The Return of Harry Potter.(Harry Potter books)

With the arrival of The Goblet of Fire, this young wizard is more popular than ever. Here's everything Christian parents need to know about the books your kids are begging to read.

You've undoubtedly heard of Harry Potter: loyal friend, expert athlete, boy wizard. For today's young readers, Harry Potter has become something of a hero, with enough charisma to force even a nonreader to turn off the TV or put down the joystick and open a book.

With kids tearing through the pages and beginning for more, it's clear author Joanne K. Rowling has created quite a stir. She's sold more than 18.5 million copies of the first three books. The fourth book in the series, The Goblet of Fire, reached the New York Times bestseller list weeks before its July release.

But even though the Potter Craze has turned thousands of television junkies in readers, for some Christian parents, Harry's no hero. In fact, some even claim he's "Pure evil" and have called for a ban on all Harry Potter books in their schools and libraries.

As the parent of two young children myself, I wanted to know more about this amazing phenomenon so I did a little research, hoping to find some answers. What I came up with is this: there is no easy answer.

So, rather than simple solutions, we offer you the following guide to the mysterious Harry Potter. You can use it to wade through this literary phenomenon and get the information you need to draw your own conclusions about the Harry Porter series.

Who is Harry Potter?

We first meet Harry in The Sorcerer's Stone. He's a 10-year-old orphan living with relatives who despise him. It's not until his 11th birthday that Harry learns he has …