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Snow White shacked up with seven dwarfs. Half of Disney’s characters are naked from the waist down. And dogs owning dogs is just shy of slavery.

The HP books promote goodness over evil, loyalty between friends, acceptance of those different from ourselves, and the value of learning.

The HP books promote goodness over evil, loyalty between friends, acceptance of those different from ourselves, and the value of learning.

Thank you! I was hoping someone on this freedom-loving site would voice my opinion. I'm afraid too many people didn't read the books through to the end of the series, if at all. And I can understand not reading something because you're not interested or entertained by it, but don't then judge it.

To me the Harry Potter books are all about freedom. About fighting for freedom. About being willing to put your life on the line, to make the ultimate sacrifice to fight evil--to stand on the side of what's right and just. Magic is just the vehicle to deliver that much more important and valuable lesson. That's the lesson I took away from reading those books, and I hope that's the case for the younger generations.

The HP books promote goodness over evil, loyalty between friends, acceptance of those different from ourselves, and the value of learning.

The books are not simply fantasy, but they are ABOUT fantasy. They introduce an entire fantasy world which overlays the real, "muggle," world so that the initiates into wizardry have a superior vantage point. The mundane habits of the muggle world are openly despised, even if many of its aspects are duplicated in the school life of Hogwarts.

People love these books, and I don't begrudge them their enjoyment, but have many misgivings about them, for my own part. I think they make an interesting comparison to the Tom Swift, Jr. books. These were based in a fantastical version of the real world, and the hero was portrayed as a prodigy and champion within the world, so that a young reader might imagine himself achieving great things in emulation of him. By contrast, to imagine oneself as Harry Potter only reinforces estrangement from the mundane.

I do have to admit that the story-telling in the Potter books is far superior to the Tom Swift books and others like it.