Harry Potter Books under Reconsideration
in South Carolina
The South Carolina Board of Education has asked its curriculum subcommittee to determine whether the wildly popular Harry Potter books are appropriate fare for public schools. The action came at its October 12 meeting after a parent urged that the books be banned from South Carolina schools. “The books have a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect, and sheer evil,” Elizabeth Mounce declared, apparently speaking for a dozen like-minded attendees, according to the October 13 Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
That same day, Mounce and the same group of parents came to Columbia’s Richland School District 1 meeting to “express their concerns,” Director of Instructional Technology Services Ada Thompson told American Libraries.
Expressing frustration, South Carolina Association of School Librarians President Penny Hayne remarked to American Libraries, “Does [Mounce] mean banned from book shelves, book fairs, that kids can’t bring it to school in their back pack?” She added that “what was frightening to me” was that the board acted despite acknowledging that their jurisdiction was restricted to adopting textbooks.
Posted October 18, 1999.
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