More on Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. (Letters to Editor).

I enjoyed your film review of The Fellowship of the Ring ("Rings Runs Circles Around Rowling" by Steve Bonta, January 28th issue). After seven or eight readings, I am convinced that The Lord of the Rings is the finest work of fantasy in 20th-century English literature. The same issue of THE NEW AMERICAN reviewed The Sorcerer's Stone. Although I did not see the film of the first of the J.K. Rowling series, I disagree with some of your observations.

At age 61, my enthusiasm for juvenile fiction is somewhat limited, but I was able to finish the first, and read part of the second "Potter," and I found that, rather than a handbook for the occult, as your several articles on the subject seem to imply, "Potter" is a slightly amusing satire of the British educational system. The books in question are at least valuable if they have lured a few children from the pernicious tube, and introduced them to the written word.

You may be gratified to learn that recently a group of local Christian activists, led, I believe, by Mennonites, organized a Harry Potter book-burning. The poet Heine had an interesting comment on such action:

"Dort, wo man Buecher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen." ("Where one burns books, in the end, one will also burn people.")

ROBERT LANTZ

Timberville, Virginia 

Steve Bonta did not suggest that Potter is a handbook for the occult. He did raise some red flags regarding the moral and spiritual implications of the book. -- Ed.

Thank you so much for your recent article about the Harry Potter movie ("Rings Runs Circles Around Rowling" by Steve Bonta, January 28th issue). The earlier article about the Harry Potter books was also immensely informative and was right on target ("Harry Potter's Hocus Pocus" by Steve Bonta, August 28, 2000 issue). Parents and grandchildren everywhere should read this article again and share it with their children and grandchildren.

We should be outraged that our children are being duped into the idea that the occult is a positive thing and that the character Harry Potter is someone to be emulated. Instead, we hear the praises of those who are glad that their children are at least reading and not wasting so much time watching television or playing video games.

J.K. Rowling and her agenda parading under the guise of entertainment are deceiving many good people. It never ceases to amaze me how gullible we are as a populace. We will follow every faddish whim that is laid before the masses before we will think for ourselves.

Keep up the good work in informing us of these important timely issues. Only armed with knowledge can we fight off the deceivers of mankind.

KATHY WOODLAND

Boise, Idaho 

"Harry Potter's Hocus Pocus" is available at www.thenewamerican.com. There is a link to it under "back issues" for August 28, 2000. -- Ed.