Mr.

Broeker
AP Prep Comp 9
Rohan Putcha
January 15, 2017

Challenged Books Essay Rohan

"The family you are born into matters much less than the family you choose."
Harry potter and the Sorcerers Stone has taught the general public many a
lesson about life. Yet, there exist people who disregard these essential life
lessons and rebuke J.K Rowling for including content that is pure-evil. A
challenge is an attempt to restrict or ban materials on the basis of peoples
objections. The challenge could be approved and the book could be banned in
specific places, or the challenge could be denied and the book would remain
in libraries untouched, the only downside being that it has a challenge etched
in its history. Of course, books are challenged with good intentions, but at
times the rationale behind the challenge could be ludicrous to the vast
majority of other people in the area, which is what usually causes the
challenge to be denied. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone effectively
causes no tangible harm to the better part of the population (in any specific
locality), consequently the ban on it is unjust.

On April 20, 2006, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was challenged by a
parent, Laura Mallory, for promoting witchcraft and she demanded libraries to
have the book removed from its shelves. She wanted the book banned from
all public schools in Gwinnett county, Georgia. I want to protect children
from evil, not fill their minds with it, Mallory said. She believed that children
would be seriously influenced by the evil in it. Most often, these challenges
are brought by conservative Christian parents who are concerned that the
book contains "witchcraft", i.e., wizards and witches, magic, and sorcery
(Harry Potter challenged in Georgia, 2006). A hearing took place and the
school board rejected her challenge; the County school board members put
their foot down and explained the general positivity in books. The judge,
Ronnie Batchelor sided with them, perhaps because he had thought the
hearing was rather farcical as well. Superior Court judge Ronnie Batchelor
upheld the Georgia Board of Education's decision to support local school
officials. County school board members have said the books are good tools to

encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination (Banned

books - Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, 2015). Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone was challenged in Georgia because the parent thought that
it would have adverse effects on her child when read, due to the witchcraft
and evil content.

The controversy about the ban of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and
the series following it, in Cedarville, all started out in June, 2002. Angie Haney
with two children attending Cedarville schools, filed a formal complaint with
the Cedarville School District. She argued that the book shows "that there are
'good witches' and 'good magic,'" which she says should not be portrayed.
The Library Committee voted 15-0 to reject Haney's complaint. However, the
school board ignored the committee's decision and voted 3-2 to remove the
series from the libraries' shelves and ordered that children may only access
the Potter books with parental permission (Harry Potter and the Order of the
Cedarville School Board, 2003). The library committee was disregarded in an
unkind manner, but the book wasnt banned, but rather it required parental
permission to even run an eye over it. After due consideration, a woman,
Theresa, turned the tides. The plaintiffs and the groups that filed the amicus
brief disagree. Theresa Chmara, one of the attorneys for amici, noted that,
while school boards have broad discretion to determine school curriculum and
what texts will be used, they may not restrict access to books in a school
library simply because they dislike ideas contained in those books. "They are
removing these books because they don't like them, and they haven't even
read them," she said (Harry Potter and the Order of the Cedarville School
Board, 2003). It all came down to the judges decision and the school board
repealed their statement, which made the entire incident naught but a
challenge.

The book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone has been challenged
multitudinous times, mostly by parents, and their reasoning seems absurd
and their notions, imprecise. Though many people constantly complain and
reiterate the fact that Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone portrays
malevolent, religious witchcraft, there is no mention of the actual Wiccan
religion in the book (nor anywhere else in the series), so these claims are
erroneous. Some claim that the book is too dark and scary, however, Harry
Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and the series following it, give the young
adults reading it a good understanding about the reality of death; children
can indeed comprehend this much, though their parents believe it is
detrimental to them. This proves that the people who challenged Harry Potter
and the Sorcerers Stone had fallacious arguments.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone had not offended any religion, never
showed extreme gore, nor did it portray any other seriously harmful themes
to the reader. In todays world, action is one of the most exciting movie
genres; most children take pleasure in watching action movies. In almost
every action movie, the plot is set against a villain who has the role he does
because of some crimes he may have committed in the storyline. The people
who constantly berate J.K Rowling for including scary characters or thievery
in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, dont realize that half of the
Hollywood industry survives off of character roles of these types. Evil
characters who commit crimes are found in many movies and that most
certainly does not mean that some individual of the general public can
instigate the closure of all movies that include these suggestive themes and
ban them. This especially applies for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
since it contains a substantial amount of life lessons and gives the reader an
incentive to become something of a hero.

WORKS CITED
"Banned Books - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Marshall University.
Marshall University Libraries. N.p., 2015. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
"Banned 41 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Banned Library. N.p., 18
Oct. 2015. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
Harry Potter Banned?" Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
Blume, Judy. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Cedarville School Board."
American Booksellers Association. User 1, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
"Harry Potter Challenged in Georgia." Harry Potter Challenged in Georgia.
National Coalition Against Censorship, 2017. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.