They may have sold more than 375 million copies in 65 countries around the world, but J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books are boring and inappropriate for young readers, according to the Children’s Laureate.

Michael Rosen, 62, the poet and author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, succeeded Jacqueline Wilson as the fifth children’s laureate in June. A £10,000 bursary goes with the post, which involves promoting reading and writing for children.

Despite their popularity, however, it seems that Rosen is not a fan of the boy wizard books that have earned Rowling an estimated £560 million and spurred young readers into queueing up for copies.

“They don’t grab me personally,” he said. The narratives are complex and most young children would struggle to cope with their challenging and often sinister themes. He would not choose to read them to his own children, he said, because he did not want to bore them.

“I am distant from them whereas I read some kids’ books and I get quite drawn in emotionally to them,” Rosen said. “Whereas authors like Enid Blyton are hand-holding narrators who lead children into safe environments, J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer in that she leaves you hanging in the air at the end of chapters with no idea what is going to happen next.

“Figures appear and you don’t know whether they are a goodie or a baddie. You would think, traditionally, ‘That is for an older reader’, because young children more often than not cannot cope with that. My seven-year-old daughter watches the films but they tend to spell it out a bit more. I have not read the books to her; you do not want to bore your kids.” Rosen is not one for avoiding controversy. He began his two-year term as Children’s Laureate by attacking pupil testing, saying that it was destroying poetry, and also criticised the reading method synthetic phonics, a literacy scheme that was trialled in schools in Scotland and has been praised widely. Its supporters include Gordon Brown.

The Harry Potter books have given rise to a £7 billion film and merchandising industry. The seven-book series began with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was published in June 1997. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, broke all records when it was released last July, selling 11 million copies in Britain and America within 24 hours.

Speaking during a tour of Scotland to promote reading among school pupils, Rosen said that the Harry Potter books deserved credit for encouraging a generation of children to read, but he feared that their success might prevent young people from discovering other authors.

Julie Bertagna, an award-winning children’s author from Glasgow, who is also among a group of children’s reading champions appointed by the Scottish Parliament, said that she suspected that some parents had been forcing the books on children before they were ready to read them. “If they were too young it could hinder them, but if they meet them at the right age they can learn to handle big books with lots of characters and complex worlds, such as those written by Philip Pullman,” she added.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights group Liberty and chairwoman of the panel of judges that chose Rosen as the Children’s Laureate, said that the books encompassed universal themes, making them ideal reading for all age groups. “Racism, the challenges of diversity and the dilemmas of the War on Terror are all to be found lurking within the magical world of Harry Potter,” she said.

Randall Stevenson, Professor of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, added: “They are not exactly The Lord of the Rings but I think they deserve their success.”

J. K. Rowling

Born July 31, 1965
Education BA in French and Classics from the University of Exeter

— The Harry Potter series has been translated into 65 languages and sold more than 375 million copies worldwide

— The series has earned Rowling an estimated £560 million fortune

— She is the mother of three children

— She has worked as a researcher for Amnesty International and taught French in Scotland and English in Portugal

Awards: Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, 1997; Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year, 1998; WH Smith People’s Choice Award, 2003; British Book Awards Book of the Year, 2006; British Book Awards Lifetime Achievement, 2008

Michael Rosen

Born May 7, 1946
Education BA in English literature from Oxford University; MA in children’s literature and PhD

— Rosen is the author of 140 books, including We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

— As Children’s Laureate he receives a £10,000 annual bursary

— He has seven children and step-children

— He has directed Playschool for the BBC, presented radio ducumentaries and reviews books for The Guardian

Awards: The Sunday Times/NUS Drama Festival award, 1968; Smarties Book Prize Gold Award, 1989; National Association of Parenting Publications Best Book Award, Poetry for the Very Young (US), 1993

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