As young readers await the release of the latest Harry Potter novel — at midnight in many bookstores — critics of the hero’s fictional wizardry are likely to weigh in with opinions about magic being linked with superstition and a bad influence on young minds. University of Northern Iowa adjunct English professor Gina Burkart says the teenage Potter’s actually a tool parents can use to teach Christian values.
She says there are opportunities to talk about real-life issues like peer pressure, bullies, parents dying, teachers who treat kids unfairly, child abuse, and also opportunities to talk about the Christian faith as well as religious allegories she says can be pulled from the text. Burkart hasn’t had any special advance look at the upcoming volume, but expects it to be as engaging as the author’s four previous books.
She says we’ll probably see Harry maturing more, the battle of Good vs. Evil will go on and she’s sure good will win out. For parents who still have doubts whether the book would be right for the values they want to teach their kids, Burkhart advises…reading it yourself.
Burkart says parents should always know what their children are reading, and what they’re playing — and should be an important part of their children’s lives) Burkart’s looking for a publisher for the book she’s written, titled “A Christian Parent’s Guide to Harry Potter.”