I WRITE in response to a previous letter in Wednesdays paper, 'I'm sick of Harry Rotter'.

I was outraged at what Mick Snowden wrote and frankly believe he is a literary snob.

A book that has the power to make millions of children (on a global scale) enjoy and get this excited about literature again should not be spoken ill of.

Children are now hooked and as a result are looking beyond the Harry Potter books to other stories of wizards and magic, and heroes and chivalry.

I did some research as part of my undergraduate degree at Newcastle University and found that children who identified with Harry Potter as a positive moral character showed a greater increase in their moral development over a four-month period.

Harry Potter is a modern-day hero who helps teach children right from wrong. There has

been an immense increase in the sales of children's literature in the aftermath of the first Harry Potter book and I hope this continues.

And directly speaking to Mick Snowden, if the stories have such a "thin storyline", how do you explain the millions upon millions who are gripped by the adventures and woes of Harry Potter, book after book, year upon year?

It saddens me that some people are against something that is having this most amazing effect on children across the world.

Televisions are being turned off, computer games are being put on the back burner while children pick up this book about a young wizard and are let in to the secret about the magic of reading.

J K Rowling I salute you.

Emily V. Janes,

Ebor Way,

Upper Poppleton, York.

Updated: 09:37 Monday, August 01, 2005