[HPforGrownups] Re: HP/children's literature (again)
Jenny K.
nausicaa at atlantic.net
Thu Aug 30 13:50:05 UTC 2001
No: HPFGUIDX 25146
Quoting Penny & Bryce <pennylin at swbell.net>:
> The problem is this though. Let's say a 9 year
> old starts PS/SS. She
> loves it. She reads CoS a month later. Again,
> she loves it. She moves
> onto the PoA the following month. Hmm... this
> is getting harder to
> follow & understand, but she's desperate to know
> what happens next. So
> on. It will be very hard to tell a child that
> he/she can only read the
> first few books -- "you'll have to wait a few
> years before you're ready
> to read those later ones, honey." See the
> problem with that? Children
> will either read the entire series at such a
> young age that they won't
> fully understand or appreciate the later
> volumes, or they will begin the
> series at a much older age. If it's the latter,
> then what you have
> isn't really a childrens' series at all. Young
> Adult (YA)? Maybe. I'm
> not a big fan of that classification though.
I read quite a few books when I was quite young (9, 10,
11 yrs old) that I didn't necessarily understand. I
either looked up unknown words, asked about particular
phrases, or just assumed that it was some silly thing in
the book. I still enjoyed them. AND I've read most of
them later, STILL love them, but now I get more out of
them...I catch subtle hints, jokes, or suggestions that
I'd missed before. These are some of my favorite books,
because reading them again means that I get to find
something new.
I see nothing wrong with letting children read what they
want, provided parental guidance is involved (no matter
what the age, really). Yes, this is my choice and many
people don't agree with this -- I would not have a
problem with a child reading, say, the Story of O at a
young age (and I know some friends who read that shortly
after they learned to read...although *their* parents
had no idea). I would insist on discussing sections of
these books with the child though. AND, I would never
force any books on anyone (child, adult, other).
Jennifer K.
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