I just read that a parochial school in Tennessee banned the Harry Potter books from its library because the characters use “spells” – spells that open locked doors and call up eagles for protection, shape-shifting spells that challenge the imagination.   

All schools have their worries, but this is the first I’ve heard of secret spells being one of them, at least not since the 1600s.  It’s a bit hard to believe that 21st Century grown-ups are combing through child...