JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels sparked a film franchise and a dedicated fandom, but a recent study suggests they have also changed the shape of children’s literature.
JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels sparked a film franchise and a dedicated fandom, but a recent study suggests they have also changed the shape of children’s literature.
Most found the series suitable for children only. Some said it’s quality literature; some were of the view that Harry Potter series is a popular fad, while some thought that it’s a mix of both. However, there were not only children who were immersed into the fascinating and majestic world of witchcraft, but the adults also took pleasure in it. The series that sold 500 million books in 73 languages, and spawned eight movies that grossed £5 billion can be nothing less than a revolution in the literary world. That is the reason why J.K Rowling has been considered as the torchbearer of revolutionizing the publishing sector.
Barry Cunningham, the publisher from Bloomsbury, believes her impact is unquantifiable:
“Harry Potter changed everything. Suddenly, publishers woke up to the idea that children’s literature was not something that was just read by children, but - crucially - was read by everyone. And the children who grew up reading Harry Potter went on to read children’s books as adults, which is one of the reasons the children’s market is seeing such huge growth.”
And it wasn’t just the market that was blooming because of the Harry Potter phenomenon, the size of books was increasing too. In 1996, a year before Rowling’s first book, a novel aimed at readers of eight to 12 averaged around 140 pages. By 2006, the average was 175 pages; by 2016, it was 290. Where once, publishers turned away manuscripts longer than 40,000 words, suddenly thick books became the norm. In adult titles there was a similar trend; the average novel increased from 320 pages in 1999 to 400 pages in 2014.
To Harry Potter books goes the credit for creating a boom in the fantasy genre. In a survey, half a million British children were asked to share their favourite books; and, surprisingly, only one non-fantasy novel made it into the top 10. “Before the Potter books, there had perhaps been more emphasis on social issues in children’s fiction,” says Catherine Clarke, a literary agent representing more than 30 children’s authors. “Fantasy had never been dormant, but there is no doubt that J.K Rowling and Philip Pullman (writer of the notable fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials) brought it massively back into vogue.”
One of the very first reviews of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone said it was “the most imaginative debut since Roald Dahl”. It won’t be wrong to say that the book has changed children’s literature forever.
