Give Harry a Chance

Time: 10:00 P.M.
I'm wearing: My mauve Amy Grant-- House of Love Tour shirt, jeans, and still, this annoying cast.
I last ate: Strawberry pancakes at Bob Evans.
Song that's in my head: "All Star" by Smash Mouth.
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People tell me, every now and then, that they don't like Harry Potter. I often wonder if they say that just to tick me off, since they know how much I love Harry Potter. When I ask these people why they don't like it, their responses are either "It's dumb" or "It's sinful."

But when I read Harry Potter, all I can think about is how brilliant it is. It's like... J.K. Rowling has created this whole new world with Yule Balls, Quidditch, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and a Marauder's Map. This world is so unlike ours... and yet so similar. There's friendship and bravery, there's a teacher every kid hates, and there are exams and future careers for kids to think about. It's life as we know it, with a cool twist.

As for Harry Potter being sinful, like my cousins think, I just don't see that. Harry Potter's parents died when he was just a baby, and he believes that they're in Heaven. I don't know if he actually believes in God, but does it really matter if he does? What matters to me is that *I do* believe in God. I mean, my religion is strong, and nothing J.K. Rowling writes is going to change that.

It's like, dude, I read The Diary of Anne Frank, and I didn't suddenly turn from Christian to Jewish. Just because some of the Harry Potter characters are Witches and Wizards, I'm not going to break out the Tarot cards and toss out my Bible. The books are fiction! As for impressionable 8-year-olds, all parents need to do is explain to their kids that they're Muggles, and Christian, or Jewish ones. I wish people would crack a Harry Potter book open before throwing them into the fire and repatedly chanting the Lord's Prayer in a panic, or dismissing them as stupid.

...And that's all I have to say about that.

--Holly Rachael :-D

Ron: Hermione... Neville's right! You *are* a girl!
Hermione: Oh, well spotted!
--Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire