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Oh man, who pissed in Washington Post critic Ron Charles' Cheerios? I think he is vying for the 2007 Harold Bloom Pompous Critic Award in his piece entitled Harry Potter and the Death of Reading. He basically says you are a jackass if you like Harry Potter and then, gazing sadly at the hoi polloi, wonders why Harry Potter readers don't listen to critics who tell them to read real books. How about we send the critics to business school so they can learn how to sell.

The Death of Reading bit comes from the upcoming NEA report on the decline of reading among young people. (here is the 2004 report). The NYT has a piece about how reading among kids continues to decline despite Harry Potter. It is merely inference that Harry Potter has no effect. In order to truly know, someone would need to study Harry Potter readers and their follow on reading habits and compare it to the general population. It could be that Harry Potter readers are preventing the numbers from slipping more precipitously. Or maybe not, but what I have seen is just guess work.

Oh, and the world's least intelligent news services notes that if you read Harry Potter, you will probably dabble in witchcraft. Of course, the Onion told us this long ago.