Tuesday, June 28, 2005

A Happy Moment

So I'm at the local library a few weeks ago, where I hang out sometimes. I used to volunteer there and got to know a lot of the people, so I still go around and talk to them - and check out what books they have for sale.

Well, I'm in the children's department with a stackful of books. I put them down on a table and talk to the librarian in there, and we're chatting away. Problem is, I had placed my stack right in front of the sign-up forms used for their summer reading program, blocking them off.

So a family with two sons comes in there and reaches around my stack - except the older boy, about ten, who picks up one of the books and starts glancing at it. This, in and of itself, makes my day, to see a kid who wants to read and isn't forced into it. I pick up my books and tell the kid that he can look at that book all he wants to.

But it gets better. I move my books over and sit by the librarian's computer, where she has a Harry Potter screensaver running. He comes by and gives me the book back, sees the screensaver, and oohs and aahs over it, naming the scenes and what book they came from. We discuss the books, guessing where we think they're going. (For the record, I feel that either Ron or Hermione will die in the 6th book, setting up a very dark conclusion. However, my backup bet is on Dumbledore.)

As we discuss, he says to me, "You know that some churches want to get Harry Potter out of the libraries?" And here, I get really, really careful. Not only do I know of that, I know personally one lady who attempted to get them removed from the school library where her children attended, two others who feel that reading the series is unholy, and have met several who forbid their kids to read the Harry Potter books on religious grounds in general. (Not only do I live in a red state, I live in a very religious one at that.)

So, I say, "I've heard that."

And he says, "That's just stupid. I mean, what do they think, I'm going to finish reading one and believe in spells and want to be a wizard?"

I still smile when I think of it.

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