Harry Potter: my official stance.

My admiration for Harry Potter began during high school while I worked at a children’s bookstore. This was before the books were popular, and people would walk in and say, “I need a good read aloud for fifth grade boys.” We would point them to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and then Chamber of Secrets. With names like Albus Dumbledore and Dudley Dursley (‘Ittle Diddykins) and inventions like Parseltongue and Quidditch, what 11 year old boy could resist? Harry’s impetuous, reckless, gangly luck and destiny enchanted… nearly everyone, eventually.

I finally read them on the afternoon of my high school graduation, several months before the release of Prisoner of Azkaban. It was one of the first warm days of summer, and I stretched out in the sun and fell into Harry’s world like he fell into the Pensieve. Hours later, I pulled back into the world of Muggles—only to discover that I had been burned in the encounter. My sunburned legs were on fire and Madame Pomfrey was not around to put them out with magical aloe. The damage was done—my legs are now freckled for life. However easily I burn, I now know I can join the Weasley clan with the descriptive word “ginger” to describe my complexion—much better than arguing about orange, red, or auburn.

Shortly after I left for college, West Michigan erupted into one of the hotter wars over Harry Potter in the schools. One of the public school superintendents banned Harry from his libraries. The management of the children’s bookstore where I had worked took Harry off their shelves and sold it from “behind the counter.” Conservative Christians wrote scathing editorials in the local paper. And those of us who had read it and loved it watched as the name “Harry Potter” became as taboo as “Lord Voldemort.” We fought back with our own editorials and opinions. Eventually, the superintendent lifted the ban and the controversy subsided, rising again every few years with the release of a new book.

As the “Harry Potter phenomenon” picked up speed, the Christian controversy was highlighted several times on a national level. As Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix came out, it was apparent that the books were getting “darker,” and I realized that some of the controversy had merit (but only some). Though I admired Rowling’s incredible details, I decided to continue to be silent until the last Harry Potter books was released, and then I would make my final judgment. Until then, as I started teaching high school English in Christian schools, I treated Harry Potter like Christian teachers discuss Jesus in public schools—if the student brings him up first, then I could continue the conversation.

Enter Book Seven: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. After inhaling the book so quickly I literally gulped to breathe, eight years of Christian tension rolled off my back—I can say with confidence that I fully endorse reading Harry Potter. Fully endorse. No reservations. J.K. Rowling far exceeded my expectations with the last book (other than the epilogue—which is bound to be cheesy in any book). On my next read of the books, I will start making notes for my dissertation regarding Harry Potter and God and why I think reading fantasy literature is an asset to one’s faith and not a danger. Books Five, Six, and Seven in particular have incredible quotes…

I want to go into more detail here as to why I think this—but, considering that this 759 page book has only been in print for four days, you’ll have to wait for that dissertation (you think I’m joking!). All I can say is that Rowling is a genius and I wish that they had not made Movie Five until after Seven had been released. Also—it contains a dragon.

My favorite quote from Seven: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” ☺ Vindicates many years of living inside my ginger head with some very real characters—my freckles and I love it up here.