HP

Yes, the inevitable post-HP post. For the 5 people in the world who haven't got a copy and read it already, don't worry, no spoilers ahead (or at least, I hope not, I've tried anyway).

The thing that interested me the most as I read it, and afterwards, was the language and the themes, and how they would be read by kids - kids under about 10 or 12 especially. At one point in the book, Ron says "effing". I have no problem with "bad" language and it was totally realistic both in the context and for a 17 year old boy generally (in fact, I suspect most would probably say the word infull, not use the shortened term!). But how would it be taken by a child?

And more importantly, how would a child deal with the violence in the book? Of course, there's been increasing levels of violence (both in the present and in past events the books discuss) but in this one it's very much in the present, to characters (in some cases) who we know, and it is for fun or enjoyed by the perpetrators.

I'm not a parent, or an educator and I don't have any theories on how well a child would deal with this in the context of a fantasy world, albeit one which is much loved. It just interested me, because in a lot of ways, I think the books have become adult books, rather than kid's books. Maybe I had the wrong impression from the start!