Be Warned! Be Very Warned

I am well aware of the first rule of the press: "Even bad publicity is good publicity." I just quoted that on someone else's blog. Now, not a mere fifteen minutes later I'm having to eat my words...no, make that choke on my words.

I am so appalled with this article that I feel it proper protocol to alert all my Catholic friends, my homeschool friends, my lady friends, and all other friends who stop here that there is an author out there who takes unprivileged liberty with the hearts, minds, and souls of our children.

And it is not J.R. Rowling. In fact, before I get into that tirade let me mention a book I read this past weekend and finished last night.

Instead of burning Harry Potter and attacking J.R. Rowling and sending speculative mail, I suggest all Christian parents make haste to purchase and read (or, better yet, ask your librarian to have a copy purchased so that many people can read) Nancy Brown's new book The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide .

Notice it says "Family Guide". Mrs. Brown is an advocate for parent/child literary relationships and she encourages parent/child communication and interaction during the reading and viewing of Potter mania.

Mrs. Brown's book will answer those problematic, scattered HP questions that have arisen in your mind since 1997 when Harry first waved his magic wand and winked at us from behind scholarly glasses. And, like a tie-dye T-shirt turned inside out, Mrs. Brown makes it all look and sound so logical, thought there are many different viewpoints that bleed together to make this artistic endeavor. I can't even claim this book to be strictly for "Catholic" families. For all Christian families, yes!

I think what makes it Catholic is Mrs. Brown's connection with and understanding of G.K. Chesterton, a famous Catholic scholar, a literary man of of genius and pure common sense. Though our former pastor, may he rest in peace, scaled many forests of paper with Chesterton, if it weren't for Mrs. Brown I would never have read G.K. Chesterton, much less understood him. Without knowing what she was providing to Chesterton newbies, Mrs. Brown, opened a little Chesterton library on the web called The Blog of American Chesterton Society as well as her personal blog Flying Stars and I became "schooled" in Chesterton philosophy, wisdom, and common sense. My husband appreciates the "common sense" part very much.

Chesterton and the estimable Mrs. Brown together. Talking Harry Potter. Discussing Harry Potter. Analyzing Harry Potter. Discerning Harry Potter. Tie-dying aspects of the story into moral aspects within our lives. What a classic team! It's Chesterton's wisdom and common sense grounded by Mrs. Brown's writing, sincerity, and knowledge of what Christian parents want to know while discerning literature for their children.

With the help of Mrs. Brown book I will put off having my nine-year-old read it, but I will have my fourteen-year-old read Book One. Oh, and guided by Nancy Brown's guide and all the thought-provoking "Dinner Table Questions", I think I will don Harry Potter's invisible cape and take a visit to Hogwarts' School to see what all the hoopla is about. Or one can go to the online Hogwarts' School and give it a wiz.

Trust me, Mrs. Brown's book is easier to read than any of the Potter books and certainly clearer than Chesterton's books. She writes for the parent...to the parent...as a parent. I read it in one weekend and didn't need a scholarly degree to do so but, with the waxing and waning of Chesterton's words, I feel I have walked away a little wiser, a little Chestertonian, and much more open-minded.

Need I say more? Probably not. You can get the book here: Our Sunday Visitor

In my eagerness to review Mrs. Brown's book, I have gotten side-tracked about the book and author that I have just been alerted to and which has this mere muggle in a muddle.

Let me share with you the post I received in my email box from a fellow author:

* * * * *

She writes:

"I'm so spitting mad tonight, I cannot even tell you.

Apparently the elite literati have named Philip Pullman's Golden Compass, in which children go on a crusade to kill God, the best children's book in 70 years!

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/06/21/golden-compass.html?ref=rss

Forget Harry Potter, folks. This is the one. Why? Because he, unlike J.K. Rowling (an Anglican, who actually practices and cares about church and who really only wants to tell a good story), is a devout atheist whose agenda is to crush the faith of children. And he makes no secret about it.

For a good and though-provoking review on his latest work, you might read what Catholic blogger Amy Welborn has to say on his work:

http://www.amywelborn.com/reviews/pullman.html

---Ann"

* * * * *

So is this what we're up against in the 21st Century?

An atheist with a self-proclaimed agenda winning the best children's book in 70 years!

And we're worrying about dear little Harry? Harry Potter is fiction. J.R. Rowling has always said he's make-believe. People don't really fly around on brooms and have talking hats and such.

Philip Pullman, however, is real. Very real. And he has a very real agenda. Atheism is real...and alive in the minds of men. And he is getting his atheist agenda directly into the hands of the future generation...our children.

There is no telling where his corrupted magic can lead our children. Perhaps we would all do well in reading the Harry Potter books to see how Harry defends Good and defeats Evil. Hmmm. If this is a possibility for your family, why not check out Mrs. Brown The Mystery of Harry Potter to read and assist you in helping make your decision.

Our children need real-life heros and literary characters who stand-up for their beliefs, defend the good and protect the weak.

Parents would also do well in taking Nancy Brown's advice to instill our belief system into our child before giving them any literature to read: "If you've grounded your children in their faith, they'll read the book through the eys of their beliefs --- the beliefs you've instilled in them." (pg. 27 The Mystery of Harry Potter)

Why do I suddenly feel as though we are close to living in the time in which martyrs such as St. Irene lived and died?

"One of Irene's crimes was concealing Christian books (probably the Scriptures) in defiance of the emperor's order to turn them over for burning." ~ Women in the Heart of God

Comments

[Maureen :)]

Great review and great comments Cay. I often wonder why we have all this hoopla re: HP but we hear hardly a word about Pullman. I know good Catholic homeschoolers who have given his books to their children completely unaware of the author's publicly stated desire to pull children away from Christianity. As Jeff Miller said recently: Why are we straining gnats and letting the camels through?

[Dawn]

Awesome post, Cay. Thanks for bringing so much to light ...

[Suzanne]

Excellent review...I'm reading this now! Thanks for the info on Pullman..I will make others aware. God bless.

[Mary Ellen Barrett]

Woo Hoo! You go girl! This is an excellent review and you bring up so many great thinking points. Thanks Cay.

[Sherry Early]

Thanks for linking at the Saturday Review. I think you are exactly right ---Pullman is much more worrisome and Evil than anything in HP.

[Suzanne Temple]

Very interesting. I'm sure I'll be looking at this more closely as my children start to want to read these books.

Side note, Tolkein is the J.R, Rowling is the J.K. I do it all the time, myself!

[Cay]

"Rowling is the J.K."

Oh, gee! I knew this and told myself I would "not" make that mistake. I do it every time though. :(

[susan]

I am so thankful to have found this review~I just finished the Pullman trilogy after hearing so many good things about it and was wondering if the whole world is insane! After reading you and Amy Welborn I know it isn't! Pullman actually tells children that the heaven of comfort and joy promised by God is a lie! What if a child with a terminal illness or who just lost someone is reading his books? Whatever Pullman believes it is irresponsible of him to foist his depressing views onto children.