Because I am a practicing Catholic and my husband is an Evangelical Christian, we both know people who are firmly in the anti-Harry Potter camp. One friend recently referred me to this article.
I have read and enjoyed the first six Harry Potter books (except for Order of the Phoenix, which I really hated), and I plan to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows once the hype wears off and it’s available for checkout at the library.
The day before Deathly Hallows became available in bookstores, I read this in Fort Collins Public Library‘s announcement of its Harry Potter party:
Along with the traditional popcorn and Butter Beer, there will be a session of Wizard’s School led by Mark the Magician, a costume contest, a trivia contest, and at midnight a reading of the first chapter of the new book. The event is for ages 9 and up and advance registration is required… J.K. Rowling has reported that in this final book, at least one major character dies. There will be a board where participants can post who they think that character will be.
I remember part of the promotion of the fourth book was that a character dies, part of the promotion of the fifth book was that a character dies, part of the promotion of the sixth book was that a character dies. Now, we’re getting excited that a major character dies in the seventh book, and we make a game out of guessing who the unfortunate character is.
I’m finding all this excitement over death in this series to be disturbing. I’m not against killing off characters in a story, but making that a major part of your promotion? Maybe the anti-Harry people have a point. I know if I allow my children to read the Harry Potter series, they are going to be older than 9 before they start. A lot older than 9.
I haven’t read any of the books–just hasn’t been of interest to me. I’m firmly in the “let parents decide for their own children about the books” camp. If Abby ever gets interested, I’ll read them first. There is an interesting post and discussion going on at Jimmy Akin’s blog (www.jimmyakin.org) I think that’s the web address. It’s all interesting to me…I’ll let you know if I ever read them!