When the Harry Potter series was becoming popular in the early 2000s, an impassioned debate arose among parents and teachers as to whether it was good that so many children were spending so much time reading such fantastical stories. Some thought that becoming hooked at a young age on this kind of easily digestible fare would make it hard for them to develop tastes in more edifying literature in high school and college. Others, though, argued that it was good they were reading anything — and that once they were reading something, they could later grow into the kinds of readers who would explore all kinds of books and subjects.