A Loganville mother of four who has fought to ban the Harry Potter series from Gwinnett County classrooms is appealing the state’s decision to let the best-selling series stay.

The file in Gwinnett County Superior Court consists of a stack of papers that rivals the length of the novels in J.K. Rowling’s series about an orphaned boy who attends a school of witchcraft and wizardry.

Laura Mallory said her one-sentence appeal, dated Jan. 9, was filed after “a lot of prayer … (and) a very, very specific answer to prayer.”

“I didn’t want to do it if the Lord didn’t want me to,” said Mallory, who has two children in elementary school this year. “It’s not easy, the criticism, but I’m trying to do what’s right.”

Mallory has sought to get the books out of classrooms since 2006, after finding out that the books were being used in her son’s classroom. She has said the books are inappropriate for children because they contain violent themes and promote the Wicca religion. Furthermore, she said, the Bible says witchcraft is an abomination to God.
School board members argued the books are good tools to encourage children to read and spark creativity and imagination. In May, the board decided to deny Mallory’s request to remove the series.

The state Board of Education backed Gwinnett’s stance in December, voting without discussion to uphold the county’s decision.

The school board attorney has been notified of the appeal, said Sloan Roach, the school system’s spokeswoman.

Roach said Mallory “certainly has a right” to appeal, but the school system believes the appeal will affirm the decisions of the local and state boards.

Mallory, however, says the power of God will ultimately win.

She said she has received support from people all over the United States, some of whom have made “significant donations” to help her in her legal battle.

Mallory and some of her supporters have created a Web site, www.hisvoicetoday.org, which lists some of the research that supports her claims about the series.

The Harry Potter books, published by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing LLC, have been challenged 115 times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association.

The challenges most often claim that the series encourages children to question adult authority and promotes witchcraft, said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the deputy director for the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Source: Gwinnett Daily Post