Authors Electric

'Crossover' is a term sometimes used by children's publishers to refer to a book published for young readers on a children's list - usually but not always the YA (young adult) section - that crosses over into an adult readership. I am often to be found reading YA fiction, because a lot of the titles I used to find in the fantasy and science fiction section have migrated over there. In fact, I might never have read any children's fiction as an adult reader, or sent my own work to a children's publisher, without the British Science Fiction Association magazine's review of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights ( the first title of His Dark Materials trilogy ) , which I read and enjoyed back in the 1990's and always assumed was published on an adult SF list, until I discovered it was originally brought out by a children's publisher. At around the same time, Susan Price's The Sterkarm Handshake  won the Guardian Children's fiction prize. It in...

Nothing like sharing a good book. Whatever your age. Yes, I read 'children's' books.  And 'YA' books. Not exclusively - I do read books aimed at the adult market too. But I don't see why I should confine myself only to books written for my age group, when there's some really great stuff out there written primarily with a younger readership in mind, but which I enjoy just as much. Some people seem to disapprove of this: it seemed to really kick off when grown ups were observed reading the Harry Potter books. Love them or hate them, while it may have generated some disparaging criticism from some, it also made a lot of older readers aware of some of the fun they might be missing out on by sticking solely to adult books.  Adult and children's books happily cohabiting on my shelves ...           While The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are classic examples of cross-generation appeal, there are plenty of more recent b...