A different tone

[plinsenmayer]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4539
From: plinsenmayer
Subject: Re: A different tone
Reply To: [Yahoo! #4535] Re: A different tone
Date: 7/18/00 9:53 am  (ET)

Hi:

<<<Jen_Lorin wrote: <Do you think that kids will start to lose enthusiasm
for them, and that they will start to be more books geared for a teenager
and adult audience?>

I agree with Voicelady that I don't think overall enthusiasm will wane --
I think they are destined to become classics. BTW, the NY Times review
of GoF & the Newsweek review concur that they will be classics (so phooey
on the USA Today review!!).

I will make another Laura Ingalls Wilder analogy -- the "Little House"
books are a 7 volume "coming of age" series as well (I'm discounting
"Farmer Boy" about her husband and "First Four Years" which was published
posthumously). They were written in the 1930s and 1940s, so in 1973
when I was 8 yrs old, I could read all 7 volumes. I read all of them at
age 8-9, but I didn't care for the later volumes as much -- couldn't
identify with the 17 yr old Laura nearly so well as the mischevious 9
yr old Laura in Book 3. But, I did read them & love them, and re-reading
them at an older age, I appreciated the later volumes much more.

With HP, I think there is another issue with all 7 volumes being available
to younger readers. If Book 4 is any indication, then the tone will
only get darker & more "adult." Harry isn't just getting older as in my
Laura example. He's facing more "adult" situations (or at least it seems
that's where JKR is headed). In contrast, the 17 yr old Laura was just as
"innocent" as the 8 yr old Laura in the earlier books. So, I do think
some parents may be concerned about having a younger child get hooked
into the series once all 7 volumes are just sitting there. Not to say
that all 8-12 yr old kids won't be able to read all 7 HP books in one
gulp, but I think it's likely that they won't *all* be able to handle it.

Jen had also asked earlier if we think the books will become more dark &
adult in tone -- I guess my response above answers that question for
you. My opinion is that this volume was overall darker, and the kids
are definitely teenagers now, so the humour & situations are getting
less appropriate for young young kids (8 yrs & younger). IMHO anyway.

I don't know if *any* of this made sense - <g>

Penny