OOP: Really for Children?!

[sueeeyqbong]

No: HPFGUIDX 64436

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scaryfairymary" 
<scaryfairymary at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Irene Mikhlin 
> <irene_mikhlin at b...> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > sueeeyqbong wrote:
> > 
> > > Absolutely! My thoughts exactly. Anyone else got the idea that 
> JKR 
> > > started writing this for children, then, when the books became 
> more 
> > > and more famous (around books 2 - 3???) she became more aware 
of 
> the 
> > > teen/ adult audience, and started writing with them in mind 
to. 
> > > Don't want to make this sound too cynical, but still.......
> > 
> > The interview she gave to BBC recently contradicts that.
> > She said she didn't think the books suitable for children 
younger 
> than 
> > 9-10, and she did not mean just OOP.
> > It's not her fault that publishers (and especially WB) go for 
> younger
> > audience.
> > 
> > Irene
> 
> Well I was thinking about this before, having read the ending of 
> GoF. It makes sense that if a child read PS/SS (1st published in 
the 
> UK in 1996 I *think*) when they were 9/10 they would be sixteen or 
> seventeen now.  The idea here is that the kids who began the 
series 
> when it started have now grown up and matured, as has Harry.  
> Perhaps another reason in the delay of the publication of OOP was 
to 
> allow space for her younger audience to grow up a bit (admittidly 
> this is not very likely!) 
> 
> Anywho, must get back to rereading OOP!!
> Mary :)


Now me again :
OK, OK, you all have a fair point. But about the fact that her 
readership has grown up alongside the publication of the 
books...well, that's true for the present, while there are enormous 
gaps between the publication of each one. But there will come a time 
in the not-too-distant future when all 7 books are already 
published, and a child (let's say aged 7) will be able to read all 
seven books in the space of a year or two ie will be reading OoP 
aged 8 or 9. Will this be a problem? I doubt it, since the books 
have such a strong appeal, but it'll be interesting to see if it 
makes a difference to the readership. With other children's book 
series, where the later books are more 'teen' in tone, children 
might delay reading them for a few years until they feel old enough 
to cope with them, but with Harry Potter, the narrative pull is so 
strong and suspensful that you wouldn't want to do that...you'd keep 
reading til the end of the series because of the 'couldn't put it 
down' factor. Anyhow, just my 2 knuts, and as usual, I'm writing 
before thinking what I'm saying! ;-)