Topic: J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter tops hit list of those seeking to ban books

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 25, 2008 |

In celebration of Banned Books Week, Clarksville Online will offer our readers articles, and Best Books lists — yes, lists — of the best in literature for both adults and children.  Have you read a banned Book? We hope so!

Apart from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter phenomenon, the most challenged books of the 21st century (2000-2005) include a number of books taught as classic and “relevant” books in terms of content and history.

In celebrating Banned Books Week (September 23-30, 2006), the American Library Association (ALA) compiled the top 10 most challenged books from 2000-2005, with the Harry Potter series of books leading the pack. The 10 most challenged books of the 21st Century (2000-2005) are:

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
4. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
5. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
6. “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers
7. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
10. “Forever” by Judy Blume

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Finding the world in the pages of a book

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 24, 2008 |

In celebration of Banned Books Week, Clarksville Online will offer our readers articles, and Best Books lists — yes, lists — of the best in literature for both adults and children.  Have you read a banned Book? We hope so!

Becca and Rochelle await the midnight hour and the last Harry Potter book

Some time ago, three generations of my family, myself included, some of us costumed to honor favored characters, stormed the bookstores for the midnight release of the final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. My granddaughter, in her Harry Potter Sorting Hat, and a friend stood guard at the shop’s storeroom door hoping for glimpse of,  … Oh my! Can it be? A book! Not a rock star. Not a movie idol. A BOOK.

Granted it was a big book. A special book. It was a book with all the answers to all the questions derived from the first six books in the series. Thus, somewhere around 2 a.m., five copies of the pre-ordered book in our house — everyone wanted “my own” copy, and we could not all read the same book at the same time.

J.K. Rowling, with her first scrawled story, got an entire generation of children to read books. Not read…devour, with an insatiable hunger for more. «Read the rest of this article»

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Book Burning: Fueling flames of censorship

By Christine Anne Piesyk | October 3, 2007 |

Though it seems hard to believe, the 21st century opened with a series of book burnings, with the most obvious target being the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowlings. The burnings began with Harry Potter and a raging fire, but moved into subtler forms in the shape of governmental dousing not just of the flames but the books — any books –that fuel individuality, that encourage opposing points of views, that question the authority and ‘the way things are.” To those not sleeping at the wheel of their rights, it’s scary out there. Intellectual caffeine required to stay alert to the threat.

“On Sunday evening, members of the Harvest Assembly of God Church in Penn Township sing songs as they burn books, videos and CDs that they have judged offensive to their God.”

–Butler Eagle, Pittsburg PA March 26, 2001

“Two groups of people argued over the definition of evil Thursday night in Kennedy Park. One group said it was embodied in the messages contained in the Harry Potter novels. The second group countered that evil lives in those who want to ban books and censor what men, women and children can read.”

– Jesus Party, Opposition Square Off over Potter Books, 11/16/01

I have to come up on the side of that second group, and move on to ask them what exactly they are afraid of? Are they so insecure in their beliefs and their reality that that they have to persecute — ideas? Imagination? Are “they” afraid that someone may have a better idea?

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‘Deathly Hallows’ offers tragedy, triumph

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 21, 2007 |

True to her word, J.K. Rowling brought the Harry Potter saga to an end with the seventh and final installment of the series, the 759 page Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but not without its share of tragedy and triumph.

On the heels of the heart-wrenching death of the beloved Professor Dumbledore in Book 6 comes a series of often brutal skirmishes and long-awaited climatic battle between good and evil, between love and hate, between Harry and his nemesis, the evil Lord Voldmort.  It’s a sometimes dark and ominous book into which the beauty of love, the power of hope, and the nobility of honor emerge.

For the first time in the series, the primary settings are not the mystical Hogwarts castle and grounds; Harry, Hermoine and Ron are on the run, fleeing from dementors, death eaters and Voldemort himself, sheltering everywhere but at the once safe school of witchcraft and wizardry. With a handful of items — wands, the invisibility cloak, a few legacies from Dumbledore — the intrepid trio work from the shadows to unravel the mysteries of the horcruxes and a new mystery known as the deathly hallows. Skirmishes abound, with forays into the ethereal beauty of a wedding, the haunting sadness of Potter’s old home (now a commemorative site in the wizarding world), and a revisit to the Chamber of Secrets. «Read the rest of this article»

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Borders brimming with Potter fans as HP7 is released

By Christine Anne Piesyk | July 21, 2007 |

Hordes of anxious readers, many of them children up past their normal bedtimes and many more costumed as their favorite characters, gathered at Borders Bookstore at Governor’s Square Mall Thursday for the midnight release of the seventh and final Harry Potter epic, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Borders was one of several local bookstores hosting “Potter Parties” – the Borders event was billed as the Deathly Hallows Ball.

Author J. K. Rowling lived up to her promise to end the series at seven books and did just that in this 749 page whirlwind conculsion, which is not without its tragedies and triumphs. (see review)

“It’s great to see so many people this excited about buying a book,” said teacher Helen Smith, from her seat near the magazine section. Her daughter Rebecca was one of the hundreds eagerly waiting to buy the $34.99 book at the proffered 40% discount. Rochelle LaPlante, sporting a bona-fide sorting hat and bouncing in anticipation, stood watch with friends at the storeroom door, eyeing the cases of books about to be rolled out to the front counter and sold. LaPlante has been counting down the days to the book release for month, checking off a calendar day by day since February. «Read the rest of this article»

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