Too many vampires and wizards?

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dweezel_and_pallie
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Re: Too many vampires and wizards?

Post by dweezel_and_pallie »

Kids like magic. Adults do too, but most get too jaded to believe in it any more.
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Mika83
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Post by Mika83 »

I can see the point the OP is making. Children's books have traditionally included Adventure books along with magical tales; Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc. It seems that the publishing industry is jumping on the Harry Potter bandwagon over and over again and not offering much variety.

When I was a child, I particularly liked animal stories.
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Post by Yafa1822 »

Yes! It seems like everywhere I go there's a vampire, a kind of cheesy one at that. Whatever happened to Brams Stoker?
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Post by Raven Potter »

I am neither bored nor offended. You have a very good point. I understand what you are getting at. Harry Potter is my life, though I am a pn active Christian. Just as you I don't see anything wrong with a little supernatural adventure. But now a days there are far too many of them. It see,s to be influencing children. However, there is only so many real life scenarios that would make good stories. Without science fiction , literature would be a very bland place...
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Post by ISLANDGURL26 »

Wizards are a really popular theme at the moment. I'm use to seeing those magical wands and griggots on a daily basis coming from hogwarts. "The wizarding world of Harry Potter" is just as magical as the many books Rowling wrote. So with too many vampisres and wizards it should pull in the same crowd.
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Post by amyv »

Debbybee, you have typed what has been on my mind for years. I am EAGER to support authors who can create a fantastic story, with no magic/fantasy/just real-world settings and characters that would be appropriate for middle/high school students (both genders) to emulate (would it also be too much to ask to have KIND characters, not sarcastic or rude). I have noticed far too many authors using those themes (wizards, parents dead, magically go through space/time) to plug into a formula to sell books to libraries. Creatively speaking, I feel like the authors are limiting their potential.
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Nicole638
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Post by Nicole638 »

I think it's all the hype right now. Although its presence is strong in the children genre I like to think that it helps kids to be more creative and imaginative.
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Post by CLRogers90 »

Though I understand with what you're saying and have thoroughly enjoyed the increase of magic in children's stories, I believe that these books are very slowly on their way out. They will never be completely gone, thankfully, but it seems like the public fondness for such topics is slowly shifting to something new. Here is to hoping it is something interesting.
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Mika83
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Post by Mika83 »

amyv wrote: (would it also be too much to ask to have KIND characters, not sarcastic or rude).
That is one of the things I like about Jaq D. Hawkins' characters. Even the goblin who tries to be grouchy with the human he's befriended is at heart a kind soul, though he won't admit it. There is a lot of caring among the human characters that often extends to at least some of the fantasy creatures as well.
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Post by shelley_soetosenojo »

debbiebee wrote:I've thought hard about posting this as I want to stress one thing I'm not is a religious freak who thinks reading Harry Potter is the start of the road to hell. Many of my own favourite children's books were about magical realms and supernatural goings on and I have no issues with them. But sometimes I wonder if children's literature has been taken over too much by spells and sorcery. Sometimes if you go into a bookshop and look at the children's section, it's practically impossible to find a book without these elements. I honestly believe that alongside them children should read books set in the real world, where the protagonists don't have any supernatural help solving problems. I'm really sorry if I've bored or offended anyone with these comments.

I thought I was the only one. But I think it is the age we live in: the children need an escape from the harsh realities.
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Post by Jhan723 »

I agree with a lot of this but i, like a lot of others, go back and forth with this. I look for the happy medium which is hard to find these days. The real world is a hard place to live in and as much as i try, and am going to try, to prepare my children for the real world, they are going to experience it no matter what. Books have always been my escape from the real world. That's why reading has always been so fun for me. That is what i want for my children. I want them to have an escape that doesn't involve a television. I want them to play pretend and to use their imaginations.
I also want my kids to be able to relate though and be able to understand that their favorite character go through similar situations as them and for my kids to get a different perspective on how to handle things, and magic isn't going to fix their problems.
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Post by nitebyrd44 »

What is interesting to me is that when I was younger, although I did read some fantasy and science fiction. most of the books I read were stories about real people. Some of my favorites, ALL the Beverly Cleary books, The Little House Books, Kallie's Corner by Alice Lowe, The Happy Hollister series, etc. Now that I'm an adult I tend to read more fantasy.....vampires and wizards......, etc. I guess we all gravitate to the kinds of books we need at whatever age we find ourselves. I do agree that the vampires and wizards types of books seem to dominate the young adult titles right now. I'm not saying that is a bad thing as long as there are other genres available as well.

Holly
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Post by victoria_s16 »

I run into this problem every time I go to a bookstore and look in the YA section - nearly all of the books are vampire/supernatural/dystopian themed and, I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but they all look basically the same. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of many dystopian series, such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, but I feel like once a few became popular, everybody started doing it. It'd be nice to find a little more variety in the YA section.
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Post by Momof2loves1981 »

I feel like there can never be to much of anything when it comes to books. With that being said, I do think there are waves of popular topics that cycle. Depending on age of us on here, I think that people will see a pattern in a way with book topics that are considered popular. Yes, wizards and vampires are huge right now, as are zombies and super powers, but I think some of that is because of what is popular in movies and on television. Nancy Drew and the Boxcar children were popular when Murder She Wrote and cartoons like Scooby Doo were on television. I do think with fast paced technology it is harder to keep young readers interested in a book that may have a slower start or that may have a topic they are not instantly interested in.
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Post by Amagine »

I do agree that the theme of wizards and vampires have been done way too much in the past few years. It seems like everyone is just writing it because those are the hottest topics to write about. I just wish more writers were more imaginative and create something new instead of using the same old themes over and over again.
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