Children’s Literature and Harry Potter:

vChildren’s Literature and Harry Potter:

J.K. Rowling has said that she wrote the Harry Potter series in such a way that meant as the readers aged, the books had more adult themes. Anyone who has read the books can see this very clearly.The beauty of a really fantastic book is that the meaning changes depending on the context of the reader. This can be seen in the Harry Potter series. This is less true for the earlier books, where the themes are mostly ‘straight-up-and-down’ and meant to be interpreted in a particular way, like most children's books. However, as the books progress, they become less of a children’s series as adults can begin to divulge a deeper, richer message and understanding of the characters than a child can.

 A child can read this series because they can identify certain characters as good, bad and so on. An adult can read it because they identify that characters are more than their ‘good’ and ‘bad’ labels, that things are much more complicated than they seem, and that the meaning runs so much deeper than the good guy versus bad guy mantra.I believe this is what makes the Harry Potter series so versatile in terms of its reader base. It is the same reason as to why people can read it over and over again: the words are the same, but the meaning changes (for the reader) every time. In answer to your question, yes… and no. It can be read by children, but great chunks of the text, and entire books, are clearly aimed for an ageing reader and an adult audience. A child will have no problem reading the series, but an adult can fully understand its meaning.