The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children's Fiction and Its Adult Readership

Why are adults reading children's fiction? The Crossover Novel delves into the heart of the controversy over 'crossover fiction'-the fiction that has crossed from children to adult readers over the millennial decade, and continues to do so today. This book argues that the popularity of cross-reading cannot simply be attributed to clever marketing or to the 'dumbing down' of adult readers, as some have claimed. Crossover fiction may be understood as an extension of 'kiddulthood,' the celebration of youth culture in a modern, capitalist society that places a premium on speed, flexibility, and lightness. In other respects, however, as Falconer persuasively argues, it can be understood as capitalism's antithesis: the expression of a desire for personal rootedness and for communally shared truths. Beginning with a broad overview of crossover fiction in Britain, The Crossover Novel goes on to provides in-depth readings of leading British crossover authors, including J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, Mark Haddon, andothers. A final chapter discusses the growing popularity of children's classics for adult readers, with a special focus on C.S. Lewis. In this important and expansive new study, responses by a broad range of readers are considered alongside discussion of the crossover texts themselves.

Rachel Falconer is a Reader in English Literature at the University of Sheffield.