I know this is way off-topic, but I'm going to yield to temptation and
post anyway.

Wirt Atmar writes:
>Actually, the Harry Potter books were put on the "challenged" list of the
>American Library Association almost from the first...
>
>For more information, see:
>
>     http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin157.shtml
>
>The list of most commonly challenged books appears at the ALA's website:
>
>     http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/top100bannedbooks.html
>
>While I agree that some (perhaps much) of the material on the list is
>completely unsuitable for young children and shouldn't appear in school
>libraries,...

Absolutely. There have been cases of kids being bored to death by some of
those books. They're simply not safe.

>... about a third of the top 100 is either innocuous or is literature
>that should be read. The Harry Potter series is 48th most commonly banned
>book (or at least has been attempted to be banned).
>
>Worse, many of my favorite books rank even higher on this list.

I fondly recall an experience with #48, Harper Lee's _To Kill a
Mockingbird_, which I was assigned to read in 7th grade. I received the
assignment while my parents were off on a trip abroad; they'd hired some
woman to stay with my younger sister and me.

I climbed up on the bookshelf in order to retrieve our copy. The
babysitter noticed this and asked what I was doing. I told her that our
class was reading the book. "They make you read that trash?" she asked
indignantly.

It took me a moment to come up with something to say. "It's a very famous
book," was all I could muster.

"Yes, but it's trash. They shouldn't be making kids read it."

"Have you read it?" I asked.

"No."

"Have you seen the movie?"

"No. But I read the reviews."

I don't know who this woman was, but she taught me a great lesson:
ignorance and censorship are mutually parasitic. Each requires the other
in order to survive.

-- Bruce



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