Open Letter to Parents, Teachers, and Concerned Adults

Dear Teachers, Concerned Adults, and Parents of Harry Potter fans,

As the management of a website that is targeted towards children, I realize that some adults may be concerned about the material contained within these Internet confines. I wanted to take this time to reassure you that the entire staff of the Daily Prophet will try our best to keep all material suitable for children of all ages, although we do remind you that standards vary from one person to another. This is what makes individuality such a blessed gift to this world. Therefore, rightfully, we leave the decision of what your child participates in up to you.

However, I do understand that there are book-addicts and Harry Potter fans out there that are under the age of eight, and I also understand that you, as a parent, or teacher, or concerned adult, cannot read every bit of material contained in the Daily Prophet or on Calculo. That being said and understood, I give you my word that I will try my utmost to retain a child-friendly environment. We at the Daily Prophet do not tolerate any racism, objectionable language, bashing, name-calling, or otherwise uncivil references on this website. Be it from the articles posted, to the message boards and interactive chat rooms. Our mission is to provide good clean fun for children of every ethnic, religious, and cultural background. On the Internet there are no boundaries or differences. We think it is most inappropriate to find fault in others and therefore, criticism and racism are not allowed in the slightest.

Now that you understand what I will not allow, I want to take this time to tell you a little more about what theDaily Prophet is trying to accomplish, what we set out to do. This is quite simple; to provide a fun environment for people of all ages who have a common interest; Harry Potter and the world of literature. The Daily Prophet is an organization dedicated to bringing the world of literature to life. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, I believe, merely opens the door to diving into a good book. By creating an online "newspaper" with articles that lead the readers to believe this fanciful world of Harry Potter to be real, this opens the mind to exploring books, diving into the characters, and analyzing great literature. By developing the mental ability to analyze the written word at a young age, children will find a love for reading unlike any other. By creating this faux world we are learning, creating, and enjoying ourselves in a friendly utopian society.

With the addition of Calculo to the Daily Prophet organization, we are branching out to provide another path for the youthful mind to explore. The Daily Prophet has been aware for some time that the world of literature goes far beyond the small niche of Harry Potter, and we have been longing to share it with our friends, visitors, and colleagues. But only now, thanks to the generous support of others, have we been allowed to open up this great new cavalcade of literary treasure. I hope that our visitors will engulf themselves in great books, absorbing the knowledge and wisdom that can come from understanding times, events, places, and people, forgotten in the past, only to be found again on paper. Thanks to Harry Potter, the facades of society's belief that books are dull and boring have come tumbling down, freeing a new generation to explore uninhibited. That is the true magic of Harry Potter. We hoped to grasp that magic that is now inside millions of children, teenagers, and adults, and give them a place to exercize that magic so that they may challenge their abilities by taking their reading level one step further with each new book they experience.

That is what we are all about at the Daily Prophet; Learning, Creating, Reading, Writing, and Fun. Children connect to Harry Potter in a way that I have never seen before. By using this love of a book, we can open minds to other great works of fiction and nonfiction. The Harry Potter readers of today will become the competent, literate adults of tomorrow. We like to think that the Daily Prophet is helping to instill this love of reading in people of all ages. Not just children, but teenagers and adults as well. You're never too young or too old to enjoy a good book. And the Daily Prophet helps bring books to life.

Sincerely,
Heather Lawver
Editor in Chief of the Daily Prophet
On behalf of the entire Daily Prophet staff