Harry getting Killed; Books as "Childrens' Books"

[meckelburg at foni.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 15514

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., inyron at y... wrote:
> > meckelburg at f... wrote:
> > 
> > > Another reason is, that, even if we enjoy the canon so much as
> > > adults, the books are "children's books". JKR wants to show 
> children
> > > the fight between good and evil and good has to win. To 
sacrifice
> > > Harry on this battle would be very disturbing to the 9 to 13year 
> old
> > > kids, who are the avarage-aged Readers.
> > 
> > The books are *not* "children's books"!  JKR has said repeatedly 
> that
> > she had no target audience; the publishers *marketed* them to 9-12 
> yr
> > olds because Harry was 11 in Book 1.  Harry will be 17/18 in the 
> last....
> > 
> > I posted two very detailed messages in this regard this past 
> weekend --
> > See Message #15132 and Message #15201.
> > 
> > Penny
> > 
> 
> 
> I agree that the books are not children's books, and JKR said she 
> wrote them for herself- BUT.
> 
> From a Barnes&Noble.com chat, OCTOBER 20, 2000
>  
> 
> Question: Are you going to get more mature themes as your books age, 
> or are you going to keep it geared toward younger kids?
> 
> JKR: I think an eight- or nine-year-old will be able to read all 
> seven books. That's my intention. However, Harry is growing up, so 
> obviously he will face certain issues an eight-year-old won't. I 
> don't think, however, that that will be uninteresting for an eight-
> year-old. 
> 
> 
> Was GoF a children's book? No.  Was it appropriate for all nine year 
> olds?  THat's debateable, but JKR though it was.  JKR was also a 
> little worried on how the children would handle Cedric's death.  I 
> think Mecki's point that sacrificing Harry would be too much for 
nine 
> year olds doesn't bear dismissal on these grounds.
> 
> inyron
> 
> who likes chat transcripts, and is still looking for the one where 
> JKR said Mrs. and Arabella Figg are the same person, if someone 
> doesn't mind helping her.

Thanks alot for helping me. inyron. I find it difficult to find the 
right words in English sometimes and you have found just the ones I 
was looking for.
In the same Interview JKR said, she had asked her Daughter(7) what she 
thought of Cedric's death and the child answered: It doesn't matter, 
it's not Harry. I think if Harry dies, even as a sacrifice to 
V.'s death, most children would not believe "good" has won this 
battle. And JKR confirmed that the future books can still be read by 
9year old children.Besides, they "live" a story so much, Harry's death 
would be really grieving(is that the right word?) for them.

Thanks to Penny for giving me some mail-numbers I can look this up on.
I read back 40pages when I joined on Monday, but that was not enough.

Mecki