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06-25-2005, 09:12 AM
| | |  Will Harry keep the original readers?
The LA Times has an article focused on the issue of the original readers growing up and perhaps growing out of Harry Potter. Examples of those who've lost and kept interest are given. Quote:
If the publishers of author J.K. Rowling's books have a challenge beyond how to spend the Harry Potter windfall, it is in trying to keep the series compelling for original readers who were 10 to 12 years old when Harry was introduced in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" but who are now heading off to college, jobs or even the war in Iraq.
Quote:
"It's about a little wizard boy, and when you're a teenager you're just not caring what happens to the guy with the wand," says James (17), whose diet of nonfiction and the occasional mystery make Harry just so much kid stuff. "I just wasn't caught up with them. I never put on a cape and had a wand myself."
Quote:
"Of course, we've lost some, but I don't believe we've lost [a lot of] readers," says Barbara Marcus, executive vice president of Scholastic in charge of children's book publishing. "I believe we have expanded to parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents. And then we have the new readers. The beauty of the children's market is that our readers come into the market and they grow with us. There are new children every year who are ready for Harry Potter."
Quote:
"It's the kind of depth and sophistication that can be appreciated by an older age group as well as a very clear and compelling plot line that draws in the younger children," says Arthur A. Levine, the Scholastic editor who signed the series. "It's never been a book for very young children. In the early stages we thought it would be mostly 10-to-14-year-olds. The unusual qualities of the book were that even though there's sophisticated wordplay and humor and political satire that is appreciated by older readers, the younger readers are going for the more direct issues of character."
Quote:
"I'm just not feeling the urgency," says Alex Uhl, owner of A Whale of a Tale and a director of the American Booksellers for Children. "The anticipation is there but it's not with the older readers as much as it is with the younger readers."
Quote:
"A few of the people that I've met in college do read Harry Potter and those who don't just laugh at me and say it's for younger kids," says Brooklin Frye, 19. "Harry and his friends are going through things that kids right now in real life are experiencing — just with his friends sticking with him and sometime his friends don't agree with him," Frye says. "Half of it is, like, real fake, but his character, to me, is very real."
Source: The Leaky Cauldron  | |
06-26-2005, 02:06 AM
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#51 (permalink)
| | Bowtruckle
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Downstage center
Posts: 262
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That's silly. People that lose interest in the books probably weren't what one might call "true fans" in the first place!
I know for sure that I'll never lose my love for them, no matter how old I get. | 
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06-26-2005, 02:17 AM
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#52 (permalink)
| | Gnome
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 70
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Ok...I'm 21 and I still like the HP books. I don't really get any hype about the books being childish...it's a little different for me. I go to a Christian College and a lot of people see the books as "anti-Christian" since it's about wizards and whatnot. But it's just ridiculous because these people have never even given the books a chance. In my opinion the books are well written, suspensful, and have great character development. I think that even if some people think that they're too old for the books they'll eventually come to an age where they realize that they're old enough to read fantasy books again and then they'll enjoy them. JKR wrote these books with appeal to older readers as well as younger readers. Just because the books are about teenagers doesn't make them books specifically for younger people.
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06-26-2005, 04:43 AM
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#53 (permalink)
| | Bundimun
Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Uranus
Posts: 36
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nobody that has truly started and into all the fiction and fanfiction will quit. only the side people, who've only seen the movies or read 1 book will quit.
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06-26-2005, 05:58 AM
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#54 (permalink)
|  Madam Malkin's Mod
Newbie Mod
Quill Editor Basilisk
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: GMT +8
Posts: 48,645
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Byron LeBlaireau
Fifth Year
Ministry RPG Name:
Nikolai Vannacutt
| Nabs!Ama | | The Happy Hufflepuff
im in college now,and the first time i read the books was when i was a freshman in high school. i'm still reading and re-reading the books,and really anticipating the nes installation. its not a big deal that people are losing interest,it happens but then again, theres always new kids who are reading the books ever year. and no matter what, HP will always be around for anyone who bothers to pick it up and read it again.
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06-26-2005, 09:15 AM
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#55 (permalink)
| | Banned Jobberknoll
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Australia
Posts: 499
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Quote: That's silly. People that lose interest in the books probably weren't what one might call "true fans" in the first place! But what is it that constitutes a "true fan" i dont think theres such thing as a true fan, well from your definition you probably have to buy every single Harry Potter thing you see, but from other peoples point of view, they might just see reading the books being enough to be called a true fan. I lose interest in the books between the gaps when the books are released and not released. When Harry Potter ends, i'll probably move on, but that doesnt mean that i am not going to throw away the good times associated with them.
I dont think that people moving on from the series is just restricted to the original readers, but everyone gets over things.
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06-26-2005, 09:51 AM
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#56 (permalink)
| | Poltergeist
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK
Posts: 17,097
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Marcella Riddle
Graduated | Kaplinski Rival Sorting Hat Machine
Seeing as the books are the only true and pure Harry Potter thing around, I'd say 'true fans' are those who read the books and appreciate them for what they are. Obviously merchandise and the films aren't 'pure' because they deviate from canon.
I don't think moving on is restricted but the point of the article is that the 10-year-olds who read PS in 1997 are now in University or jobs and might not have the time for Potter that they used to have. Many child Potter fans are now adults.
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06-26-2005, 10:02 AM
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#57 (permalink)
|  Ginny, we go way backAt WentwaterHinkypunk
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Wentwater, MA
Posts: 855
Hogwarts RPG Name:
William Quinn
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^Merchandise could be canon if they have a Fudge action figure with him wearing his lime-green bowler with phrases like, "I'm Minister of Magic!" and "You're out to get me Dumbledore, aren't you?" 
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06-26-2005, 10:18 AM
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#58 (permalink)
| | Poltergeist
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK
Posts: 17,097
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Marcella Riddle
Graduated | Kaplinski Rival Sorting Hat Machine
That would be hysterical. But very unlikely to happen.
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06-26-2005, 11:16 AM
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#59 (permalink)
|  cookie loving Slytherin Crup
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: VA
Posts: 2,355
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They should interview students at my college. It's like a requirement for us students there to be Harry Potter fans. :op
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06-27-2005, 02:47 AM
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#60 (permalink)
| | Faerie
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: In a Sanrio store spending big bucks!
Posts: 3,874
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Cocoa
Third |
hmmm...yea!!!
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06-27-2005, 02:15 PM
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#61 (permalink)
| | Guest |
I don't think they will loose the original readers because everybody will want to know what happens to all the characters. I think the series has enough draw to bring the readers back with each new book even if they do drift away inbetween books.
I agree with the view that true fans are the ones that keep coming back and reading the books, although i think those that arent true fans don't even finish the first book, and if you do then you will be hooked and become a fan!
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07-04-2005, 06:01 PM
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#62 (permalink)
| | Faerie
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcella_Riddle Well, I've been reading Potter since I was 10. Just 'cause I'm 18 doesn't mean I'm about to stop. Silly people. Hear Hear!
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07-05-2005, 04:36 PM
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#63 (permalink)
| | Jarvey
Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Bridgend, Wales
Posts: 131
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I didnt read PS until I was 20, Im now turning 23 next month, and Ive had my copy of HBP pre-ordered since January.
I dont think you grow out of Harry Potter, its just that your preferences change. I used to like scrambled eggs, now I hate them, doesnt mean I grew out of them though.
Besides, as its been previously pointed out, new generations of Potter lovers are being educated in the ways of the wizard every year. We dont die, we multiply!!!
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07-05-2005, 04:44 PM
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#64 (permalink)
| | Gnome
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 84
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I started reading HP when I was 7 and I still love it now when I'm 15. I don't think that age has anything to do with it. I mean, yeah when I get older other things will take higher priority, but I will still love HP and read them over and over. Its a book meant for all ages, not just little kids.
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05-31-2006, 08:24 AM
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#65 (permalink)
| | Mooncalf
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rupertland, where I
Posts: 508
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Well I think so, I mean those who follow it will finish it.
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11-09-2006, 11:43 PM
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#66 (permalink)
| | Imp
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: I Wish i live in Canada...
Posts: 123
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Hannah
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The 7th book will be kept by it's oringinal readers,but new readers will just read the 7th book because well its the 7th Kind off going off-topic here but I hate it whne people just read big books,even though everybody knows they can't.like they aren't so good at reading but they read hard book s anyway!
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