Parents might be surprised by darker `Harry Potter'

By Hector Cantu of The Dallas Morning News

Evil. Death. Adolescence!

Order of the Phoenix —the fifth book in the Harry Potter series.

Are parents ready to discuss these hot-topic issues with their children? They may have no choice.

The fifth Harry Potter novel — with a first printing of 8.5 million copies — went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Kids everywhere are gobbling up the new adventures of the wizard-in-training in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (Scholastic).

But while Harry will likely cross wands again with his nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort, author J.K. Rowling's series is changing. The book is more violent, darker in tone and addresses serious moral issues.

In this book, another all-out war looms between Voldemort and his allies, and the forces of good, led by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and his protege, Harry. Someone close to Harry dies. And Harry faces the romantic challenge of, gulp, girls.

In the first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,” Harry turns 11. In “Order of the Phoenix,” he's 15. He'll be 17 by the seventh and final book. Harry is growing up, says James A. Cox, editor-in-chief of Wisconsin-based Midwest Book Review, and “the books are reflecting this maturity.”

For true fans, this isn't news. “The books have been getting scarier anyway,” says Shane Conway, who enters fourth grade this fall in McKinney, Texas. “So I won't be really surprised if someone passes away.”

Hila Moyal, 11, a student at Akiba Academy of Dallas, isn't surprised, either. “I was already expecting it,” she says. “Each book has been getting darker and darker.”

Some parents, however, are wondering whether “Phoenix” will frighten younger readers. Judy Chaiken, of the Plano, Texas, children's bookstore A Likely Story, says some customers have voiced concerns over the book's tone and length (Phoenix is almost 900 pages).

“People are saying, 'This used to be a children's book,' “ says Chaiken.

But, the book was always intended for a broader audience, not just children, says Galadriel Waters, author of “The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter” (Wizarding World Press) and co-creator of the Potter fan Web site www.hpsleuth.com.

“J.K. Rowling has said in several interviews that she wrote it for herself… and it's the kind of book she would like to read,” Waters says. “She picked the age 9-to-12 category because of her boy hero, and because that's the way the literary world classifies books.” The Internet book company Amazon.com lists the reading level of Order of the Phoenix at “ages 9-12,” similar to recommendations for the previous books.

Waters says many parents are uninformed about the series' darkness and moral subtexts, but children who have read the books aren't.

“I don't know anything about the new book,” concedes Plano, Texas, mom Amy Lee, whose 9-year-old son, Mark, has read the first four Potter adventures. “He reads them on his own.”

Lee says she'll probably research Phoenix a bit before she buys it for Mark. “If it's more like the last one, I think it'll be OK. But if it's more graphic or violent, I don't want him getting upset.”

Laurie Wilensky's 8-year-old son — who also read the first four books — won't automatically get the latest installment. Wilensky plans to skim through “Phoenix” at the bookstore or read reviews before she buys it.

“There's enough death and violence in the world,” says Wilensky, a Plano, Texas, resident. “I try to limit what my son sees on TV. The best person to make a decision for my child is me.”

Other parents have fewer qualms. Nancy Burke of Dallas pre-ordered two copies over the Internet so she can read it at the same time as her son.

“Even though the fourth book was a little dark, too, that does not deter us,” Burke says.

“These are great, captivating books. They have great morals.”

Her son Chandler, 8, began reading the books with his mom when he was 6. By the time he was 7, he was reading them on his own.

Book 4, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” was the scariest, Chandler says. “For one thing, someone died, but it was not Harry. Harry goes to this place and it's scary because you want to see if Harry's going to die. I like scary things.”

Burke says she explains the series' more adult themes to Chandler. Making the right choices, a favorite Rowling theme, is a common topic at their family's church, she says. And death is a part of life.

“People die in books and movies all the time,” Burke says. “Talk about awful things happening: `In The Lion King,' the father gets killed by his brother. It's awful and intense and scary. Kids are exposed to these difficult parts of life, and I'm glad he's doing it now, under my guidance, so I can direct him in the right way.”