INTRODUCTION TO THE
HARRY POTTER™ BOOKS:

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Amazon Screening Room "Amazon.com DVD Editors" says:

"In late 2006 and early 2007, the Harry Potter DVDs will be going on moratorium. This means that Warner, like Disney often does, won't be producing any more new copies of these movies. You'll still be able to buy them from Amazon as long as we have copies in stock, so be sure to get yours before they're gone."

Topics in this essay:

Quotations:

Overview:

Harry Potter is a fictional young wizard. He is the hero of a series of books written by a previously little-known British author, Joanne (Jo) K. Rowling. The full set of seven books will cover Harry's life from aged 11 to 17; it will probably be completed by 2010. As of 2007-JAN, six books have been published and four movies released.

These books have been enormously popular. They are something of a publishing sensation. As of 1999-SEP: "...the first two Harry Potter books have sold almost 2 million copies in Britain and more than 5 million in the U.S. The novels have been translated into 28 languages, including Icelandic and Serbo-Croatian." ₃ By mid-2000, over 35 million books had been sold worldwide. ₄ The print runs in the U.S, Britain and Canada for the fourth book in the series total 5.6 million copies. Amazon.com and FedEx organized a massive program to deliver volume 4 on the day of issue: 2000-JUL-8. Chapters.ca in Canada scheduled a most unusual Saturday delivery with Canada Post. Many bookstores will open at one minute past midnight on Saturday morning for clients who just can't wait to get their personal copy. 

As of 2000-JUL-3, Amazon.com lists the first four books among their five most popular books, from among the over 1 million titles that they sell. They were at the top of the New York Times best seller list for 38 weeks, as of 1999-SEP. Harry even made the cover of Time, Newsweek and Maclean's. ₅ "First, the Scottish Arts Council gave her a grant to finish the book. After its sale to Bloomsbury (UK) and Scholastic Books, the accolades began to pile up. Harry Potter won The British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year, and the Smarties Prize, and rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Book rights have been sold to England, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Greece, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Sweden." ₆ Rowling has won the 1997 National Book Award (in the UK), the 1998 New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, and Parenting Book of the Year for 1998. Droves of young children, who had previously been poor readers, have excitedly read the Potter books and asked for more. 

A description of the four books and sample chapters can be read at the American publisher's web site. ₇

However, because of some of the themes in the book (spells, Witches, Witchcraft, sorcery, divination, etc.), some conservative Christians have raised objections to these books. According to the Boston Globe: "The American Library Association placed the 'Harry Potter' books at the top of its list of the most-often challenged books last year, saying that critics had sought to ban the books for occult, Satanism, and antifamily themes." ₈ These attempts at censorship do not seem to have been particularly successful in North America.

About the author:

Joanne Rowling (1966-) was raised in a middle-class family in western England. "The urge to be a writer came to her early during what she describes as a 'dreamy' internal childhood." ₃ She started writing at the age of six. "She had been a storyteller as a child...and never really stopped." ₉ Her series of seven books was started after a divorce, when she was otherwise unemployed. "She was writing a novel for adults when, during a 1990 train ride, [she said that] 'Harry Potter strolled into my head fully formed.' For the next five years Rowling worked on Book One and plotted out the whole series, which will consist of seven novels, one for each year Harry spends at Hogwarts [School]. 'Those five years really went into creating a whole world. I know far more than the reader will ever need to know about ridiculous details.' " She was living on welfare at the time in Edinburgh. A rumor that she lived in an unheated apartment is not true. She did much of her writing in local cafes. Ms. Rowling is now an unusually successful and rich writer. She earned more than 20 million U.S. dollars in 1999.; Estimates of her eventual income from the series ranges from 100 to 270 million. She still stores her notes in a pile of cardboard boxes and writes longhand without benefit of computer. She has developed the reputation of being reclusive. She claims that she has been so busy that she cannot afford time for interviews with the media.

Four or five publishing companies rejected her first book. One advised her that any novel about a boarding school would never sell. Even if it was produced, publishers predicted that it would never sell very many copies. They all said that the book, at 309 pages, was much too long for children to read; her fourth book tops 750 pages! She finally found a publisher, who attempted to conceal her gender by listing the author as J.K. Rowling. They were concerned that boys would be biased against a book written by a woman. Sales of her original book in the series built up quickly, due largely to word of mouth advertising among children; there was essentially no advertising budget.

About Harry and his world:

Harry Potter has had an eventful life. He became an orphan at the age of one when the evil "wizard" Lord Voldemort murdered his parents. Voldemort (a.k.a. "He-who-must-not-be-named") tried to kill Harry as well, but succeeded only in scarring Harry's forehead with a thunderbolt symbol. The evil wizard lost much of his power at that time. Harry went to live with his uncle in London, England. He was unhappy there. His guardians, the Dursleys, were cruel; his spoiled cousin bullied him. Harry is "a skinny kid with glasses, green eyes and an unruly shock of black hair." ₃ Shortly after his 11th birthday, Harry found out that he "is a wizard of great fame, someone who once conquered death and crippled a devilish foe." ₁₁ He was accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, headed by headmaster Professor Dumbledore. This is a residential school located in a 1,000 year old castle somewhere in the north of England. The school teaches a seven-year course in magic to a handpicked group of young people that they feel have great magical potential. The dark Forbidden Forest surrounds the school. Nearby is Hogsmeade, an all-wizard village where older students are allowed to visit. Potter lives in a world where muggles (non-Witches) either don't believe in Witchcraft, or hate it as evil, dangerous and demonic. Harry has two close student friends at Hogwarts: Ron and Hermione. There is a lovable giant Hagrid with his baby dragon Norbert. There are also many non-humans in Harry's life: Buckbeak, a bird-horse capable of flying; Crookshanks, a feral cat;  Dobby, a house elf; Hedwig, his owl and messenger courier; Scabbers, a pet rat, etc. ₁₂ The world of wizards is very much low-tech. "Light is provided by torches and heat by massive fireplaces...a squadron of trained owls flies messages to and from the school." ₁₁

Some sources say that Harry Potter's name was inspired by a childhood friend of the author, Ian Potter, who lived just four doors away. Ian, his sister Vikki, and Jo Rowling used to play together. Other sources say that there is no connection.

About Harry's lightning-shaped scar:

Harry picked up a thunderbolt or lightning-shaped scar on his forehead when he was only one year of age. It resulted from a violent encounter with the evil "wizard" Lord Voldemort. Some critics of the Harry Potter book series have suggested that the scar was derived from the double lightning bolt symbol used by Hitler's SS. This is extremely doubtful.

There are so many meanings associated with the Sigrune, that it is unlikely that the author meant that Harry's scar be associated with Nazism. Just as Freud said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," it would seem likely that Harry's scar is just a harmless lightning bolt symbol. To know the truth, you would have to ask J.K. Rowling

About the movies:

The first movie, of ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'' was released in America on 2001-NOV-16. It had been released earlier in the UK. It was reported on NOV-11 that its gross income reached a new record for movie releases in England. By DEC-24, it had grossed $260 million in the U.S. ₁₅

The movie follows the book very closely. This was probably necessary, to prevent a revolt on the part of loyal Harry Potter fans. One item missing was a statement by Professor Dumbledore who said in the book: "To the well-organized mind, death is just the next great adventure." The quotation tells nothing of the professor's belief about life after death -- whether he believes that when we die, we go to a heaven and hell, or are reincarnated, or go to live in an alternative universe, or to reach nirvana, etc. But some conservative Christians assume that it refers to reincarnation; the next great adventure is simply to return to earth after death in the body of a baby and to live another life. Such beliefs, common in Eastern Religions, Wicca, other Neopagan beliefs and even early Christianity have been abandoned by modern-day Christianity in favor of heaven, hell and perhaps purgatory as the only possible destinations after death.

Focus on the Family, a Fundamentalist Christian ministry, takes a generally negative view of the movies and books. Reviewer Lindy Beam states that the players did not

"subscribe to a consistent [conservative] Christian worldview. ... we live in a culture that glorifies and promotes witchcraft and the occult. No matter what the essence of Harry’s magic, the effect of it is undoubtedly to raise curiosity about magic and wizardry. And any curiosity raised on this front presents a danger that the world will satisfy it with falsehood before the church or the family can satisfy it with truth. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone definitely raises those curiosities. That, accompanied by violent and scary scenes, a few mild profanities, and hints at moral relativism should be enough to keep [conservative Christian] families from shouting hurrah for Harry." ₁₆

A summary of Harry Potter movies to date:

Revenues are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Reviewers' average score is computed by Movies.com  ₁₇

Terminology:

Some of the terms used in the books are:

References:

1. Daniel Zanoza, "The danger of Harry Potter," Chicago Tribune, 2000-JUL-13, at: http://chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/voiceofthepeople/
2. Matthew Creamer & Thomas Hackett, "Kids, booksellers wild about Harry," Daily News, 2000-JUL-9.
3. Paul Gray: "Wild about Harry: The exploits of a young wizard have enchanted kids and adults alike and brought a new kind of magic to children's literature," Time Magazine, 1999-SEP-20. See: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articles/
4. Audrey Woods, "At the heart of Harry," Associated Press, reprinted in Toronto Star, 2000-JUL-7, Page E14.
5. "Harry Potter banned from school," 2001-JAN-26, Religion Today, at: http://news.crosswalk.com/religion/item/
6. Paul Gray: "A primer on Harry's world," Time Magazine, 1999-DEP-20, at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articles/
7. "Harry Potter," at: http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/ 
8. Pamela Newby, "Harry Potter Controversy," CBN News, at: http://www.cbn.org/newsstand/stories/991020b.asp
9. Audrey Woods, "At the heart of Harry," Associated Press, reprinted in Toronto Star, 2000-JUL-7, Page E14.
10. Berit Kjos, "Bewitched by Harry Potter," at: http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/Harry9-99.html
11. Judy Blume, "Is Harry Potter evil?," New York Times, Op-Ed page, 1999-OCT-22. Reprinted at: http://www.judyblume.com/articles/harry_potter_oped.html 
12. Article in USA Weekend for 1999-NOV-12, quoted in Ref. 13.
13. Lindy Beam, "Exploring Harry Potter's world," Focus on the Family, at: http://www.family.org/pplace/pi/genl/A0008833.html 
14. A description of the Sigrune is available at symbols.com at: http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/
15. Michael Paulson, "Religious ratings: Christian conservatives prefer Frodo to Harry," Boston Globe, 2001-DEC-27, at: http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/361/metro/
16. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Focus on the Family, at" http://www.family.org/pplace/pi/films/
17. Ratings from Movies.com at: http://movies.go.com/

Copyright © 2000 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-JUL-3
Latest update: 2007-FEB-02
Author: B.A. Robinson