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primroseburrowsReviews like this one drive me crazy. Not for the subject (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is on my short list of books to read), but for the whole "this is what you should read after you've outgrown Harry Potter".
The question I have is this: Why does one have to "outgrow" Harry? For that matter, why is any book considered YA if it has a child for a protagonist? Take His Dark Materials as another example. Sure, the heroes are twelve years old, but so what? Does that mean that adults can't read it? HDM is a retelling of Paradise Lost, and how many kids would get that bit? Not that kids can't read it and get something out of it without the hidden analogies, but HDM is not just a childrens' story, and neither is HP. They're good stories, yo, and not just for kids (in the case of HDM, I think a lot of it would fly over kids' heads).
I saw parents bringing their five-year-olds to see Prisoner of Azkaban. That was a scary film! Too scary for kids that age. And yeah, it's a case-by-case call, but I don't think there are many seven-year-olds that would be able to get through Order of the Phoenix, nor should a lot of them be allowed to. OoTP is as scary in some places as parts of Lovecraft or Poe.
I'm not saying kids shouldn't read these books. I just wish that people, including reviewers, would stop telling readers that they're something to outgrow. (the actual line in the text says, "It also gives Potterites who have outgrown Hogwarts a new school to attend. ").
It's insulting to me and, I would think, to the authors of the books. [/rant]
The question I have is this: Why does one have to "outgrow" Harry? For that matter, why is any book considered YA if it has a child for a protagonist? Take His Dark Materials as another example. Sure, the heroes are twelve years old, but so what? Does that mean that adults can't read it? HDM is a retelling of Paradise Lost, and how many kids would get that bit? Not that kids can't read it and get something out of it without the hidden analogies, but HDM is not just a childrens' story, and neither is HP. They're good stories, yo, and not just for kids (in the case of HDM, I think a lot of it would fly over kids' heads).
I saw parents bringing their five-year-olds to see Prisoner of Azkaban. That was a scary film! Too scary for kids that age. And yeah, it's a case-by-case call, but I don't think there are many seven-year-olds that would be able to get through Order of the Phoenix, nor should a lot of them be allowed to. OoTP is as scary in some places as parts of Lovecraft or Poe.
I'm not saying kids shouldn't read these books. I just wish that people, including reviewers, would stop telling readers that they're something to outgrow. (the actual line in the text says, "It also gives Potterites who have outgrown Hogwarts a new school to attend. ").
It's insulting to me and, I would think, to the authors of the books. [/rant]
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Date: 2004-09-21 08:21 pm (UTC)Yes, it's the putting down that's ridiculous. Or acting as if you outgrow a good children's book because it becomes too stupid for you and move onto complex adult books. That's silly.
I still don't understand what makes a kids' book a kids' book, though--is it because it's from a child's POV? I'm not sure, because I think there are most likely books that are completely from the point of view of a child/adolescent that's not a kids' book at all. Catcher in the Rye, for example.
Exactly. Or What Maisie Knew. Having a child protagonist doesn't make it a kid's book--nor does having an adult protagonist make it an adult book, depending on the adult.
And JKR has specifically said that HP isn't a kids' book (if anyone has the exact quote I'd love to see it).
Yes, but she's lying.:-) I'm joking, but I'm also serious. It seems to be the thing to say. Presumably she sent it to the appropriate publisher--a juvenile one. I can't see any writer with half a clue writing PS/SS and sending it to the adult side of Harper Collins. Pre-adolescent kids can read HP right up through OotP. They're going to have more trouble with What Maisie Knew or Catcher in the Rye because they tend to be about things children are less concerned about. HP has many universal things in it, but I think everything in them resonates with kids. Maybe not the same way it will resonate for them as adults, but it's not out of their world.
The thing is, to say they're kids books doesn't mean adults can't read them and get a lot out of them, as all of us adults who read children's lit or work in that field know. But if it's not a kids' book we are basically saying it's not for kids because there's not that kind of crossover the other way.
I'd say the later books have definitely begun moving into YA, though when it comes to some subjects they're behind standard YA (no sex, for instance). But I don't even think of them as being in such a grey area as Brian Jacques Redwall series, which has animal protagonists and lots of violence (but is published in the US in juvenile).