In an interview with Inside.com, Marcus jokingly threatened to hire three people whom she will dub the "Scholastic Adult Sales and Publishing Division" to position Harry Potter V as an adult title.

When we spoke, she considered a different strategy. "If we tell the New York Times that 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' is appropriate for both adults and children, that it is in fact meant for adults as well as children, perhaps we can get them to put it on the paperback list when it comes out. I plan to discuss this tactic immediately with my staff."

But some writers of mostly adult books see no shame in appearing on a children's list -- and probably welcome the publicity. Richard Howard, who is better known as a poet and a translator of adult literature, landed on the New York Times children's list for his new translation of "The Little Prince." He applauds having a separate list, and doesn't believe it will keep adults from buying children's books. "The idea of ghettoizing children's book writers is not something being accomplished by the children's bestseller list," he says. "I think it is already accomplished -- it has occurred in the culture."

In fact, the list should promote interest in new children's titles, according to McGrath. "Part of the hope is that the list will bring attention to the many good children's books that don't quite hit the Potter stratosphere, which is almost none of them. Here is a place for them."

A place on any New York Times bestseller list comes with many tangible advantages that may dramatically increase a book's sales and extend its shelf life. Bestselling books often receive coveted front-of-the-store placement in bookstores, and are discounted up to 40 percent, especially at online retailers like Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

But McGrath does concede that the decision to create a children's book list was not solely motivated by philanthropic concerns about the state of children's literature. He admits, "We are also making room on the adult list for adult titles -- not that what has replaced the Potter is exactly illustrious."

It is true that the present adult list has replaced Rowling's fantasy with the genre romances of Danielle Steel and Catherine Coulter, which may reflect the reading public's annual immersion in summer beach reads. But if ejecting Rowling has yet to raise the literary merits of the adult list, the creation of a new list has focused attention on new children's book writers who otherwise might never have had the chance to make a bestseller list.

One such author is Daniel Handler, who now has three of his first five books in the kiddie Gothic serial "A Series of Unfortunate Events" included in the top 25 books on the children's list. As Handler, who writes his children's books under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, points out, "Any children's book worth its salt should also appeal to adults." He adds, with a bit of exasperation, "To believe that there shouldn't be a children's list because it demeans Harry Potter is like saying there shouldn't be a nonfiction list because it implies that 'The Perfect Storm' isn't as good as 'The Firm.'

"Just because adults are reading books that are on the kids list doesn't seem to me a reason to keep it in the same category. 'The Story of O' gets passed around among a lot of 14-year-old boys, and that doesn't make it a book for children. Harry Potter is a book for children, and Scholastic is a children's publisher."

McGrath agrees, noting that Harry Potter was "published as a children's book. Then it got crossover attention, which is terrific and we all applaud it. But that doesn't automatically make it a book for grown-ups. Is it a good book? Of course it is." McGrath does not believe, however, that he has done a terrible disservice by relocating the Potter books to the newly created list.

Recent Stories