picture books?

[Jim Hohman]

No: HPFGUIDX 746

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Neil Ward <neilward at d...> wrote:
> With HP, on the other hand, I think Neil was asking
> >whether it's possible to imagine that Scholastic could edit the 
last 3
> >(arguably 4) books of the series so that all the material is 
appropriate
> >for the 9-12 yr old set.  Right?
> 
> That is exactly what I meant, and I agree that it would be very 
difficult to
> achieve.  Perhaps there will be a natural decline in interest among 
the
> youngest stratum of readers as we began to see with GoF, I think.  
The
> publishers may still think of this from a marketing point of view 
and Warner
> Brothers won't want to be losing the younger audience either.   
> 
> Since it's been raised, the idea of a picture book version (or
comic 
book
> version) of the Harry Potter books is intriguing, not as a means of
> simplifying the books or appealing to young children, but as an 
alternative
> format.  Wasn't this done with "Lord of the Rings" for example?  
Imagine
> what some of those Japanese cartoonists would do with it.  
> 
> >That's why I think the HP books present such a unique situation.  
It's
> >hard to think of another series where the books start out aimed at 
(or
> >at least appropriate for) a young audience, but get progressively 
less &
> >less appropriate for the same audience as it continues.
> 
> I think the media are largely to blame for misinterpreting the
books 
as
> children's books *only* from the outset and failing to take on
board 
the
> likely development, given the year-by-year progression through 
Hogwarts.
> Okay, I'm generalising, but even when adults have been mentioned in
> articles, it's invariably in the context of 'hey, adults like these 
books
> too!'  With GoF, journalists suddenly found themselves questioning 
the
> suitability for young children, as if the change in tone was a bolt 
from the
> blue.  They could have anticipated it, but they seemed to have 
largely
> ignored JKR's own comments on her intentions for the series.  She 
pays
> attention to her younger readers, but she has always been adamant 
that she
> won't tone things down in the later books.  
> 
> If in doubt, blame the press!
>  
> Neil
>             Flying-Ford-Anglia
> 
>  *****************************************
> 
>    "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
>    the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
>    its rear lights blazing angrily"
> 
>  [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]
> 
>
  

Again I reveal my antiquity.  Does anybody remember Classic Comics?  
All the major literature in comic book form, including The Iliad, Les 
Miserables, most of RLS, lots of Dickens.  The were the Cliff notes
of their day for high school students.  I have a recent set of comics 
books of Wagner's Ring Cycle which is a lot of fun.  I'm a Wagner fan.

Jim