestly, I want to do a little more research on it…See why some people are so passionate about it. There is a great book available to parents questioning whether they should allow their children to read the Harry Potter books. The books is
Fantasy and Your Family: Exploring the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Modern Magick .
If ever in doubt, read the book before handing it to your child…do a little research and figure out what the fuss is about. By doing this you can have an informed opinion on whether your child should read it and you’ll be able to back those opinions up.
