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Crossover appeal
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From: Marthajack at aol.com <Marthajack>
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 10:55:19 EDT
I hope this is not off-topic. This discussion about the crossover appeal and huge, seemingly unprecedented popularity of Harry Potter reminds me of when The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman was first published. When that arrived in our bookstore and we all read it and adored it, we recommended it to adult
readers for themselves as well as for children and often, after reading it, adults would express surprise that it was supposedly not an "adult" book. Just like now, with Harry Potter, customers would ask us what our favorite new book was and that's what we would give them, though with a few caveats as to age appropriateness and dark themes. It is the only "children's" novel besides Harry Potter that we've ever sold hundreds of copies of in HARDCOVER! I'm sure I remember that it hit the Northern Calif bestseller list, even if maybe not the New York Times. We stock it and its sequel, The Subtle Knife, in paperback in both the YA section of the store and the adult science-fiction/fantasy section and they sell equally well out of both sides.
The Pullman books had a similar word-of-mouth success and burgeoning popularity too. Like Harry Potter, after reading the first one the kids were desperate for more, and I am still asked continually when Pullman's Book 3 is coming out (it is now expected in May of 2000, by the way). I think if the internet had been up & running & easily available to everyone 5 or 6 years ago, everyone would have been buying the British edition of these books too, which also came out in the UK first.
Most readers who loved HP will probably like Pullman too. The books are marvelous richly textured adventure fantasy, enjoyable and thought-provoking on many levels. The subject and mood are much, much darker than in HP though, so I consider these books for an older audience (11 & up) who are ready for some wonderful but difficult themes.
Martha Jackson Book Passage
Received on Tue 08 Jun 1999 09:55:19 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 10:55:19 EDT
I hope this is not off-topic. This discussion about the crossover appeal and huge, seemingly unprecedented popularity of Harry Potter reminds me of when The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman was first published. When that arrived in our bookstore and we all read it and adored it, we recommended it to adult
readers for themselves as well as for children and often, after reading it, adults would express surprise that it was supposedly not an "adult" book. Just like now, with Harry Potter, customers would ask us what our favorite new book was and that's what we would give them, though with a few caveats as to age appropriateness and dark themes. It is the only "children's" novel besides Harry Potter that we've ever sold hundreds of copies of in HARDCOVER! I'm sure I remember that it hit the Northern Calif bestseller list, even if maybe not the New York Times. We stock it and its sequel, The Subtle Knife, in paperback in both the YA section of the store and the adult science-fiction/fantasy section and they sell equally well out of both sides.
The Pullman books had a similar word-of-mouth success and burgeoning popularity too. Like Harry Potter, after reading the first one the kids were desperate for more, and I am still asked continually when Pullman's Book 3 is coming out (it is now expected in May of 2000, by the way). I think if the internet had been up & running & easily available to everyone 5 or 6 years ago, everyone would have been buying the British edition of these books too, which also came out in the UK first.
Most readers who loved HP will probably like Pullman too. The books are marvelous richly textured adventure fantasy, enjoyable and thought-provoking on many levels. The subject and mood are much, much darker than in HP though, so I consider these books for an older audience (11 & up) who are ready for some wonderful but difficult themes.
Martha Jackson Book Passage
Received on Tue 08 Jun 1999 09:55:19 AM CDT
