yes, let's burn more books!

[nostatic]

ATLANTA -- A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.

Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series is an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.

Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella."

"There's a mountain of evidence for keeping Harry Potter," she said, adding that the books don't support any particular religion but present instead universal themes of friendship and overcoming adversity.

In June, the county's library board eliminated the $3,000 that had been set aside to buy Spanish-language fiction in the coming fiscal year. One board member said the move came after some residents objected to using taxpayer dollars to entertain readers who might be illegal immigrants.

Days later, the board reversed its decision amid accusations that the move was anti-Hispanic.

[Jim Richards]

Wow, that's bizarre.

[techweenie]

Doubly hard on Hispanic witches...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Wasn't "Mallory" one of the wizarding families? Ironic, no?

[cmccuist]

Has there even been one kid who turned into a witch after reading a Harry Potter book? Talk about over-reacting.

How many books has JK Rowling sold? It's like a billion books. Nobody's turning into a witch.

Laura needs to check herself.

[Moneyguy1]

PC to the nth degree.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
PC to the nth degree.

No, this is classic relgious fundamentalism.

[dad911]

Originally posted by cmccuist

......
How many books has JK Rowling sold? It's like a billion books. Nobody's turning into a witch.......

Well, she turned me into a newt..... I got better

[dd74]

Eh! What's the worry? Supposedly Harry dies in the seventh and last book.

[gprsh924]

not mallory but malfoy

[fastpat]

Yeah, that's the trouble with publically funded library's, there's always some wack job taxpayer that thinks they should decide what's in the library.

Imagine that.

[dd74]

Ron also "comes out," supposedly...

[Rick Lee]

I really don't see the need for publicly funded libraries anymore. They are a breeding ground for this kind of nonsense. If you can't afford $3 for a used book, which you can later trade in for another, then I really don't think my tax dollars need to support your free reading habit.

[artplumber]

The whole Potter phenomenon is annoying. Burn em!

[dd74]

Originally posted by artplumber
The whole Potter phenomenon is annoying. Burn em!

The whole Potter phenomenon is annoying to some, but it got a whole generation of kids off the more annoying Game Boy, Xbox and whatever crap that's out there, and into reading.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by dd74
The whole Potter phenomenon is annoying to some, but it got a whole generation of kids off the more annoying Game Boy, Xbox and whatever crap that's out there, and into reading.

yeah , i wonder how much kids these days read
i used to devour books when i was a kid
that and good toys like lego or mecano , stuff that keeps you busy and thinking creatively at the same time...

these days all i hear is xbox playstation and internet

sure they get to think in a way that helps em with computers
but realistically , not everybody will have a desk job working IT

[VenezianBlau 87]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
I really don't see the need for publicly funded libraries anymore. They are a breeding ground for this kind of nonsense. If you can't afford $3 for a used book, which you can later trade in for another, then I really don't think my tax dollars need to support your free reading habit.

I'm glad someone sharp thinks along the same lines as me on this issue. Buy exactly the book you want used off Amazon and sell it if you wish for little net loss. Or read excepts of books on the web and move on if it's not your cup of tea. A palace of a library is going up in Grayson and I don't see these generally wired and wealthy folks really needing it. More like a book museum. That being said, those who pay more taxes should reap more reward, even if it's just nice architecture.

[kach22i]

Everything you need to read is already posted in the Pelican O.T. section.

[Les Paul]

My wife is the library coordinator for all the grade schools in the town we live in. She has had so many fights over the Harry Potter books it gets comical. There is a program she started 10 years ago called AR. Accelerated reader. They start them with the easy stuff, take a test get points for it etc. The teachers that support reading support AR. They give prizes, get their picture in the paper etc. The only problem is she has to read every book used in the program. Those Harry Potter books are worth something like 25-30 points if the kid aces the test. And they are checked out more than any other big books. They have to be replaced sometimes twice a year.

There are authors that sneak cuss words into books. Some of them are award winning authors. She has to white out the cuss words then notify all the librarians to do the same. So she basically reads year round. 2-3 books per day sometimes. There are some really good kids books out there but the Harry Potter books are by far the most popular.

[Rick Lee]

BTW, unless it's a book I just have to have the day it's released, in which I case I pre-order from Amazon, I just get it on Half.com. I think I got three Bob Woodward books in hardback in great condition for around $10 delivered! You can't beat that and I'm sure no library is as frugal in their spending.