I have no idea who William J. Schnoebelen is, and I have no idea if what he says the books contain is true.
Geez, I read "In Cold Blood" "The Exorcist" found copies of Playboy under my father's mattress, sat through lectures by the PAULIST Fathers, lectures by the Jesuits in Boston, read stuff about Transendental Meditation - all before I entered Catholic High School where I really encountered a lot of weird stuff (Mary isn't really a virgin, etc.) - and I'M OK!
To avoid the charge of hypocrisy, let me say that I have read all 4 books and so have my children. And I took some of the kids to the first Harry Potter movie, although not to the second. But I've been under a lot of pressure to take them to the second movie, and I haven't absolutely said no.
How did I get in this situation considering the warnings from Fr. Amorth, etc. that I've posted? Gradually, like all bad situations. My sister sent us the first 2 books and I read them along with the kids. They seemed harmless and amusing. They were obviously fantasy and the witchcraft was in an alternate, fictional plane of existence.
Most of all, they were FUNNY. "A teaspoon of sugar makes the medicine go down." (My main complaint with the 1st movie was that it missed all the humor which was what had made the books so popular.) I had the same struggle as I did with watching re-runs of Seinfeld -- "But it's bad, but it's funny, but it's bad, but it's funny, etc."
Then as the third and fourth books came out, the themes continued to grow darker and darker. The first book had seemed like harmless, humorous fantasy. The second book, which arrived in America at the same time, was slightly darker, but not so much that it really brought you up short. But then the new volumes continued to introduce more and more gruesome and demonic characters, with more and more themes that echoed genuine occult themes rather than fantasy from a different, imaginary world. Meanwhile the humor had almost entirely disappeared.
By this point I was wondering what I had got myself and my children into. But I had slid along the slope gradually, finally ending up with my 3rd-grade son reading all those items that are detailed in post #8. Now it is difficult to back out. Was this the plan of the author and publisher from the beginning -- get them hooked, and then keep giving them more?
Are you SURE???
I have been exposed to the same viruses as you have, such as the Jebbies (and Rembert Weakland.)
Have made it clear to my children that witchcraft is a product of Satan.
There are quite a few folks, both in the chattering classes and on the 'conservative' side, who think that children are as dumb as boxes of rocks. EG: "Oh, the children cannot POSSIBLY understand Latin/the Mass/ geometry/ etc."
They insult children in general, and my kids in particular.
Make sure your kids know which way is North, or which way is Rome--and they will generally be just fine.