Thoughts on 'Haroun'

I went online to find out some more about Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and I found a neat article from the New York Times online titled "The Fatwa That Begat an Opera" By JOHANNA KELLER. Here are some snippets:

Mr. Wuorinen (opera composer) said, "There is an admirable absence of self-pity
and bitterness in 'Haroun.' The book goes under the guise of a lighthearted tale
written for children, but there is a social and political message against people
who want to shut everyone up and strangle the imagination."

The article quotes Salman Rushdie talking about why he wrote the novel,

"When something bad happens - like a divorce, for example - children think it's
their own fault," Mr. Rushdie said recently in New York, where he has lived
since 2000. "I wrote 'Haroun' as a kind of message in a bottle for my first son,
Zafar, who was 11 at the time. I hoped he would enjoy the story as a child and
then appreciate it differently as an adult. During that awful time, I thought if
I could turn the situation on its head and have the son save the father, it
would be something I could give Zafar, a story that would help get us through.
My second son, Milan, is 7 and is beginning to ask when I am writing a story for
him."

Note the acrostic in the poem before the first chapter:

Zembla, Zenda, Xanadu:

All our dream-worlds may come true.

Fairy lands are fearsome too.

As I wander far from view

Read, and bring me home to you.

"The question repeated throughout the novel is, What's the use of stories that
aren't even true? By inquiring into the nature and value of narrative, Mr.
Rushdie wrote a fable that more poignantly than any of his other books, gets at
the heart of what happened to him and, in a time of increasing religious
fundamentalism, what is happening to us all."

I am interested about the ongoing discussion about Haroun and the Sea of Stories in conjection with the five themes of class and the other texts.

On the surface Haroun and the Sea of Stories seems like a story meant for children, but beneath the surface, or interwoven with the surface there are other allusions, allegories, puns, etc. that adults get. Not only does it capture the imagination of children and adults alike, but speaks to our lives. This book does not lack depth, so then how can we call it a lowbrow book? Perhaps because of its popularity among readers and ease of reading could it be distinguished as lowbrow children's literature, however the book communicates themes and ideas that contain more reality than fantasy, however the reality is addressed through fantasy. 'Haroun' is a text that frames the five themes of this class as indicated on the syllabus. A novel that can be a part of conversation for all the themes of class seems like a highbrow book, but it is available to adults and children alike so it seems lowbrow. If I had never heard of Haroun and the Sea of Stories, supposedly popular literature, before this class, does that mean highbrow and lowbrow depends on who you are? or am I living under a rock?