OOP: Tone, Percy, Fred&George, Memories, Snape, Umbridge, Dudley (unrelated)

LadyMyneh ladymyneh at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 23 10:44:12 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 61985

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amanda" 
<returnofsharkbait at c...> wrote:

> <snip>I am quite concerned about the adult tone the series is 
taking. 
> Although
> >it's to be expected, now that Harry is fifteen, that his "love 
life"
> >would start, I am a mite concerned for the underage kids whose 
> parents
> >might *not* want them to read about the kissing teenagers and 
stuff. 
> I
> >guess they'll have to censor out the "offending" sentences, still 
I 
> think
> >that it taking on this tone might cause the HP series to get a few 
> more
> >serious opponents.
> 
> I agree with this point.  I went to a HP release party at a 
bookstore 
> in my area, and the next largest age group besides adults (some of 
> whom were likely there for their kids) was children between the 
ages 
> of 7 and 10.  After reading the book and commenting on not only the 
> romance aspect, but also the complex feelings, plotline, and simple 
> language issues (see Dursley, Vernon, and various others) I hope 
that 
> these parents will be reading the books to their kids so they can 
> censor some bits or even (cringe...my hypothetical kids would hate 
> me) holding off on letting them at it until they were older.

I completely disagree with this point. Kids in the 7-10 age group, 
and much younger, will all be aware that people kiss in romantic 
relationships. Kissing isn't the focus of the book, it's not 
described in any sort of graphic detail, and it would seem unnatural 
to leave it out. Not to mention that it's a completely harmless 
activity, not likely to disturb kids at all. I mean, how can it hurt 
them in any way? There are far more serious themes present from the 
beginning of the series than a bit of kissing, and the children of 
the world seem to have dealt with these remarkably well.

In my experience, from what I've observed, and from what I remember 
of myself as a child, the "kissy bits" in books don't tend to 
register with children until they're ready to understand at least a 
little bit about romantic relationships- and if they're ready for 
that (and remember, I'm talking about understanding a bit, not 
actually engaging in them), then why try to hide them from it?

"Lady Myneh"






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