What would the children’s book world look like if “Harry Potter” had never popped into J.K. Rowling’s head, as she’s described it, fully formed? Hypotheticals are never easy, but a “Harry Potter”-less world ― well, that’s just about impossible to conceive.
By the same token, untangling Rowling’s influence from the greater arc of children’s literature over the past two decades is a fraught task. Her “Potter” saga inspired frenzied release parties, staggering numbers of pre-orders, millions of words of fan fiction and, as it stands now, nine feature films: It’s an easy assumption that this seminal series fundamentally changed middle-grade and YA fiction.
And it surely did. The market for these kinds of books, especially fantasy, exploded during the early aughts, as ”Harry Potter” took off. Not just lightweight series like “The Baby-Sitters Club” or one-offs like The Fault in Our Stars, either; publishers began offering kids blockbuster series like “The Hunger Games,” “Twilight,” and “Divergent.” Then again, plenty of authors were already offering well-crafted fantasy and realism for young readers. What can really be laid to Rowling’s account?
MORE: How ‘Harry Potter’ Saved Young Adult Fiction
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