The darker side of HP

[plinsenmayer]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C6625
From: plinsenmayer
Subject: Re: The darker side of HP
Reply To: [Yahoo! #6624] The darker side of HP
Date: 8/11/00 10:28 am  (ET)

Hi:

<<<I know that the series is written for the 9-12 age group, but if a
nine year old started with the first book at nine and read the books as
they came out (which I know is unlikely considering I didn't even hear
about HP until the 3rd book was released) then that 9 year old would be
12-13 now, as the kids grow so do the story lines, by the time the 7th
book comes out those 9 yr olds will be 16, and the reading level of a
9 yr old is quite different from that of a 16 yr old.>>>

Ah, I have several points to make with this one. <g>

1. JKR has herself said in several interviews that the books are not
targeted at 9-12 yr olds. Or, at least, she didn't write the first book
with that audience in mind. My own feeling is that because Harry was 11
in the first book, the publishers began marketing them as a childrens'
series without giving it much thought and/or without consulting JKR too
much about where the books were headed. I maintain these books are not
*just* childrens' books that happen to be enjoyed by some adults. There
is too great a cross appeal with them to label them in that way; it
seems too restrictive a label somehow. IMO.

I will skip my std NY Times rant for the time being -- most of you have
probably heard it.

2. You're right Janet about the kids "growing" with the books. But, what
about 2005? All 7 books are written & sitting there on the shelves of
your local libraries & bookstores. Your 9 yr old child may be perfectly
capable of reading & enjoying the first 2 or 3 books in the series,
but he/she may or may not be able to take (or understand/appreciate)
the darker tone & more complex plotlines in the later books. It presents
an interesting (and perhaps unique) dilemna for parents.

Maybe Ebony can weigh in on this some more -- but *are* there very many
bildungsroman or "coming of age" series where the earliest books in the
series are appropriate for younger readers but the later ones are not? In
the case of the "coming of age" series with which I am most familiar,
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, that is not true. An 8 yr
old child can enjoy the 7th book just as much as the 1st book. Granted,
this same hypothetical 8 yr old child will enjoy the 7th book in that
series much more when he/she is 14 than when he/she was 8, but there's
nothing "inappropriate" in the last volumes of that series.

My own feeling is that there's no reason why parents can't allow their
kids to read the first few books of HP at a young age & save the later
ones for when they're able to handle it.

My 2 galleons & then some --

Penny