Fantasy and children's books
May. 9th, 2007 08:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatA lot of people seem to assume that fantasy is only for children, and that adults who read it are somehow inferior - escaping reality, refusing to grow up etc. I've complained about this before. However, yesterday, when I was once again struggling to classify some new children's fiction, I started thinking a bit more about the fantasy genre, and, in particular, the different way fantasy is treated in children's and adult books.
I classify children's fiction (i.e novels - I don't classify picture books or early readers) into one of six categories: funny stories, magical stories, animal stories, scary stories, friends & family, and mystery and adventure. This has proved very popular and helped boost issue figures. The "Magical stories" category was intended to equate to what, in adult books, would be called "Fantasy."
However, it's proved a really troublesome category. The trouble is, so many children's books have magic in, but actually seem to be aspiring to be a different genre. There's a whole genre of magical animal stories - "My magical pony", "My secret unicorn", or a new one, with the tag line: "Imagine a riding school... with dragons!" They are clearly aiming at themselves at animal-loving girls, and they read just like a normal non-magical animal story. Then there are the fairy books, which have magic in, but are really just girlie stories about friends and friendship. There are also a lot of action-packed adventure stories that happen to contain magic. If I classify them as "Magical" I feel I'd be taking them away from their target audience, and classifying the whole book by the presence of something that is not, in fact, that relevant. I've ended up putting a lot of magical stories in other categories, since I feel that more accurately sums up its likely appeal.
It seems to me that adult publishing divides things on a different axis from children's publishing. In adult publishing, if it contains magic, or is set in an imaginary world, it is automatically fantasy (unless the magic is very scary and happens in this world, in which case it might be horror.) In children's publishing, a lot stories contain magic, and in many cases it's actually more useful to ignore the magic and push it to children as an animal story, or an action-packed adventure.
I have always been rather annoyed when authors like JK Rowling and Philip Pullman stand up and attack fantasy in general, and say that of course they don't write fantasy themselves. But maybe they're right. Maybe they aren't writing fantasy*, and more than an author of a pony story, in which the pony happens to be magical, is writing a "fantasy novel." Maybe children's books don't lend themselves to such categorisations. (* When Pellinor read the first ever Harry Potter, when it first came out, he said, "It's a completely generic and mediocre school story that happens to contain magic." A mother once said that this was precisely why her son loved it. It read like a normal school story - with sport! - but had the extra fun of a bit of magic.)
Why is magic so much more prevalent in children's books?
1. Because publishers assume that fantasy is childish, therefore assume that children want to see magic in all their stories?
2. Because there is an assumption that children believe in these things more than adults do? Adult fantasy novels are usually set in an imaginary world, but children's ones are a lot more likely to have magical things happening in our world. Maybe the assumption is that adults won't buy this, but children will accept it. This is also the justification behind the classic children's fantasy novel, in which only the child main characters can see the magic that still exists in the modern world, because their minds and eyes are open. However, when we're talking about books aimed at 10 - 14s, I do wonder how many of them do still believe in these things.
3. Because it makes a story safe? In an adult thriller, you can have mad murderers or terrorists on the tail of the hero, but this makes a children's story feel a bit dangerous, so it's rendered safe by making the threat a magical one. It's less scary to be chased by a made-up monster than by the sort of evil that really does exist in the world.
The sad thing, though, is that a lot of these types of books are missing in adult novels. Fantasy has become narrowed. We don't really find action-packed thrillers in which a secret agent fights terrorists, disarms bombs.. oh, and is chased by a wizard. We don't find girlie stories in which a career woman tries to juggle marriage, affairs, motherhood, work... oh, and a friendship with an elf. Put magic in it, and it becomes Fantasy, and everyone knows what Fantasy is.* It's all about magic swords, quests, young farm boys saving the world, elves and orcs, names with apostrophes in, Dark Lords etc. (Yes, yes, I know this isn't true, but it is the image.) Adult novels seem to have lost the possibility of putting magic and speculation into a story without pushing it firmly in "The Fantasy Genre". I'd find it quite refreshing if adult publishing took a leaf out of the children's market, and spread the magic through books in all other genres - chick lit, thrillers, westerns etc.
* I know that the definition of fantasy, and how it differs from science fiction, and, indeed, from non-genre fiction, is a vexed one, but I think it's a definition that mostly troubles those on the inside. Those who don't read fantasy usually have a very clear (if inaccurate) idea of what it is.
Addendum: There are a few adult books that follow the children's model, by putting magic in a novel that reads like an example of a non-fantasy genre. For example, The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, read like a hard-boiled noir detective story, but happen to contain magic. However, I've seen them shelves in fantasy and in horror, but never in crime - thus supporting my idea that adult publishing thinks "if it's got magic in, it's fantasy", whereas children's publishing is a lot more willing to accept magic in stories in all sorts of genres.
EDIT:
Afterthought: One issue is, I think, that children don't think in genres in the way that adults do – or, at least, that adult publishers do. Children's books don't normally get classified by genre (except in my libraries!). Most of my categories, which were suggested by children, don't fall into established adult genre classifications. Children more often ask for a book that will make them feel a certain way – "a book that will make me laugh,", "an exciting book", "a scary book" – than ask for a book about something. When they do ask for a book about something, it's usually animals, but "animal stories" isn't a genre in adult fiction.
As a result, my "Mystery and adventure" category (that the children originally wanted to be called "Exciting stories") mixes lots of adult genres: science fiction, detective stories, thrillers, historical novels about battles, and westerns. "Scary" more or less equates to "horror", but also includes some of the scarier thrillers. "Magical" is roughly "Fantasy." "Funny", however, is something that is scattered across adult writing but isn't normally pulled out and turned into its own category. ("Humour" exists in bookshops, of course, but not usually for novels.)
Children, therefore, have fewer preconceptions. They don't feel betrayed if magic suddenly appears on page 250 of an adventure story. They don't feel they've been conned into reading something in the "wrong" genre. And some adults definitely do. I remember my Dad being outraged when some novel he was reading ended up giving a magical explanation for events, since nothing about the book's exterior had led him to expect this. He felt totally betrayed. I don't think children would have felt the same betrayal.
I classify children's fiction (i.e novels - I don't classify picture books or early readers) into one of six categories: funny stories, magical stories, animal stories, scary stories, friends & family, and mystery and adventure. This has proved very popular and helped boost issue figures. The "Magical stories" category was intended to equate to what, in adult books, would be called "Fantasy."
However, it's proved a really troublesome category. The trouble is, so many children's books have magic in, but actually seem to be aspiring to be a different genre. There's a whole genre of magical animal stories - "My magical pony", "My secret unicorn", or a new one, with the tag line: "Imagine a riding school... with dragons!" They are clearly aiming at themselves at animal-loving girls, and they read just like a normal non-magical animal story. Then there are the fairy books, which have magic in, but are really just girlie stories about friends and friendship. There are also a lot of action-packed adventure stories that happen to contain magic. If I classify them as "Magical" I feel I'd be taking them away from their target audience, and classifying the whole book by the presence of something that is not, in fact, that relevant. I've ended up putting a lot of magical stories in other categories, since I feel that more accurately sums up its likely appeal.
It seems to me that adult publishing divides things on a different axis from children's publishing. In adult publishing, if it contains magic, or is set in an imaginary world, it is automatically fantasy (unless the magic is very scary and happens in this world, in which case it might be horror.) In children's publishing, a lot stories contain magic, and in many cases it's actually more useful to ignore the magic and push it to children as an animal story, or an action-packed adventure.
I have always been rather annoyed when authors like JK Rowling and Philip Pullman stand up and attack fantasy in general, and say that of course they don't write fantasy themselves. But maybe they're right. Maybe they aren't writing fantasy*, and more than an author of a pony story, in which the pony happens to be magical, is writing a "fantasy novel." Maybe children's books don't lend themselves to such categorisations. (* When Pellinor read the first ever Harry Potter, when it first came out, he said, "It's a completely generic and mediocre school story that happens to contain magic." A mother once said that this was precisely why her son loved it. It read like a normal school story - with sport! - but had the extra fun of a bit of magic.)
Why is magic so much more prevalent in children's books?
1. Because publishers assume that fantasy is childish, therefore assume that children want to see magic in all their stories?
2. Because there is an assumption that children believe in these things more than adults do? Adult fantasy novels are usually set in an imaginary world, but children's ones are a lot more likely to have magical things happening in our world. Maybe the assumption is that adults won't buy this, but children will accept it. This is also the justification behind the classic children's fantasy novel, in which only the child main characters can see the magic that still exists in the modern world, because their minds and eyes are open. However, when we're talking about books aimed at 10 - 14s, I do wonder how many of them do still believe in these things.
3. Because it makes a story safe? In an adult thriller, you can have mad murderers or terrorists on the tail of the hero, but this makes a children's story feel a bit dangerous, so it's rendered safe by making the threat a magical one. It's less scary to be chased by a made-up monster than by the sort of evil that really does exist in the world.
The sad thing, though, is that a lot of these types of books are missing in adult novels. Fantasy has become narrowed. We don't really find action-packed thrillers in which a secret agent fights terrorists, disarms bombs.. oh, and is chased by a wizard. We don't find girlie stories in which a career woman tries to juggle marriage, affairs, motherhood, work... oh, and a friendship with an elf. Put magic in it, and it becomes Fantasy, and everyone knows what Fantasy is.* It's all about magic swords, quests, young farm boys saving the world, elves and orcs, names with apostrophes in, Dark Lords etc. (Yes, yes, I know this isn't true, but it is the image.) Adult novels seem to have lost the possibility of putting magic and speculation into a story without pushing it firmly in "The Fantasy Genre". I'd find it quite refreshing if adult publishing took a leaf out of the children's market, and spread the magic through books in all other genres - chick lit, thrillers, westerns etc.
* I know that the definition of fantasy, and how it differs from science fiction, and, indeed, from non-genre fiction, is a vexed one, but I think it's a definition that mostly troubles those on the inside. Those who don't read fantasy usually have a very clear (if inaccurate) idea of what it is.
Addendum: There are a few adult books that follow the children's model, by putting magic in a novel that reads like an example of a non-fantasy genre. For example, The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, read like a hard-boiled noir detective story, but happen to contain magic. However, I've seen them shelves in fantasy and in horror, but never in crime - thus supporting my idea that adult publishing thinks "if it's got magic in, it's fantasy", whereas children's publishing is a lot more willing to accept magic in stories in all sorts of genres.
EDIT:
Afterthought: One issue is, I think, that children don't think in genres in the way that adults do – or, at least, that adult publishers do. Children's books don't normally get classified by genre (except in my libraries!). Most of my categories, which were suggested by children, don't fall into established adult genre classifications. Children more often ask for a book that will make them feel a certain way – "a book that will make me laugh,", "an exciting book", "a scary book" – than ask for a book about something. When they do ask for a book about something, it's usually animals, but "animal stories" isn't a genre in adult fiction.
As a result, my "Mystery and adventure" category (that the children originally wanted to be called "Exciting stories") mixes lots of adult genres: science fiction, detective stories, thrillers, historical novels about battles, and westerns. "Scary" more or less equates to "horror", but also includes some of the scarier thrillers. "Magical" is roughly "Fantasy." "Funny", however, is something that is scattered across adult writing but isn't normally pulled out and turned into its own category. ("Humour" exists in bookshops, of course, but not usually for novels.)
Children, therefore, have fewer preconceptions. They don't feel betrayed if magic suddenly appears on page 250 of an adventure story. They don't feel they've been conned into reading something in the "wrong" genre. And some adults definitely do. I remember my Dad being outraged when some novel he was reading ended up giving a magical explanation for events, since nothing about the book's exterior had led him to expect this. He felt totally betrayed. I don't think children would have felt the same betrayal.
