Now an orphan and unaware of how special he is, Harry spent the first 10 years of his life living with his Muggle relatives, the Durlseys. Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley are Harry's horrible uncle and aunt (Petunia is the sister of Harry's Mum - Lily Potter). He ekes out a horrible existence, living under the stairs. It is made worse by a horrible cousin, Dudley Dursley. Dudley is a fat, pig-like spoiled brat.
On his 11th birthday, (July 31st), Harry is invited to Hogwarts, the famous school of wizardry. Carrying his magic wand, Harry sets off into his new and exciting life.
Other folks have already noded up decent introductions to the stories overall, so I won't waste time on that. What I would like to note is how tightly-plotted and well-written these books are. Without giving too much away, a name is mentioned offhand in the first or second chapter of the first book--and then never mentioned again in either the first or second book. And yet, the character of that name comes to major prominence in the third book--but only when you go back to that first one do you quite realize it.
The books are full of things like that--foreshadowing, sometimes very specific foreshadowing, abounds. Tantalizing hints and clues are given about things to expect in future books. References are made to events in prior books, casting things that seemed unimportant at the time in a whole new light. Characters turn out to be not what they first seemed, sometimes in astonishing ways.
And let's not forget that they grow in size and complexity as they progress in the series--to the point where Goblet of Fire is 734 pages long, and over two inches thick...a rather intimidating volume--but by the time they get there, kids want to read it.
As for the Fundamentalists who claim that Harry Potter is satanic--well, these are often people who will claim that any fantasy is satanic--even The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, which were written by two of the most renowned Christian writers of our time. Apparently, to these people, the road to Hell is paved with using one's imagination.
The first few stories of Tim Hunter, told in the Vertigo series The Books of Magic , appeared in 1991, predating the first Harry Potter book by about 4-5 years.
Draw your own conclusions.
The common name for a phenomenon that has swept the world. Some people say this series of books and now movies is evil. Others have discovered the beauty in it.
Children are reading! Children who refused to ever pick up a book have read four rather large books cover to cover! These children have discovered the joys of learning. As my little sister said "I had to read the Harry Potter books because everyone was talking about them! Guess what! Reading isn't as scary as I thought. It gets easier! Take me to the library so I can find other stuff to read. Please?" I was ecstatic! I had been trying for months and months to get this child to read something, anything. Now you have to say, "Why don't you play Nintendo with your brother for a while." Instead of "Why don't you try reading."
While I agree with the above writeups in the fact that Harry Potter does garner virtue by introducing children to the power of reading, I don't believe this argument fully dismisses the "occult" accusations. While I personally don't believe that Harry Potter swings kids torward witchcraft, simply saying that the books are a needed break from Nintendo Co. and vapid TV shows doesn't counter the specific argument that the books makes kids want to sacrifice Rover to the Dark Lord.
Interestingly enough I've noticed that people who accuse the book as being "evil" are simply looking at the setting, not the context on which witchcraft is being used. Harry Potter's world is whimsical and playful! He and his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley aren't making pentagrams with salt and channeling evil powers, they are eating chocolate frogs, ingesting Floo powder, and simply being inquisitive, normal children who just happen to play Quidditch and save the world. The good people in the book are presented as moral. Harry Potter and Co. may stir mischief against the school authority, but it is all done in a light-hearted Little Rascals-esque style. Although not a central theme to the book, religion does seem to have a place at Hogwarts: Christmas and Easter are both celebrated (although Jewish holidays have yet to be mentioned).
One theme that permeates all religions, including Christianity, is the idea of good against evil; and both powers being separate entitites. This is also represented in the Harry Potter novels; some wizards, like Albus Dumbledore and the Gryffindor headmistress, Professor McGonagall, are allied with the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry's goal is to enforce the use of magic for good causes and for the betterment of humankind. Others, like Lord Voldemort, are considered evil, and want power to themselves. The "good" people use the powers of the supernatural, but is this necessarily a bad thing? There are many instances of supernatural powers being used by Jesus Christ in the Bible: turning water into wine, raising Lazarus from the dead, and healing the blind aren't exactly every day occurences. Most religious texts are no stranger to phenemonal Might for Right.
Now, if these novels did not have the witchcraft element in them at all, would there even be an issue? Most kids with a healthy dose of common sense would realize that a Nimbus 2000 and a magic wand are not in their future, whereas the theme of good triumphing over evil is universal, and something that relates to the real world. The people who dismiss the novels are not only depriving their child of a wonderful, imaginative experience, but showing that they mistrust their child's ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. They are also expressing a doubt that their day in, day out influence can overpower that of words on a page. If there is a legitimate concern about the "occult" nature of the book, a good talking-to before the child reads is probably all that is necessary for the child to get the idea and secure any parental qualms.
To all of the Christian fundamentalists, I say "Read the book!" Don't let Jerry Falwell-esque propaganda cloud your better judgement.
JK Rowling, the celebrity children's author, still awaits news of her pending lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed by Nancy Stouffer of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, claims that Rowling plagiarised her book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles published in 1984.
Some of the similarities in the books include the use of the word Muggles, which Stouffer uses to mean little people that help orphans and Rowling uses to mean non-magical people. Also, one of the characters who, in Rowling's book is Harry Potter's mother Lily, in Stouffer's book is the main character's best friend Lilly.
Rowling denies ever seeing Stouffer's book; however, the most notable similarity is in the main characters. Stouffer's Larry Potter and Rowling's Harry Potter are remarkably similar in each novel. It seems unlikely that both novels could have such similar storylines if Rowling never read the older book by Stouffer.
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