Banned Books Week
Day #6: The
Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
Welcome to the very last themed day of our Banned Books Week celebration (I will have a wrap-up post for you Monday!). It's been quite the busy week over here and simultaneously an absolute blast. Thank you for all your support, comments, likes, and shares!
Honestly, I don't think it could be Banned Books Week without a cameo from the good ol' Harry Potter Series! For me, it is the very definition of a banned book just because it is the first interaction I had with the whole idea. I remember the absolute uproar, good and bad, when it first came out.
Although I have read the series I feel the need to turn this post over into more experienced hands. I have known Katie for a few years although she is easily one of those people who you feel like you've known forever because she is just so friendly and personable. She is the queen of multitasking and wears many hats check out her website here. Among those hats she is an avid reader and the ultimate Harry Potter fan. I asked her if she would share what the series means to her, and why it should be free from censorship.
Here she is:
"From the day Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came out on July 2,1998, parents, teachers, pastors, and priests have called for the book to be banned. They claim the series encourages children to become involved in the “evils” of witchcraft, sorcery, and paganism. By the year 2000 the complaints from parents had tripled, with parents citing the alleged satanic themes as a reason to ban the book from all libraries and classrooms. Unlike many of the banned books featured this week, parents were never able to successfully ban Harry Potter on a large scale, and were left to ban the books from their household instead.
Despite the uproar, Harry Potter was an instant hit. Instead of encouraging children to take up the Dark Arts, it encouraged them to delve into the magical world of reading. For the first time, middle school children were engrossed in a world that wasn’t their own. They’d begin to immerse themselves in the world of Harry Potter, and once they devoured the books, they were hooked. Not hooked on the magic of a wizarding world, but on the magic of reading. Harry Potter lead them to the Boxcar Children, to the Babysitters Club, to the Magic Treehouse, then on to Eragon, The Hunger Games, The Outsiders, The Chocolate War, then on to their first Dostoyevski, Tolstoy, King, and Rand. Harry Potter lit the fire of reading into a new generation of boys and girls, a fire that did not end with the books.
Big thank you to Katie for sharing her ideas and insights!
When it comes to creating something Harry Potter themed it really is a tough choice. There are so many great options. Luckily I only had to go so far as my portfolio.
Hogwarts house scarf- Slytherin
And the adorable and terrible Mandrake! It's so lovely that I've actually made two.
One I gifted in a little pot for a garden decoration.
I can't get over these grumpy little lips.
Please feel free to contact me if you are
interested in a custom order house scarf (any house!) or a little Mandrake!
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