I just love how people can read exactly the same words and get so many different things out of it. :) Like how my brother came out of The Prince's Tail saying how sweet it was that Snape gifted Harry with memories of his mother Lily, and Mom came out of it saying "See, Snape is evil." And these are the mostly unambiguous books! :)
Up until book 4, I'd have no trouble classifying the HP book as children's books. It the last couple the break the characterization for me. As you said, the books are written at Harry's level and (it being a coming of age story and all) he's an adult by the end of it. Since I don't consider the last couple children books, I can't consider the series children's books because of... I don't know, transitivity or something. I'm just like that.
But it does bring up an interesting point: What makes something a children's book? If a story is deep, thought provoking, and enjoyed by adults, why is it a children's book rather a 'general' book or a 'family' book?
And I think part of where I'm coming from here it that, as a fantasy fan, it irks me that the genre so often gets dismissed as 'kid stuff' or 'children's books'. It sometimes seems the only way a fantasy novel can be classified as worthy for adults is if there is sex in it, and sometimes not even then. (Cue my rant about finding Sarah Monette's Melusine in the juniors section at the library.) I'm not saying you're saying that; it's just I've figured out that my feelings on Harry Potter categorization are indelibly linked to my stance that Fantasy and Scifi have valuable literary merit and should not be denigrated as childish.
I love Dianna Wynne Jones btw, especially the Dalemark quartet :)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-09-03 05:49 am (UTC)Up until book 4, I'd have no trouble classifying the HP book as children's books. It the last couple the break the characterization for me. As you said, the books are written at Harry's level and (it being a coming of age story and all) he's an adult by the end of it. Since I don't consider the last couple children books, I can't consider the series children's books because of... I don't know, transitivity or something. I'm just like that.
But it does bring up an interesting point: What makes something a children's book? If a story is deep, thought provoking, and enjoyed by adults, why is it a children's book rather a 'general' book or a 'family' book?
And I think part of where I'm coming from here it that, as a fantasy fan, it irks me that the genre so often gets dismissed as 'kid stuff' or 'children's books'. It sometimes seems the only way a fantasy novel can be classified as worthy for adults is if there is sex in it, and sometimes not even then. (Cue my rant about finding Sarah Monette's Melusine in the juniors section at the library.) I'm not saying you're saying that; it's just I've figured out that my feelings on Harry Potter categorization are indelibly linked to my stance that Fantasy and Scifi have valuable literary merit and should not be denigrated as childish.
I love Dianna Wynne Jones btw, especially the Dalemark quartet :)