Georgia Officials Back Harry Potter

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Associated Press
Friday, December 15, 2006

ATLANTA, Dec. 14 -- A woman who fought to have Harry Potter novels banned from her children's suburban school district is considering an appeal after the Georgia Board of Education voted Thursday to keep the books in county libraries.

Board members voted without discussion to uphold the Gwinnett County school board's decision to deny Laura Mallory's request to pull the books from school libraries.

Mallory, whose children attend J.C. Magill Elementary School, has worked for more than a year to get the books banned from Gwinnett schools, saying the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in religious witchcraft. "It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," she said.

Gwinnett officials have argued that the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination. Banning all books with references to witchcraft would mean such classics as "Macbeth" and "Cinderella" would have to go, they said.