Laura Mallory, a mother of four children, tried to get the popular Harry Potter books banned from Gwinnett County school libraries in Georgia. She argued that the fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, and she claims she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court.

Etc Etc.

Actually, what I think the most annoying thing about Laura Mallory, and the Laura Mallorys of the world, is that her crusade, against these forces of Witchcraft, end up rationalizing the inclusion of Harry Potter on those phony annual National Library Associations’ “Banned Book Week” lists, which are list compilations of books that have been challenged… somewhere or other. By people like Laura Mallory. Never mind that there is no place in these United States that you cannot find yourself a copy of any of the Harry Potter books, and just about any public library that stocks popular fiction.
There is a gimmick there, which is that elementary school teachers can hook a child into
reading a book by saying that it was censored… somewhere or other. Other than that, we celebrate the “Captain Underpants” series through the “Banned Book Week” list. Although to be honest, I almost want to ban those ones, just as I want to become a warlock to spite Laura Mallory.

Did I ever mention how I checked out the first Harry Potter book from the library, read the first forty pages or thereabouts, shrugged in indifference, and then returned it to the library? Ah well.

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