SOURCE: “Harry Potter Most Challenged,” in Library Journal, Vol. 125, No. 4, March 1, 2000, p. 19.

In the essay below, Rogers writes that “Harry Potter” tops the list of the ten most challenged books in 1999.

The best-selling “Harry Potter” series of children's books by J. K. Rowling tops the list of the ten books most challenged in 1999, according to the American Library Association's (ALA) office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF).

The Potter books drew complaints from parents and others concerned about their focus on wizardry and magic. The OIF received 472 reports of challenged titles in 1999. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school about a book's content or appropriateness. Most challenges are reported by public libraries, schools, and school libraries.

After Potter, the list includes Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's “Alice” series; Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War; Judy Blume's Blubber; Walter Dean Myers's Fallen Angels; John Steinbeck's classic...