A lot of books that appeal to kids deal with overcoming scary
challenges - its about trying on ideas in your imagination. Being
independent and alone is quite scary for most kids. My kids (12, 9 and
5) have often expressed worry about having to grow up and deal with
all the details of adult life and taking care of themselves. Reading
stories about kids learning to take charge of their lives, figure out
what kind of person they want to be, stand up for what they believe
in even if it means taking a risk - I think this is a very safe,
healthy way to start a kid thinking about those issues.

One of the things I really like about the Harry Potter books is that
not all adults are good, not every thing is fair, lots of things about
the adult world and the culture of the magic world either make limited
moral sense or are outright wrong, there is prejudice (i.e. against
mudbloods and house elves). Harry (and its a particular theme of book
5) has to decide what kind of person he wants to be and recognize that
even people he looks up to have flaws.

I also like the premise that evil can exist in a society with the
complicity of people who we might not think of as bad - and that
because of cultural blinders we may not immediately see it, or may not
want to admit it exists. A lot of what goes on in Harry Potter that is
bad occurs with the support of the goverment, legal and social systems
of the magic world (i.e.which have corruption in them, leading people
to deny the truth, get jailed unfairly, the press to spin doctor to
the popular opinion etc.). So, Harry has to be willing to see past
authority figures and majority opinions and decide for himself what is
really right. I really like that coming of age kind of theme.

Mary G.