Banned Books: A Harry Potter Story

By Catherine Frederick on October 4, 2017

If you are anything like me, your childhood was defined by some of the books that you read. I remember wandering a Barnes & Noble, counting down the minutes until midnight for the release of the 5th Harry Potter book. It was one of the first times that I had ever been allowed to stay up that late, and it was for a series that I loved dearly, and a book that I still own, and that has travelled with me from Orlando to Tallahassee, when I came up here for college. There’s very little space in dorm rooms for things that aren’t essential, but that was hardly an issue, because Harry Potter is an essential.

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I remember receiving the 7th Harry Potter book, too. I was at a sleepaway camp in the Florida Keys that lasted for two and a half weeks, and The Deathly Hallows was released right in the middle of that time period. Instead of waiting the extra week or so, my parents (and the parents of no less that about half that camp) chose to send a copy of the book via mail. There was a small building where we all went to collect our letters from home, and the day the final Harry Potter book was released, there was a line out the door of people waiting to see if their delivery had come in yet. When I finally got the brown, cardboard box labelled with the Amazon logo, I walked as far as my self-control would take me (about 5 feet) before cutting open the packing tape with my tiny, little pocket knife. Inside rested two large, dusky orange books. One for me, and one for my brother. I would find out a few days later that there was a third back in Orlando for my mom to read, as well.

That night, our camp was hosting a dance for the kids, the oldest of which were 17 and the youngest of which were 12, like I was at the time. Even before the arrival of my Harry Potter book, I wasn’t particularly inclined towards going to a dance where there was such an awkward age difference. Dancing was never something I enjoyed anyway. Not the way I enjoyed reading. So, I dressed up in the nicest clothes that I had brought to camp with me, and followed my cabin mates towards the dining hall where the dance was to take place. I didn’t even bother going inside. I had my Harry Potter book with me, curled protectively in my arms. I detoured the dining hall, and made my way to the docks, instead, were just a few feet from the dining hall entrance. I sat with my feet hanging over the side in my nice jeans and my shoes on the dock next to me, as all the kids inside danced the night away. I continued to read in my dorm, as well: pressed close to the window, where I could feel a breeze, and the light from a street lamp could cast enough light for me to read by.

I finished the Harry Potter book the same night I received it. The beds were bunkbeds and the mattresses were plastic, like you find in college dorms, and I was tacky with sweat, because of the lack of air conditioning, but I was completely absorbed in the Final Battle of Hogwarts. I was so young, and this is one of my defining memories, reading Harry Potter in the balmy air of the Florida Keys.

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I tell you this story, because September 24th through September 30th in ‘Banned Book Week.’ And Harry Potter is one of the most frequently banned books of its generation. It’s in good company, of course. Other banned books include; The Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, The Color Purple, 1984, and even Fahrenheit 451, which, ironically, is about banning books. You probably recognize the names of all these books, because you either read them in high school, or you know people who read them in high school, or you just know, as if by osmosis, that they’re really, really famous books. And incredibly influential books, too. Some of these books have helped define our nation, and they have helped shape the way people think for years and years.

So, one week a year, we take a week to acknowledge that at one point in time, leaders around the world were so afraid of knowledge and free thinking, that these books that we take for granted were banned. In some places, they still are. So, although ‘Banned Book Week’ is all but done, I implore you to go online and find a list of banned books, and pick one of that list and think about reading it, if for no other reason that it, at one point, was considered an act of rebellion.

 

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