Harry Potter, Loretta

I did not read the Harry Potter books when they first came out. I was in High School when even my biology teacher told us all to read them long before a movie deal was in the works for the books. I did not want to read them mainly because everyone else was reading them at the time and I just did not want to be a part of the mass crazy of a book. Yet after reading the book now for the very first time I must say I will now be reading the whole series and the best part of that is I will not have to wait to read each one.
Do I agree or disagree that the book should be available in the classroom?
I feel that the Harry Potter books should be available in the classroom. The point of school is to engage the students and give them the knowledge to live full and productive lives. When you ban books and remove them from the classroom you are shutting off avenues of learning. Many reluctant readers love the Harry Potter books and will sit down and read it from cover to cover. But if the child is never given the chance to read the book because it made one parent upset that the book was in the same room with her child then you as a teacher have done a great injustice to that young reader. Many of my friends who hate reading loved the Harry Potter books by reading the series it opened them up to reading other books along the same theme, which lead to other books and so on and so forth and now we have an adult who loves to read thanks to one “trashy” children’s book.
Would I use the Harry Potter book in my class room lessons, more than likely YES! But I would not require it to be read. But I would also have in on my bookcase and would point it out to a reluctant reader or a child interested in fantasy. But I do think you could use J.K Rowling as an author in a study much like we are doing in our class. She is truly a rags to riches study in what one can do with one’s life if you only try. I think this would be something that would be useful in a fifth grade class. You could use the book as an engage to the class about how people interact with others; it is a wonderful book to open up a classroom talk about how different people have been treated over the ages. It also teaches many strong moral issues.
I agree with the article in that most groups that want to ban books do so without truly looking at the book in question. If one reads Harry Potter and then sits down and list the morals/ideas that are found in the book they may find the book does a great job of teaching many different lessons. I did this and found a great many things I had not thought were in the books. The book holds dear the fact that even when you are poor you can be happy; this is seen with the Weasley family. The mother makes sweaters that the children hate but they still wear them even Harry received one. This shows the bond that a family has and the love that can be given without money. Also the books touch on the topics of Child neglect and racism. You can feel the tension that surrounds Hermione Granger, for being born of a mixed blood family and learn with Harry as in finds this is sometimes thought of as a bad thing. The books have a wide range of players in it that would make it more likely that some child in you class could read it and say, “Hey I am just like Neville”. This in and of its self is reason enough for me to leave the book in my classroom even if little Jimmy’s mom is upset.