Dancing with the devil is no joke, and neither is casting spells. When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came out, many parents took a pause. Should they allow their impressionable youth to read books about magic and witchcraft? What did this mean for the spiritual growth of their children? Just as some parents questioned Harry and Hermione, so too they may question "Young Goodman Brown." The good news is that Hawthorne is part of the American cannon, so parents are less likely to challenge his writing, but that doesn't mean you won't get a few parents concerned about a text depicting devil worship.

So if you get these questions, what do you do? Listen, and then explain why this is an important piece of literature. Remind parents that you aren't advocating for anything that appears in the text; rather, you are helping students see the value of reading this piece. One reason for reading would be that it reflects one aspect of the American experience. "Young Goodman Brown" provides a glimpse into a very real and historical part of our nation's past, and it's a past that we can and should learn from. Puritans have deeply influenced our culture and our literature even if they now only live on the page.