Oh, Good Lord.

The Harry-banning isn't over yet. A pastor at St. Joseph's School in Wakefield, MA, has yanked the books off of the library shelves because "themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic school."

From the Globe article:

"He said that he thought most children were strong enough to resist the temptation," said one mother who asked that her name not be used because she did not want her family to be singled out. "But he said it's his job to protect the weak and the strong."

Resist what temptation? There aren't exactly any instructions on, say "How to Hold a Black Mass" in there. Or "Host a Seance in 12 Easy Steps!" I can't imagine this pastor has actually even read the books. Does he think his students are going to run around, pointing sticks (eleven-and-a-half inches, birch and unicorn hair, springy) at doors and shouting "Alohomora"?

Okay, so they might. But they'd be pretending, because that's what kids do. You give them a book (or a TV show, or a video game) that stirs their imaginations and they'll play in that world. It's part of growing up. It doesn't mean they're sacrificing cats or trying to raise the devil.

What, is he afraid alohomora might actually work?

And why now, after the series is over? From this article, it looks like the series might have been featured in the sixth grade's summer reading list, but it's hard to believe he's only hearing about Harry Potter now, because of the reading list. The first book was published nearly ten years ago; they've been bestsellers from very early on.

When we heard the news report this morning, my husband and I figured it was more likely they were being pulled because of Rowling's revelation that Dumbledore was gay.** However, the banning happened a month ago, well before her announcement late last week. I'm guessing it won't help get the books back onto the shelves, but it wasn't the original reason. I'm not sure why it's taken a month for the story to break.

The parents seem to have mixed feelings about it - some are angry, some agree with the ban, some support "the spirit" of what the pastor did. I'll be interested to see what the kids' responses will be.



**The reason I didn't blog about that is because Neil Gaiman sums it up nicely over at his journal. Short version: there are always things authors know about their characters that don't make it into the books, and don't ever have to because those things aren't important to the story. Dumbledore's sexual orientation is one of those things.