Kiddie Lit? (was More Ginny, Hermione and the Curse of Mary Sue

[corinthum <kkearney@students.miami.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52592

Penny wrote:

> It's just that the phrases "well, these are *just* kids' books so 
> X, Y and Z naturally won't happen," or "even in a kids' book" -
>well, 
> they tend to set me off a bit is all.  I think JKR has typically 
> turned things on their head ...... so I don't know why classifying 
> the books as "childrens' books" automatically means that certain
>plot 
> points *won't* happen.  I think that's selling JKR short a bit
>myself.
 
and Julie wrote:

> And other people may not view the books as being written primarily 
> for younger readers and that's an equally valid interpretation. 
> *shrugs* I don't think, though, that classifying the books 
> as "children's" or "young adult" literature takes anything *away* 
> from them. There are plenty of novels that I would argue were
>written 
> with young adults in mind that have an equally compelling adult 
> reading as well: the Narnia books and A Wrinkle in Time spring 
> immediately to mind, and I'm sure there are others. But, for me at 
> least, a critical part of the adult reading of those books is a 
> knowledge that they're intended for and illuminate things about 
> childhood and young adulthood.


My two cents:

The attempts to classify these books into either children, young
adult, or adult literature seems pretty silly and pointless to me.  Of
course the series deals with some issues of childhood and young
adulthood.  But it isn't really a coming of age story that focuses
primarily on these issues.  It focuses instead on very universal
issues (classic good vs. evil, stereotypes, life decisions, etc.). 
This is why the books have such universal appeal.  Also, as has been
mnentioned, these books were not written with a young adult audience
in mind; they were written with JKR's own interests in mind.  

I certainly don't think the classification of young adult literature
is insulting or takes away from the inherent value of a book.  In my
opinion, young adult literature as a whole is far better than any of
the adult bestsellers written nowadays.  My roommate teaches seventh
grade English, and I constantly steal the books she teaches.  However,
to most people, placing a book in this category puts it off-limits to
adults, under their level and therefore not enjoyable.  This series
(and many other books as well) has definitely proven that this is not
so.  The only reason for such a classification, as Steve mentioned, is
for marketing purposes.

-Corinth