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Originally Posted by issybird
The first book was particularly poorly “translated” into American, starting with the title! Referring to Lily as Harry’s “mom” sticks in my mind.
I really, really dislike it when publishers think they have to dumb things down for us dumb Yanks. We’re not quite so stupid as all that. What ever happened to figuring out things from context or, I dunno, looking things up? Might even be good for the kids at that.  |
That's what I had to do when I read the Paddington books, C. S. Lewis, and books like "It's Murder at Saint Basket's." (Holy cow, I just found out that one is on Kindle!) I wish we'd had the Internet or glossaries or something, but eventually, I was able to figure things out.
I remember trying to figure out what the blazes an electric torch was because I imagined something that looked like a plastic Christmas candle with a fake flame.
Then, I figured out it was a flashlight! And when Paddington was sucking on a bullseye, I was befuddled -- until I figured out from context that it was a type of candy.
It was probably harder for kids to figure out "bigger picture" things. For example, why children in British books set near wartime were so excited when they found an orange in their Christmas stocking. I remember thinking their parents must be poor. I later learned about wartime shortages.
It would have been nice if publishers had put notes in the beginning or end of a book to explain some of this stuff to the Yanks!
That would be better than changing the title and word use of the book.