Any book that encourages a child to read has gotta be good!
That's a little stronger than I would be. I read 'The Chronicles of Counter Earth" when I was a kid. My mom bought me the first book in the series. That book wasn't so bad, but by the 8th or 9th book it was almost as much pornography as story. If my mom had ever found out!
That said, the author of this piece probably never read any of the Harry Potter books. I finally read book 1 and can only think of two things to complain about.
1. The books are very simplistic. If that is a sixth grade reading level you need to be home-schooling your kids.
2. Gandalf and Aslan did magic (miracles) but did so without the garb we associate with evil witchcraft. Harry Potter can suggest that it isn't witchcraft that is evil, per se, just the use of it. The Potter characters use the traditional garb of evil witchcraft. Maybe Samantha Stevens and Jennie also suggested that the ability to do magic wasn't inherently evil, but they didn't use the garb and accoutriments of traditionally evil witches. Their magic was somehow "other." I would have liked Potter to take the same route. (I do believe witchcraft is evil per-se because I believe the only way human beings can do magic is with demonic help, but that is for another time.)
Anyway, I probably wouldn't encourage my kids to read Potter, but I wouldn't have a fit if they did. The post that started this thread suggests that if we let our kids read Potter western civilization will fall. If Potter is the worst the Church needs to guard against we are in excellent shape.
Shalom
B.S! ... Books do not encourage children to read - parents and teachers do!
Keep in mind that these proponents of Harry Potter are the same educrats who enthusiasticly first censored, and then purged Mark Twains works from the schools and libraries.
As a kid, I read Casper and Hot Stuff comic books. I even dressed up as a little devil. The only problem was, I messed up and sold my soul to Santa.
By that mindless standard, Mein Kampf would be acceptable.