As a adult (not to say aged) Happy Potter fan, its perhaps a little surprising that I have never read any other YA fiction beyond the classics. And by classics I really mean written dead authors. Since I rediscovered a love of fiction in 2018, my have-been-read list consists of: Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the first four volumes of the Swallows and Amazons series. In terms of children’s and YA literature my to-be-read list (think Emma Woodhouse) is completely empty. No Divergent, no Twilight, no Hunger Games.
Three things have coincided, to make me re-evaluate. I have just finished Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, a children’s writer who has had some lovely things to say about J. K. Rowling’s work. She has a, very well received, list of children’s books, that look very intriguing. The Hogwarts Professor is agog with the latest instalment of the Hunger Games, and unless I want to be spoiled I cannot read any of the posts (dammit!). Finally some self reflection leads me to believe I am guilty of that fault that I deplore in others: believing myself above such childish things…
So in the spirit of turning turning over a new leaf I have allowed Katniss to take me by the hand and lead me into the series. More tomorrow!
