Connie Neal has commented that, "there are 64 real references to witchcraft in the first four "Harry Potter" books, but you have to see them in context to know they are not teaching witchcraft or sorcery. Many of the detractors who have actually read the books already have made up their mind that "Harry Potter" is evil before they read. They have taken a magnifying glass and picked at the books, using literary reductionism to find what they want to find. You can pick up Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and do the same thing that these people have done with "Harry Potter"; it is ridiculous."