Author Aims to Debunk Harry Potter Myths

Knight Ridder/Tribune

With the recent release of the film "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," a native Vallejo author says her new book puts to rest persistent criticism that the stories are "evil."

Nancy Solon Villaluz, 38, who said she spent her first 30 years in Vallejo, spent the last five researching Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling in the hope of determining if some fundamentalist Christians' criticism of the book series is justified.

The 1988 St. Patrick-

St. Vincent High School graduate said her quest to learn Rowling's motivations for the Harry Potter books led her to conclude they stem from decidedly Christian, as opposed to occult, leanings.

The resulting book, "Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?" -- the first in a trilogy -- seems to be creating a stir, she said. It is described as a treasure map for anyone wishing to find the truth about the series' foundation.

Reviews on Amazon.com are generally positive.

Villaluz said she's not surprised that hundreds of people have already bought her book, despite no publicity having been done.

"If a million people will interpret Harry Potter a million different ways, I wanted to know how Rowling sees Harry Potter," Villaluz said. "What I found is that through the Harry Potter books, she deeply explores her own hard-won Christian faith. Not knowing that, (people opposed to the book on Christian religious grounds) are scoring goals for the wrong team."

Villaluz's book, published in November, did

not go unnoticed by Rowling's team of lawyers, she said. The book is available through Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.

"I got a cease and desist order from her attorneys," Villaluz said. "They objected to the original title, 'Harry Potter and the Sleeping Dragon.' Once we changed it, they said they approved, and the fact that they've had the book since November and I haven't been sued, would indicate that they're OK with the

content."

Messages left with the New York lawyer's office for comment weren't returned

Thursday.

The content, said Villaluz, who has lived in Seattle with her husband Ramir and their two children for the past decade, examines specific ways Rowling explores her own journey in Christian faith.

"For instance, why do only first-year students, at age 11, cross in a boat to Hogwarts?" she asks. "The answer is because J.K. Rowling was born to an unbelieving household. She was a seeker, and had herself baptized at age 11."

Another example is the material from which wands are fashioned in the stories, Villaluz said. The answer involves the medieval Christian church, she said. Yet another is the train station scene in which Harry struggles to believe he can walk through a wall that appears solid.

"It's a metaphor for faith, itself," she said.

Villaluz said she avoided reading the first Harry Potter book when it was released, "because I thought I was too old and my kids were too young, and I bought into the Christian media's claim that it was evil."

When friends suggested the stories were more like C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" -- allegories for Christianity -- she decided she needed to uncover which position was true, she said.

"I went in as a doubter. I didn't think Rowling was a Christian. My research became a major forehead slapper," Villaluz said. "I read the books and the more I did, the more convinced I became that they were inconsistent with the bad rap they were getting. Rowling clearly understood what she was doing in burying all the religious truths, choosing not to make them obvious, not wanting to preach, out of respect for her readers. My book is a map for Harry Potter fans to see what they may have missed."

Though she hasn't spoken with Rowling, though not for lack of will, Villaluz said she's studied hundreds of hours of interviews the author has given, seen all the documentaries ever made on her and read the books she's referenced as influential, Villaluz said.

"I feel almost like I did talk to her," she said. "At least 80 percent of what I would have asked, someone has asked."

The research became a passion, said Villaluz, a professional singer/songwriter, with a degree in fashion design, who put her career on hold for this research, she said.

The second of Villaluz's trilogy -- "Does Harry Potter Tickle Waking Dragons? -- "is my Empire Strikes Back," she said.

"The second act of a three-act play is usually the dark act," and her trilogy follows that pattern Villaluz said. She wouldn't reveal the title of the third book.

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