Harry Potter Series Tops Annual List of Controversial Books

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"Harry Potter Series Tops Annual List of Controversial Books"

(Bloomberg, February 2, 2001)

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Chicago -- The best-selling Harry Potter series has topped the list of the nation's most frequently challenged books for the second year in a row, with complaints rising 37 percent in the past year, according to the American Library Association.

Challenges to the books rose to 646 in 2000, from 472 the previous year, making the Potter series No. 1 on the ``Ten Most Challenged Books of 2000,'' according to figures compiled by the association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.

The Potter books, which chronicle the adventures of an orphan- cum-fledgling wizard, have drawn criticism from social and religious conservatives who accuse Scottish author J.K. Rowling with promoting witchcraft and the occult while undermining family values.

The figures include formal, written complaints ``filed with a library or school about a book's content or appropriateness,'' the association said in a statement. It's estimated that less than one- quarter of all challenges are reported and recorded, Judith Krug, the office's director, said in the statement.

Other books on the list include Maya Angelou's ``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,'' John Steinbeck's ``Of Mice and Men,'' and Robert Cormier's ``The Chocolate War.''
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc holds the English-language world rights for thebooks, excluding the U.S., where Scholastic Corp. publishes Harry Potter.

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	"Harry Potter Series Tops Annual List of Controversial Books" (Bloomberg, February 2, 2001)
Chicago -- The best-selling Harry Potter series has topped the list of the nation's most frequently challenged books for the second year in a row, with complaints rising 37 percent in the past year, according to the American Library Association. Challenges to the books rose to 646 in 2000, from 472 the previous year, making the Potter series No. 1 on the ``Ten Most Challenged Books of 2000,'' according to figures compiled by the association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. The Potter books, which chronicle the adventures of an orphan- cum-fledgling wizard, have drawn criticism from social and religious conservatives who accuse Scottish author J.K. Rowling with promoting witchcraft and the occult while undermining family values. The figures include formal, written complaints ``filed with a library or school about a book's content or appropriateness,'' the association said in a statement. It's estimated that less than one- quarter of all challenges are reported and recorded, Judith Krug, the office's director, said in the statement. Other books on the list include Maya Angelou's ``I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,'' John Steinbeck's ``Of Mice and Men,'' and Robert Cormier's ``The Chocolate War.'' Bloomsbury Publishing Plc holds the English-language world rights for thebooks, excluding the U.S., where Scholastic Corp. publishes Harry Potter.