Pondering Harry...

(Image of the latest Harry Potter duly nicked off one of the many sites promoting the book.)

Sometimes I just sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits... and stares at the wall and ponders vaguely... And yep, today I'm just sitting doing some vague pondering... mostly because of a series of late nights, kept up reading the latest Harry Potter.

What a gripping, pacey read the final book in the Harry Potter series proved to be (except for a few sections near the end that left me feeling like someone had hit me with a confundus charm...). And it's good to see that the quality of writing has progressively improved since the first book, that this book has been far better edited than the previous two - and that the amazing imagination has been sustained. But, but...

Franky, I wasn't even sure I was going to buy the last book - I'd just had enough. Prisoner of Azkaban was my favourite of the series and what I liked about the first three books, although not particularly well written, was the sense of gentle magic. But as the series has progressed so the books have become darker and this last one, which certainly contains none of the initial gentle magic, succeeded in giving me nightmares. Serves me right for reading until late at night - but it does beg some questions.

JKR started off writing for the 9 - 12 market. But I wouldn't say that this last book was suitable for 9 or 10-year olds - teens, yes, but not the original market. I appreciate what she has done though, taking her original readers with her as Harry grows up. But it poses an interesting question in terms of new readers coming to the books. While the first three books are definitely for the 9 - 12 market, the last three are definitely for the teen - and even adult - market. So, coming to the books today for the first time, a 10-year old reads HP and the Philosopher's Stone, loves it and promptly wants to devour the rest, getting through the books in quick succession. My question is simply this, for those of you who have read the last book - do you think that HP and the Deathly Hallows is suitable reading for a 10-year old?

I was alarmed to read that Childline had called in extra volunteers to help kids traumatised and upset by the numerous deaths in Deathly Hallows. While I think it's great that readers identify so strongly with characters it's concerning the impact those characters (and their deaths) have on readers, particularly children. While books and stories offer a wonderful opportunity for dealing with death, conflict and danger, I wonder where one draws the line. Children's writers have a tremendous responsibility to their reading public - children are like sponges, taking in everything around them and one must wonder about the impact some books have on them - certainly those of the "darker" variety, such as JKR's last one. And yes, it is dark, very dark - I nearly put it down after the first few chapters.

As an aside, I noticed, rather unhappily, that one reviewer described the latest HP movie as the "best horror movie of the year". As much as I've enjoyed Harry Potter, I'm really not a fan of horror movies and feel saddened that HP and the Order of the Phoenix has become "horror material". Was it really necessary, I wonder, for the story to become so grim? One can only wonder what the final movie of the series will look like... *shudder* Think I will have to watch it on DVD on a bright, sunny day!

Right, now I'm going to back to staring at the wall and if my addled brain allows, I will ponder some vampires of my acquaintance who are demanding my attention...