Barry Trotter! CNN! Dirty!

A friend of mine in Connecticut called to say that CNN ran a segment this morning about Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody. Apparently a woman bought a copy of Barry at a York, Pennsylvania book fair for her seven year old. She read five pages and was shocked, shocked, I tell you! They even brought the poor seven year old on:

"And what do YOU think of this book?" asks the reporter.

"It's bad," murmurs the kid.



The whole thing was very scare-oriented. They didn't mention that it was a parody, or even ONCE give the full title. Or mention that the back cover says, "If you're wondering whether this book is too old for you…" Or talk to me, or Simon and Schuster, or even go to Amazon and say, "Despite Mrs. X's reaction, in the year since it has appeared, most HP fans seem to like Barry Trotter." Or that the story ultimately showed a GOOD thing happening--a parent exercising control over what her child reads. Nope, none of these; it was so much easier to go for the scare: "Parents, beware--there's a nasty Harry Potter book out there."



...Next on CNN: a child doesn't swallow a nail. Even though, if you don't look closely, nails sorta look like cloves. Call me conservative--call me a hidebound traditionalist--but I think every parent should read the cover of a book before giving it to their kid.