Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

Connect
, pp. 97-101, p. 98. See also Rose, The Case of Peter Pan, 1984.

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211 
infers that good books must appeal to a universal audience, not one specific group.
20
According to her, this inherent universality ensures that readers of all ages read and reread 
children’s literature. In reaction to the permeability of children’s literature, literature for 
adults should be just as permeable, i.e. be read and reread by children, too. However, this 
represents the weak point of Mortimer’s thesis, as topics for adults are not always to the taste 
of children or written in a style that children enjoy. Also, adults can think back to their 
childhood, their preferences and interests at the time, whereas children cannot possibly think 
and feel the same yet as the mature adults that they will be one day.
By saying that as an adult, a reader can invest more into a story and therefore profit 
more from it,
21
C.S. Lewis at the same time implies that children lack this ability. Then again 
he defends the basic concept of allalderslitteratur by claiming that no reader should obey to 
arbitrary, set age groups.
22
In Reflections of Change, Griswold observes and comments on the current 
development of the blurring of the notion of childhood and a simultaneous interest of adults in 
books for children.
23
The author discovers that for adults there is a trend away from mere 
purchaser and reader to children towards deliberately acquiring books for children for 
personal use.
24
According to Griswold, a simultaneous countermovement can be detected. Not 
only do adults take an increased interest in literature for children but also the children 
themselves appear more mature.
25
Whereas children thus emancipate themselves, adults make 
concessions towards children as far as tolerance, openness and involvement are concerned. 
Openly admitting their interest in fantasy is new to many an adult. It reveals that a 
reinterpretation and revaluation of the child-reader/ adult reader relationship is currently 
taking place. Griswold labels this phenomenon not as texts written for “children of all ages” 
but for “adults of all ages”.
26
This implies that children and their literature are upgraded in 
hierarchy whilst for adult readers a possible loss of high standards and demands, i.e. a 
depreciation of values, is kept at bay. In the long run, the author predicts a merger between 
20
Mortimer in Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, p. 99. Also compare Anne de Vries. “Literature for 
All Ages? Emancipation and the Borders of Children’s Literature.” In: Sandra L. Beckett (Ed.) Reflections of 
Change
, pp. 43-48. 
21
Compare Mortimer in Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, p. 211.
22
C.S. Lewis. “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”. In: Egoff; Stubbs; Ashley (Eds.), Only Connect, pp. 
207-220, p. 213. 
23
Jerry Griswold. “The Disappearance of Children’s Literature (Or Children’s Literature as Nostalgia) in The 
United States in the Late Twentieth Century”. In: Sandra L. Beckett (Ed.) Reflections of Change, p. 38.
24
See Griswold in: Beckett (Ed.), Reflections of Change,p. 39.
25
This does not only apply to the child readers but also to the child heroes in the fantasy novels.
26
Griswold in: Beckett (Ed.), Reflections of Change, p. 39. 

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212 
children’s and adult literature with its signs already visible today.
27
On account of this merger, 
an eventual disappearance of impermeable borders would enable the use of one text for all 
readers. The assumed revaluation of children’s literature and its reintegration back into adult 
literature therefore implies a quasi-return to pre-children’s literature times. Although 
Griswold awards a heightened quality to the current literature for children compared to their 
predecessors,
28
he does not draw the logical conclusion from his argumentation. Despite his 
words of praise for the development of children’s literature, he still does not accept children 
as equal partners for adults but denies children’s books the same intellectual quality as books 
for adults. This statement proves untenable, though. As this study attempts to show, the 
fantasy novels analysed reveal literary quality in their own right, proving that they can take on 
adult fantasy any time.
29
What is more, denying children’s literature the same status as adult 
literature whilst speaking of a merged story is contradiction in itself. If the story was really 
shared, none of the two parties involved would have to lower or heighten sights at all. 
Implying a loss of quality when an adult acquires and reads books for children whilst 
simultaneously attributing this quality to children’s books is incompatible.
This current trend of children’s literature towards adult literature is also observed by 
Meek, Warlow and Barton in The Cool Web.
30
As early as in 1977, they discovered the 
development of a rapprochement between children’s and adult literature at the expense of 
children’s literature. Already then they found “adult-eration” worrying.
31
Their term is very 
appropriate for describing the ongoing development. Be it because of adult-eration or 
childification, age recommendations on the spine of the books or on the shelves in shops or 
libraries may become redundant. With the readers coming from so many different age groups, 
the customary categorisation in rigid age phases is invalidated. Particularly in fantasy the 
reader target group covers all ages. So instead of suggesting narrow age gaps like from 9-12 
years of age, future spine labelling will need to adapt to the changing circumstances. It can 
either completely refrain from making any age suggestions or simply label them “for all 
ages”.
27
Ibd., p. 40.
28
Ibd., p. 54. 
29
Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for instance has got structural and psychological depth that quite a few 
fantasy novels for adults can only dream of. Poole calls it “the most densely intertextual work for children one 
is ever likely to read”. Richard Poole. “Philip Pullman and the Republic of Heaven”. In: The New Welsh 
Review 14.1, 53 (2001), pp. 15-22, p. 16.
30
Meek; Warlow; Barton (Eds.), The Cool Web, 1977.
31
Ibd., p. 334. 

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Dependent on the respective interpretation, this development away from meticulous 
categorisation towards a more general and liberal approach can either be interpreted as a 
retrograde step or as progress. It can be considered retrograde in that respect that there seems 
to be a return to the time when the separation into literature for children and literature for 
adults was yet unheard of. However, the levelling of the reader’s age can also be regarded as 
progress because it reveals that the parallel development of children’s and adult literature has 
come full circle. The open scissors between the two fields can close again, now wiser through 
the past experience of separate ways. Such a reunion takes into consideration the 
homogenisation of the readership in the course of globalisation. Whether precocious child, 
childish adult or some form of universal childult, again time will tell how exactly the new 
reading landscape, influenced by the trend allalderslitteratur, will develop. Its influence on 
and interaction with other genres will be a rewarding subject for future studies. 
One aspect that illustrates the trend of allalderslitteratur is the current design of 
fantasy book covers that addresses readers of all ages by means of extraordinary and creative 
design features. Amongst those range holograms, cut-outs in multi-layered covers like 
Hoffman’s first Stravaganza novel, embossed structures and ornaments, glitter or changing 
colours. The three-dimensional effect is very popular. For instance, embossed goose pimples 
(as in Stine’s Goosepimples series) create a more intense since tangible moment. With all 
those printing and designing techniques the literary landscape is livened up optically. Current 
publications attach great importance to universal appeal which they
attain even without any 
illustrations inside the novels. Typical of the fantasy genre are geographical maps for 
orientation or embellished majuscules. Minimalist illustrations encourage the reader’s 
imagination. At the same time, applied to novels for children, this feature makes them 
resemble more books for adults than children. Yet, there are also a number of fantasy novels 
which do not forego illustrations. A prime example for such works are Stewart and Riddell’s 
The Edge Chronicles
, which captivate with their quality and detail.