Dying characters/HP as childrens' books

[bbennett at joymail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 22282

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
> bbennett at j... wrote:

Excuse me! I reposted; the subject line was incorrect.

> That's the 143,852nd reason why the decision of the NY Times to 
remove the HP books from their Main Bestseller List makes no sense.  
You all thought I'd forgotten that, didn't you?  Nope.  I snarl at my 
Sunday paper every week in fact.>

A friend just called, a childrens' librarian, and I asked how she 
would classify the HP books. "Adult fiction," she said, without 
pause. I asked why she considers them adult fiction and not 
childrens'. She said:

*they are much too long to be childrens or young adult
*the writing is too complicated
*there are too many sublots

She said that basically the only thing childrens' book-like about 
them is that the lead characters are children. She also said some not 
very nice things about the NY Times.

Penny wrote:
> I'm not too concerned for Harry.  I have a hard time believing the
> series will end & he will be dead. 

To be honest, I think you're probably right. Although JKR has 
basically said she isn't going to flinch away from "dark" writing, I 
have a hard time believing she'll kill Harry, not because I think 
heroes don't die in childrens' books (which simply isn't true 
anyway), but because I think JKR is fully aware of how beloved Harry 
is by a lot of children (and adults). On the other hand, people have 
sacrificed for Harry his entire life, and it's going to cost him. I 
don't think this will end happily for him.

B (Excuse me, I'm going to go read something fluffy - I've depressed 
myself).