Harry Potter

3 Pages 729 Words

Website Review: “The Great Harry Potter Debate”

I reviewed a website entitled, “The Great Harry Potter Debate.” (http://www.elycia-webdesign.com/harrypotter/debate/) The website discussed the censorship of children’s literature. It focused on the Harry Potter series. The series tells the story of a young boy, Harry Potter, whose parents are killed by the evil sorcerer Voldemort. He narrowly escapes Voldemort's attempt to kill him also, and carries a lightning shaped scar on his forehead from the battle. In the series of books, Harry goes to a magical land and learns how to become a wizard. He attends the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the books, he encounters many adventures. (Arendt)
As I said before, the website discussed the censorship of the Harry Potter series. I chose to focus on the Anti-Harry Potter portion of the site because it dealt with this touchy subject of censorship. According to the website, some conservative Christian parents have openly called for the banning of the Harry Potter books in schools. Many parents who object to the Harry Potter books base their objections on the teaching of the Christian church. “The fears and misconceptions about anything having to do with ‘magic’ or ‘wizards’ being directly linked to Satan has helped cause this parental panic (Arendt).” There have been formal attempts to ban the books made in New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
Censorship is a serious subject. People have always tried to censor books in schools. They have done this due to religious or political reasons. They also want what is best for their children. The website told me that many communities have taken action against books that they feel will have negative effects on their children's development. I have a hard time understanding why they believe the Harry Potter series will have negative effects on their children’s development.
I have since found that there is...