[Child of the 7th Age]

Morgul Queen --

Did your teacher give a reason for her decision? And is your school public or private? It is upsetting to hear this from two posters in just a few hours. Has anyone else had this experience?

I used to work in book selection for a large public library system, and also served on the Library Assocation's committee on this. One main part of my job was answering complaints by the public about books. That wasn't a lot of fun!

There were some people who had genuine reservations about some materials, and really knew what they were talking about. Whether I agreed with them or not, I could respect their views. But, time and again, I'd talk to people who simply had never bothered to read the book themselves. They were afraid of something without really knowing what it was.

One of the things I discovered after the publication of the Harry Potter books was that some people who did not like those for theological reasons automatically assumed every fantasy book fell into that same category. And that's just not true.

I think some of the controversy over Tolkien may be spilling out from that which is really too bad. Whether you like Potter or not (I do, at least mildly), I think most of us would agree that there is a difference in style, magical elements, belief system of these two authors, and they shouldn't be equated.

Meanwhile, good luck to both of you. If you can get your parents involved, all the better. Sometimes sadly, schools will totally tune out their own students but will listen to the adults. This is especially true at private schools where parents pay the tuition! Let us know if you have any success.

sharon