Harry Potter Essay -- J.K. Rowling Literature Wizards Papers

Harry Potter A young, scrawny boy who wears horn-rimmed glasses and has a scar on his forehead has catapulted into the hearts of millions of readers, young and old alike. This same boy has generated nationwide controversy over censorship versus freedom of speech. In particular, the community of Zeeland, Michigan has banned reading aloud from Harry Potter and required written parental permission to check the book out from the school library. Although the Zeeland community as well as other segments of the population claim that the Harry Potter books should be censored because they believe wizardry is a dark and malignant reality, Harry Potter should be made available to all children because he reinforces a sense of good and evil, provides a protagonist that embodies Christian values, and nurtures a lifelong love for literature. Millions of children around the world along with a good many adults are now familiar with Harry Potter. Created by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter is an orphan who, for the first eleven years of his life, has lived with and suffered abuse from his relatives, the Dursleys. His life changes dramatically, however, when he turns eleven and finds out that he is in fact a wizard and will be attending Hogwarts, a wizardry school. Adventures abound as Harry begins his new life learning to be a wizard. The Harry Potter books, four of which have been published, with another three planned, are so hugely popular that the New York Times Book Review was forced to revise their best-seller list in order to appease publishers and authors of adult material. Because the first Harry book dominated the best-seller list since its inception in 1998, children's books must now appear only on t... ...Search. Goshen College Good Library. 15 March 2001. "Letters to the Editor." Horn Book Magazine Oct. 2000: 499. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 15 March 2001. Maudlin, Michael G. "Virtue on a Broomstick." Christianity Today 4 Sept. 2000: 117. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 15 March 2001. Samuels, Art. "Pooh-poohing Pottermania." U.S. News & World Report 24 July 2000: 12. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2001. Swartz, Elizabeth. "Wild About Harry (Potter)!." Teaching PreK-8 31.1 (2000): 76. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 15 March 2001. "Tale of Two Wizards." Reading Today 18.3 (2001): 15. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 19 March 2001. <![endif]>