Harry Potter books

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Lucky_Scrunchy said:
I asked that my son’s third grade teacher to prevent him from reading any of the Potter books and was wondering if there were any other books (besides Narnia and Tokien) that are at that same level, without the occult stuff. I would love to hear some suggestions!

Thank you in advance!
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Don’t let those mocking you for being concerned about Harry Potter bother you. There is very good reason to be concerned.

I’ll second the suggestion to read “A Landcape with Dragons” by Michael D. O’Brien. He also has a newer book out called “Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture” that touches directly on Potter, Twilight, Golden Compass, and some other more current books with occult, anti-Christian messages.

There is a suggest reading list in Landscape with Dragons, the author does advise parents to still use their own judgement which is sensible, and I did find a few on there that I would stay away from.

Someone argued that Harry Potter is just like Star Wars, that actually is correct. However, that doesn’t mean Harry Potter is good, it just means Star Wars is bad. O’Brien touches on the details in his books as well.

It is hard to find good fiction. A suggestion I’d give would be to get some more books on lives of the saints. There is excitement, peril, miracles, and the best part…it’s true!

Another suggestion would be to seriously and prayerfully consider homeschooling. This is just one example of how much difficulty (impossibility) you will have protecting your children from negative influences in school (public or private).

Pax Christi and God bless.
 
severus68 said:
Wellsaid. Unfortunately, some Catholics are on the same page as those fundamentalist Protestants.
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some Catholics like Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)?
It is good that you explain the facts of Harry Potter, because this
is a subtle seduction, which has deeply unnoticed and direct effects in
undermining the soul of Christianity before it can really grow properly.
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-Ratzinger in a letter to author Gabriele Kuby regarding her book Harry Potter Good or Bad
 
The horse is beaten, dead, skinned, and made into products.

O’Brien has been discredited repeatedly. Do a search on these boards. The Pope has NEVER taken a stance on HP. Ever.
 
Dan_Daly said:
Don’t let those mocking you for being concerned about Harry Potter bother you. There is very good reason to be concerned.

I’ll second the suggestion to read “A Landcape with Dragons” by Michael D. O’Brien. He also has a newer book out called “Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture” that touches directly on Potter, Twilight, Golden Compass, and some other more current books with occult, anti-Christian messages.

There is a suggest reading list in Landscape with Dragons, the author does advise parents to still use their own judgement which is sensible, and I did find a few on there that I would stay away from.

Someone argued that Harry Potter is just like Star Wars, that actually is correct. However, that doesn’t mean Harry Potter is good, it just means Star Wars is bad. O’Brien touches on the details in his books as well.

It is hard to find good fiction. A suggestion I’d give would be to get some more books on lives of the saints. There is excitement, peril, miracles, and the best part…it’s true!

Another suggestion would be to seriously and prayerfully consider homeschooling. This is just one example of how much difficulty (impossibility) you will have protecting your children from negative influences in school (public or private).

Pax Christi and God bless.
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Do you argue that reading ancient mythology is also bad?
 
Despite the thread title, I really think that any discussion of the merits (or lack thereof) of Harry Potter is not the type of discussion the OP was looking for. The OP wants book recommendations.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Despite the thread title, I really think that any discussion of the merits (or lack thereof) of Harry Potter is not the type of discussion the OP was looking for. The OP wants book recommendations.
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Yep. And we were recommending Harry Potter 😃
 
TheRealJuliane said:
Nah, HP is a pretty simple book (or series of books). I read the first one and wasn’t too impressed. :yawn:

A 3rd grader who reads fairly well can do just fine. They can take it in stages.

It’s not great literature, but it did make some exciting movies (and a LOT of money for the author!). To me, it’s a simple story of good v. evil, just in a somewhat different setting with sympathetic characters. I wouldn’t get freaked out about it. And if my kid wanted to read it, I might read it aloud at bedtime.

I did this with The Hobbit and my sons loved it. I wanted them to know the book before they could comfortably read it. And I got to go through and speak all the characters’ dialect/accents. It’s terribly fun.

🙂
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lol, maybe it was because I got off to a slow start reading. It wasn’t until I hit the 4th that I took off reading. (Probably with more occult themed books than Harry Potter, they were the Dealing with Dragon’s series by Patricia C. Wrede. I didn’t recommend them because the main character is a girl, and while some boys don’t mind, often they are more interested in books with a male main character, though the second book has a much larger role for the male lead).
Its not that Harry Potter would be too difficult, but the story so long that I would have put it off and not got involved in the story.

If your child hasn’t read Stewart Little or Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White yet, I would encourage that reading as well. (Same person who wrote Charlotte’s Web.
 
kbachler said:
Do you argue that reading ancient mythology is also bad?
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Meh, I’m with Dan on the message of being concerned with the Harry Potter novels… and yes, I’d be likewise concerned with ancient mythology, LoTR, etc, etc.

There are a LOT of good vs. evil stories out there… but good vs. evil as a theme does NOT equate to a Christian allegory. In fact, a lot of the themes therein are secular humanist in nature (and, I argue, so is Harry Potter).

This is not a reason not to read these books, nor to immediately disallow your children from reading them… but it IS a reason to be aware, and to discuss these themes within the family (as well as to restrict reading certain subjects in order to wait for a certain mental and spiritual maturity to manifest in the child)

A good recommendation to read and discuss is, I think, the Chronicles of Narnia because it is CLEARLY a Christian allegory with plainly demonstrable Christian metaphors. Another is The Circle Series by Ted Dekker, which places a modern character into both the modern world and a post apocalyptic fantastical future at the same time, and then uses these to narrate the old testament and the Paschal Sacrifice in a VERY different way… although Mr. Dekker is a protestant, so again it is important to DISCUSS this series with your children.
 
I’d be likewise concerned with ancient mythology, LoTR, etc, etc.
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I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but isn’t Tolkien as Catholic as you can get? I mean, he was raised a priest. 🤷

As for recommendations,
A big yes to HP 😛
But also- Magic Tree House, Tuck Everlasting, Matilda, Half Magic Series, Dear America, Eragon, and The Giver. They were all great!
 
Irish_Eyes_826 said:
I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but isn’t Tolkien as Catholic as you can get? I mean, he was raised a priest. 🤷
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Being a priest does not mean everything you write will be wonderful and acceptable at all ages. Origen might have something to say about that… :rolleyes:

And I enjoyed LoTR, but it is not a Christian allegory in the sense that Ted Dekker’s Circle Series and Lewis’ Narnia are. It has a lot of good themes, and SOME christian themes mixed in, but it also incorporates a lot of non-catholic or non-christian ideas as well. Like I said, read it, and have your kids read it… when they are old enough and you can discuss it with them.
 
I’m racking my brain trying to think of a book that I read in third grade that didn’t have any magic in it and I’m not having alot of luck.

I know I liked “Sideways Stories from Wayside School”, which was a funny collection of short stories. You might want to tear out the first chapter though, because there’s a teacher in there that can turn the kids into apples. I think that’s the only part with magic in it though.

I also remember liking “Mathilda”, but I"m sure you wouldn’t like that because she has the power to move things without touching them.

I also liked “The Worst Witch”, but I’ll go ahead and assume that’s out of the question.

My mother always wanted us to read books like “Little House in the Big Woods” which portrayed all grown-ups as perfect. I think she though they would make us respect her more. Fortunatly for her, we found them repugnant and totally fake. No one’s parents are like that! We read all the books she hated instead. (You know, where all the grown-ups are mean, gross, and above all, stupid?) It ended up to her advantage because the characatures of these evil grown-ups made her look really good in comparison! Who was she kidding, anyway? She’d of never lived up to Ma Ingalls!
 
Aladdin
Alice in Wonderland
Anakin’s Fate
Arthur and Guen: An Original Tale of Young Camelot
The Bachelor and the Bean
Jumanji

🙂
 
Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelli is a good one that I read about that age.

If his reading level is good, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, is also a very fun book for boys, if you can get past the running away and lack of parent involvement.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Hmmm. A parent telling a teacher to tell their kid not to read.
This is a first.

But how is a teacher supposed to stop your kid from reading a specific and very popular book? Rip it out of his hands if he sees him with it in the hallway?
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Well, I think there is no quicker way for getting a child TO read a book than to tell him NOT to read it!

Teachers and parents should just be glad a third grader is reading. Period.

The A Series of Unfortunate Events is a good series.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Roald Dahl books.

Rick Riordan books

Kate DiCamillo books

Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
 
jilly4ski said:
if you can get past the running away and lack of parent involvement.
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That is what makes it FUN for kids to read! They can escape their reality and go into the book world! That is not a bad thing! It is an adventure, an escape, a fantasy, and using their imagination.
 
Irish_Eyes_826 said:
I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but isn’t Tolkien as Catholic as you can get? I mean, he was raised a priest. 🤷

As for recommendations,
A big yes to HP 😛
But also- Magic Tree House, Tuck Everlasting, Matilda, Half Magic Series, Dear America, Eragon, and The Giver. They were all great!
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Tolkien was not a priest. He fell in love at 16 but was not allowed to marry her until he was 22. His mother converted when Tolkien was 8. She died when he was 12. He and his brother was put under the guardianship of Fr. Francis Xavier Morgan. Because he was a priest, does not mean that they were raised as priest.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Eyes 826 View Post
I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but isn’t Tolkien as Catholic as you can get? I mean, he was raised a priest.
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Adrift: Tolkien was not a priest. He fell in love at 16 but was not allowed to marry her until he was 22. His mother converted when Tolkien was 8. She died when he was 12. He and his brother was put under the guardianship of Fr. Francis Xavier Morgan. Because he was a priest, does not mean that they were raised as priest.
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I meant to type “raised by a priest,” sorry!
Anywho, didn’t his son become a priest?
 
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