War Horse owes a lot to Harry Potter. The spectacular stage show now touring Australia is a fine example of a trend that started with Potter: finding adult audiences for stories that began as children’s books.
In the 15 years since parents began reading their children’s copies of The Philosopher’s Stone and enjoying it, adults have become a booming marketplace for children’s writers. Forty per cent of Young Adult books sold in the US are now bought by adults who plan to read them themselves, according to a recent study by Publisher’s Weekly.
