"I think you can date the birth of our current golden age of children’s literature to Harry Potter, but also, and perhaps more important, Harry Potter started something new, which is to say it legitimized the reading of children’s books by adults."
Neither of these statements is true. The World existed before you were born and became aware of it Ms. Paul, and it will continue to be after you depart.
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greppers - I admit I'm in that category (paraphrasing Rose in GYPSY) of reading Book Reviews more than reading full books. The Times podcasts are at times just more fun than the actual book that gets covered. But I've been racking my brain and googling, and the only pre-J.K. Rowling children's book in my lifetime I can find that adults without children (or nephew and nieces) really embraced for themselves seems to be "A Wrinkle in Time." Maybe sneak in "Ender's Game" if stretching what a children's book is? (I know I consumed Encyclopedia Brown in my 20's and really loved it as an escape even while in a pressure cooker closing seven-figure deals during the workday, but that was just me trying for a possible project and then I got hooked on the whole series.)
So a sincere question: Were there others in the last half of the 20th century? (I can't believe I can't find this covered on google.)
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy kicked off with NORTHERN LIGHTS in 1995. I first read it and its sequels in my early twenties, and still count them among my favorite books (as many adults I know do); they're exquisite.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/oct/18/his-dark-materia...
@greppers Even if it were true, I hate the obsession with age appropriateness of literature. I still read childrens books, because they are good books. The Little Prince was loved and is still loved for a reason. And as a child I thought nothing of reading The Jungle or Homer. Granted perhaps I should have waited to read the Lord of the Flies till after I was seven because it gave me nightmares but I firmly believe I would not have grown up to be a fervent reader if my parents hadn’t decided that everyone can decide what to read for themselves.
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I was surprised that there are parents who so firmly believe parents shouldn't read the Potter books aloud to their children, that children should be left to read them without parental "interference".
I read the Potter books aloud to my daughters (and husband). The first book came out when my eldest daughter was 11, the same age as Harry when he went to Hogwarts. All four of us cherish those "read aloud" memories. The stories engaged our young daughters' imaginations, and my husband and I were grateful that many of the parents and teachers in these books were benevolent characters. Most books written for elementary and middle school children depict all adults as inept, stupid, clumsy, and clueless. They do this to flatter kids egos and give them a sense of false empowerment. I will always be grateful to Rowling for bucking that trend.
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Engaging and fun are not often associated with interview reads - but both are the descriptive a that immediately jumped to mind here.
Nicely done folks. Will bank much of Russo's thoughts in the parenting sachel.
First of all, nobody should be called a muggle. This is a term of insult. Muggles reject magic and magic people. There is a lot of Christianity of the bad sort hidden in Potter, such as the ideas that snakes are evil based on the Bible (even if the Bible isn't in the stories) and the incantation of the three witches turned into a Christmas carol.
I was exposed to the Potter stories by a conservative Catholic family many years ago, and have loved it since then. Rowling is a wonderful, gifted author. I think I'll stop here.
Please, more Book and Theater crossover talks. I was half hoping for one for the Rodgers and Hammerstein book podcast a few weeks ago, but glad this one is here so soon later. This was terrific.
My folks were very into seeing entertainment and being there to discuss plot elements that might trouble us when we were very young. We all were a little taken aback about a "joke" in, of all movies, Disney’s “Mary Poppins” - where the head of the bank had laughed himself to death, conveniently leaving a job open for Mr. Banks (during “Let’s Go Fly A Kite”). Mom and Dad both recalled I was really concerned for a while, at age 4, that an older person could literally “die laughing.” It didn’t help that the Disney-film death was taken in such stride with the deceased’s son saying it’s OK, he’d never seen Father happier in his life.
(The concern about impressionability held, though subject matter changed. Even at “A Chorus Line” ten years later, as the big finale ended, with all the sex talk, the plastic surgery tune, etc., what Mom felt she had to say was, don’t worry, no one’s going to get that personal when you interview for a job; it’s illegal.)
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