Aloc Acoc Goblin
Miss Marinara Sauce
Yes, the earlier books were aimed at children. But as the series went on, the books and their themes became progressively darker. It's not fair to completely judge them based on the target audience; I love many children's books, and I love many adult books as well. My advice would be to just give them a chance: the series has meant a lot to millions of readers, myself included. That was one of the great things about the series; the audience grew up with Harry.
Let me put it to everyone this way: when I was about 8 years old, I was in the next room when an older family member was murdered via a rifle held directly under his chin and the trigger pulled. Sounded like thunder of course. That was not a good thing for me to experience at that age. Nor is it good to put in books published by Scholastic from the inception and marketed for kids. And sold in the Scholastic Reader brochure distributed monthly at public schools. I have one still. The target was 4th graders. Says it right on the top.
Again, I didn't say I totally hate them. You guys keep putting words in my mouth. I stated very plainly from the beginning that I am on the fence about them.
First of all, I'm very sorry for your loss. That's awful.
Second, no deaths like that (or in fact, any) occur in the earlier books of the series. Not until book 4 do deaths really start to occur. Did that Scholastic thing say that
all of the books were aimed at fourth graders? Because if it did, it was sorely mistaken. Like I said, the audience grows up with Harry.
Third, I
never said you hated the books. I said you judge them based on the target audience, which is exactly what you are doing. I am not putting words in your mouth when I say that you are giving me the impression that you don't want to read the books at all. You've found a counter-argument for every suggestion given to you in this thread.
It's not up to us to convince you to read Harry Potter; it's up to you to decide if you want to. Really, it can't hurt you to just pick up the first book and read it. If you don't like it, then you don't like it, and likely nothing anyone says is going to change that opinion. You say you're on the fence about it; we're just telling you to give it a chance.