LISNews: Librarian News

Someone pointed us to the funnytimes.com cartoon for the week of October 4, 2000, it\'s entitled \"Harry Potter and the Christian Fundamentalist\".

Check it out.

Someone suggested this story.Amy Hollingsworth has written a very interesting Story at Christianity.com. She says Harry ain\'t so bad after all, and she\'s glad she read the book, after all she heard.

\"Evil is real. It exploits those who give their lives to it and then leaves them for dead (which is what happened to poor Professor Quirrell). That’s what Voldemort represents. What conquers that kind of evil is not a magic wand, but the goodness and bravery Harry is best known for. I’m not really sure why Harry Potter has been singled out. I have a hard time believing that the masses cried foul when C.S. Lewis wrote about a White Witch exploiting a young boy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or when the Queen of the Night took center stage in Mozart’s The Magic Flute or when L. Frank Baum unveiled the Wizard of Oz. Maybe they did. But if I had to answer the question, “Who’s afraid of Harry Potter?,” my guess would be: Mostly those who haven’t bothered to get to know him yet.\" -- Read More

CNN has a Story on a victory for Harry
Potter in Canada. The Durham Region School Board,
near Toronto, had required parents to sign a consent
form before allowing the books to be read.

\"It\'s not the normal way we do business,\" said Doug
Ross, chairman of the board, on Tuesday. \"If their only
intention is to see the books banned then they\'ll never
be happy, because were not in the business of banning
books or censoring material.\"

No word on how
many students were turned into witches.

The Associated Press has this story about parents who would not let a school give out certificates that said Hogwarts\' Certificate of Accomplishment because it exposed them to witchcraft. It seems that they don\'t care that they expose their children to censorship, free speech violations, and stupidity.\"The certificate, meant to encourage children to read, honored its recipient for completing a term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school young Harry attends. The books feature Harry fighting against the forces of evil, aided by spells, flying brooms and magical instruments.\" -- Read More