[ SECRET POST #5745 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5745 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 22 secrets from Secret Submission Post #822.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. https://i.imgur.com/67xfgY0.png

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe Adrian Mole should have learned how to cast magical spells

[(Anonymous)]

Cockus engorgio?

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I've never heard of it, so... that would be why I didn't read it.

[(Anonymous)]

I think they were aimed at very different audiences.

This reminds me how much I used to love the Adrian Mole books though, I should read them again some time.

[(Anonymous)]

Those ARE really good, but yeah, what’s popular isn’t always the best writing; see Dan Brown lol.

LOL at the American part. I had to google so many things in those books because they’re so English and I guess, dated. Like Giro was unemployment. I don’t mind local sland in books, obviously, but that is an obstacle to some readers.

[(Anonymous)]

Slang, that is.

[tabaqui]

Reading the Wiki, I can see why Americans, in general, didn't fall on them like they did HP; they're very *British* in tone and in subject. "They...captured something of the zeitgeist of the UK during the Thatcher period," and "The second theme is depiction of the social and political situation in Britain, with particular reference to left-wing politics in the 1980s in the first three books."

Not a lot of YA readers in the early 80s had much of a clue about either of those things, and probably wouldn't be all that interested.

No, I've never read them or actually heard of them.

[(Anonymous)]

I have read them and it's a completely off-the-wall comparison, they're not alike at all

[tabaqui]

Interesting. What are they like?

[(Anonymous)]

They're very satirical and humorous. They're written in the first person and a lot of the appeal and humor is sort of drawn from his foibles and his perspective and stuff like that. I remember them being good but just not at all comparable to HP.

[(Anonymous)]

*not a lot of AMERICAN YA readers would have had a clue

British teens would have.

[tabaqui]

Sure? Was it hugely popular like HP was in the UK?
And the secret is coming from an American, so I'm imagining they're wondering why it wasn't popular in the US like HP was.

[starfleetbrat]

Adrian Mole was pretty popular back when it was first published. There was even a TV show. But as others have said, a "coming of age" book about a boy going through puberty is not the same as a book about kids that get to go to a magic school. Completely different audiences.

Also, no internet as we know it back in the 80s. Bit harder to build a massive fandom (but not impossible of course).

I have read the series, it was popular when I was a kid in the 80s (in Australia if that matters).

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, you are American. But are you white?

[greghousesgf]

other than both being British and both having a kid protagonist they have very little in common, especially the fact that the Adrian Mole books are not fantasy; no one in them has magic powers or anything. I like the AM books a lot though, they're very funny but if you're not British some things will have to be looked up.

[(Anonymous)]

They were very popular in the UK at the time (80s & 90s). All my friends were into Mr Mole. But they were mundane where Harry Potter was fantastical and that hit a lot of kids. Kids love fantasy. Adrian Mole made you look at the things you had to go through in life, much that you didn't, in a funny way. But HP let you imagine escaping all that and having adventures. We all wanted to go to Hogwarts.

Though if you want to compare another great British series. Why did the Worst Witch never break out? HP owes a lot to that series.

[(Anonymous)]

It has a bit! It's on like its fourth live action version I think, and has a following amongst young adults.

Adrian Mole was quite subtle in some places, and also aged in real time. It wasn't exactly hostile to the reader but you did have to pay attention. Harry Potter didn't have a lot to say by comparison.

[(Anonymous)]

The Worst Witch, my sense has always been, is very much a kids' series. Harry Potter I think is pitched a little bit older even from the start and that gets increasingly more true as the series goes on.

[(Anonymous)]

I remember reading the Worst Witch books as a child after reading the Harry Potter series. I was obsessed with Harry Potter, but had read all the books that were out at the time multiple times, so the Worst Witch books were... similar in plot but not something I'd read before.

I actually reread some of both this year (first five HP books and first two Worst Witch books), and the Worst Witch books are definitely aimed at a younger audience. They're very short, the plots are less complicated, and there isn't as much detail given to the world the characters live in. Even though I liked them as a child, I doubt they would appeal to many teenagers or young adults like HP did.

[(Anonymous)]

My opinion on Harry Potter has always been that a large part of its popularity comes from it combining multiple genres into one series. You've got:

- coming of age story
- boarding school story
- fantasy
- mystery (I don't see this aspect of the books discussed as much as the others, but the plots of all seven books are structured as mysteries).

Which means that it will appeal to people who like one or more of those types of books, even if they aren't into all of them. Before it was popular to hate on Harry Potter, I remember lots of people saying they weren't usually into fantasy, but they liked Harry Potter.