First day back at uni and already I am inspired!
Firstly, Toni Jordan. I was over the moon to discover that she is one of my lecturers/tutors this semester. I own both her books, have seen her speak and am just so excited. Her lecture this morning – first one – was laid back and she just spoke with such passion about books and writing – it was really inspiring and made me want to write! Having her for another two hour tutorial was pretty amazing, and I can tell already that she is going to be amazing.
For over two years I’ve lamented to anyone who’d listen that the diploma got all the good teachers (Sally Rippin, Toni Jordan, Kate Holden and so on) and now we have one! 
(Speaking of, you all heard they’re turning the iconic diploma into an associate degree? As someone who works in another Tafe in Marketing (we also provide Professional Writing and Editing) it is extremely interesting – as it the whole Tafe reform – but it’s particularly interesting as its such a well-known and highly regarded program).
Anyway!
In Toni’s class, she posed the question: Should Children’s Literature Be Entertaining for Adults too?
The guy it was aimed at said it should be well-written regardless, but no, he didn’t believe it should have in-jokes for adults to appreciate or the like.
It’s an interesting thought, one which I’ve pondered most of the afternoon.
There’s no question that children’s literature is becoming more and more popular with adults. (No need to mention the two main series!)
(Actually, once at the bookstore I used to work at, a crying girl around 8 years old and her mother came in. They had the ‘adult’ version of Harry Potter and the mum said her daughter had been teased at school because all the other children believed that being the ‘adult’ version of the book it included lots of sex and drugs 
)
I think to a certain degree the story needs to be entertaining for adults because for younger children, it’s the adult who will be doing the reading. Over. And over. And over. And from experience if a book is boring or whatnot, I most definitely guide any children I’m reading to to another book!
But they are children’s books for a reason: I agree they don’t need adult in-jokes. They, at a base level, need to be engaging for the children (well-written is a given), tell a (simple) story with a moral.
Children’s books are often sparse with words and clouding them with too many adult-only in-jokes… Saying that, I love television shows like The Simpsons where all generations can appreciate it as it’s always chock-full of various pop culture and political jokes.
I think that the quality of children’s books coming out at the moment is extremely enjoyable for adults as well as children. There is such a wide variety available; in every genre about anything you could want to read about. Truly something for every taste.
It’s a hard one, because cross-over with genres - especially with YA at the moment – is so big. And if you can double your potential audience, why not?
I think though, over all, that if you start writing to try and please everyone you’ll just end up in a big muddle.
If you write a well-written, engaging book, people from all generations will flock.
What do you think? Do children’s authors need to now cater for adults as well?
I haven’t really got a formed opinion on the subject as yet, but I just read this article by Maureen johnson for the guardian talking about the same thing!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/27/jk-rowling-proper-adult-novel
have you read this yet?
also, I was reading through some of the comments on that article and the commenters have a lot of opinions and bring up some quite fleshed out points. It was an interesting read. What uni do you go to? Sounds like a really fun course
I will say that I think that authors shouldn’t have to ‘cater’ for any type of audience! I believe they should just focus on writing what they know and believe, and write a good book, whatever target audience or genre it may turn out to be.
I think a lot of really good children’s books have layers to them, so that they can be appreciated by – and relevant to – people of different ages. I’ve often thought this is a quality of good children’s books and it is something I really love about them. (Especially as it is often older readers who read aloud to children, and it is children who are the “lowest common denominator” when choosing audio books for family car trips… )
However, I agree with you in children’s books shouldn’t *have to* entertain adults. Moments in children’s books for older readers work well when they involve reading between the lines – small details an adult can infer from but which a child can take at face value – and if the adult-targeted humour (for example) is going to be more explicit, if it’s going to confuse the child reader or detract from the child-oriented story, than it probably doesn’t belong.
I don’t think children’s authors NEED to cater for adults but I do think the best children’s books DO entertain adults who read them. A well-written book is a well-written book, regardless of the target audience. If I don’t personally enjoy a children’s book, I won’t recommend it to a child.
Robyn Bavati
Ooooh, interesting. I like kids books that are fun and rhyming to read, like anything by Dr. Seuss, and the Graeme Base books. I also like Graeme Base’s books for the gorgeous, lush pictures. I love sharing them with kids.
I do love movies that have secret appeal to adults, and can amuse them as well as the children who are ostensibly their audience. But books just have to have appeal, I don’t mind what age group it’s aimed at. Having said that, Megan, I also guide my cousins towards less painful books when I babysit them!