The latest challenge to the Harry Potter series is taking place in the Gwinnett County (Georgia) schools. The best quote comes from ten-year-old Jessica Grimes: "The books never at any time turned me into a wizard or witch."
Hearing to determine fate of ‘Harry Potter’ books in GCPS
By Rubina MadanLAWRENCEVILLE — The next challenge Harry Potter will face has nothing to do with horcruxes, Hogwart’s or the half-blood prince. Instead, it will be a group of concerned parents looking to take the series off the shelves of all Gwinnett County Public Schools.
Laura Mallory of Loganville filed an appeal last week to get the best-selling book series out of the schools’ media centers. She is an evangelical Christian who has three children at J.C. Magill Elementary School. “I think the anti-Christian bias — it’s just got to stop,” Mallory said. “And if we don’t say something, we’ll just keep getting pushed out of the schools. And I pay taxes, too, and I think that gives me a voice to speak out about this.”
On Thursday, she will present her appeal at a public hearing at 2 p.m. Many parents and other community members are expected to attend to support or oppose Harry Potter’s place in Gwinnett schools.
A hearing officer will listen to all of the testimony and submit recommendations to the Gwinnett Board of Education. The board will have to make its final decision within 15 days of the hearing. Mallory wrote on her appeal forms that she was objecting to the books because of their “evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells and teaching children all of this.”
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