Originally posted by supervike
I agree about the prevailing attitude that they are \'children\'s\' books. Too bad really. I guess something only becomes \'adult\' if you put sex in it. It was the same phenomena with \'The Lord of The Rings\'. The books have seemingly always been subjugated to the kids table by \'real literaturists\'. Even with the movie I remember seeing parents with their little children complaining that it was too long and too scary for them...DUH!
I actually think that a good book aimed at children is harder to write than one aimed at adults in many ways, so I’m in no way criticising something if I call it a children’s book. There are a whole range of new skills the author must apply, and the mindset and expectations of a younger reader (which are different to those of an adult) must be carefully considered.
Obviously different levels of children’s literature require more or less focus on these things, but there has to be something there that makes it suited to the initial target audience.
Although Potter does very little for me I can see that when it comes down to it there are areas of the story that would appeal to children – Harry finding his escape from his mean family, getting a large degree of independence, finding that he has an amazing and powerful gift despite being made to feel completely useless at the beginning – these are all things that children will no doubt see as inspiring.
The writing and situation that this escapism is played out in doesn’t work for me though. I think that even if I was a child these elements would have put me off, so I find it hard to comprehend the success of Potter, particularly to an older audience.
Something like LoTR is very different for me as I don’t consider it a children’s book. It was not written in a way that is tailored towards children (which I do believe Potter was). It was a way for Tolkien to portray the mythology he had created, and he did so in a way that is rather inaccessible even to adults unless you are willing to put effort into it!
To summarise - there is a huge difference between a book appealing to children and a book that is written to appeal to children, but both can appeal to children and adults. For me Potter, at least the first book which I have read, is written to appeal to children, but is by no means the perfect example of children’s literature, and doesn’t have enough meat to it to appeal to me as an adult. Therefore I\'m not a big fan.
