Yes. Maybe a truthful answer would cause the girl to ask another question, maybe start a dialog with her Mom. When I was little, someone spoke to me of his passion for Mitchner. I was too young at the time, but later remembered that an adult I respected liked this author. When I was ready for something ‘adult’ I read one of his books ... didn’t finish it, but was proud to try. Huck’s answer was condescending.
I had a similar but more honest dialogue with an eight-year-old girl. "Who's your favorite writer?" she asked. "I don't really have just one, it depends on who I'm reading," I said. "Right now my favorite is Anthony Trollope. You might not like him yet because he really wrote for people who are 40 or 50 years old. Who are you reading now?" "J.K. Rowling." "Yeah, I've read some of the Harry Potter books, I really liked the first one. Who's your favorite character?" And so on we went.
If she'd said C.S. Lewis, we could really have had Old Home Week -- because he is one of my favorite writers.