Harry Potter

[Little Nyssa]

How old do you think kids should be before they read Harry Potter?

[silliness7]

How old do you think kids should be before they read Harry Potter?

 

My 7yo dd read it when her older brothers were going nutso over it. She has not finished the series though. I think she sputtered out at #3 which is probably just as well. Though if she pushed the matter I'd let her finish the series.

[Jen in PA]

DD started the series at age 6. She is not very sensitive to dark subject matter, death, etc. I think it depends a lot on how sensitive a child is, especially once you get past the third book.

[DarcyB]

For us, we had our oldest wait til he was 9 before we started reading it to/with him, but he's free to go back and read any of the series on his own. We're just now finishing up the series, in time for when we get to see the movie next week.

 

We're also having our youngest wait to read the series until he's 9, though he has seen the first movie with us.

[Annie]

They get darker as they go. I don't have any older kids, so I'm not about to give advice on ages, but they start to get dark at the end of book four.

[FaithManor]

We let them read and then listen to audio books starting at eleven for the older three and ten for the younger one (who probably could have handled it sooner but we kind of stuck to the "must be eleven" so we didn't get cries of protests from the others.)

 

Faith

[Halcyon]

My older read the first one at 7 and is about halfway through the second, but Holes is grabbing his attention more now, so not sure when he'll pick up #2 again.

[Dana]

We're using the books as family read-alouds. We did Book 1 and 2 when ds was in first grade, then we're doing the next book when we finish our school year. Right now we're reading Bk 4. Getting close to the end, and we'll need to do quite a bit of reading at once after the Triwizard Tournament ends.

 

Ds is somewhat sensitive, so keeping to one book a year seems to help him grow with the characters.

[Dmmetler]

I haven't encouraged my DD to read them yet. I haven't censored them from our library or anything like that, but they, like most of our Sci-fi/fantasy library, are shelved currently above her normal eye level so she'd have to make an effort to find them. Same with the Chronicles of Narnia and Roald Dahl. She could handle the reading level and likes fantasy, but I don't think she can handle the emotional load and some of the dark moments yet.

[Rhonda in TX]

I waited until DD was 11. I knew she would want to read them one after the other and I wanted to wait on the darkness of books 5+. As it was, she read books 1-4 right away, then we waited another 6 months to read the rest.

 

DS read them at the same time, even though he's a bit older. He was never begging for them like DD. :) We are listening to book 7 on audio as a refresher before the movie and DS has asked that we turn it off a couple of times because of the intensity. He even knows what's going to happen!

[SailorMom]

My sons were in K and 1st when we started - but - as has been said - the first 3-4 books aren't so dark. As we went through - they never had an issue.

However - i do know kids that even at the age of 10 were terrified by the books and movies.

[bunnyvirus]

My son read it in 1st grade, there's really nothing inappropriate in the series as I've read them several times myself.

[NanceXToo]

I will read the first Harry Potter book with my daughter very soon. She turned 10 last month. I think 10-12 (and up) would be a good range for it, depending on the kid.

[LaissezFaire]

My 12 yr old DD is reading it to my 7 yr old DD. The 7yr old is a fluent reader but she is enjoying having it read to her.

[6packofun]

My ds was 7 when he read the first one, and we only let him read the first 3, I think. (He finished the 3rd right after he turned 9) We're having him wait for the rest.

[Susan in TN]

My kids typically start in 3rd grade (this is only my two oldest so far) and they are only allowed one per year (although we might fudge on summer reading around 6th/7th grade :))

 

I honestly don't know if my 2nd grader will be a confident enough reader to read the first one next year. Maybe.

[Little Nyssa]

Thank you for all of your replies!

[Forget-Me-Not]

My 7 1/2 yo has listened to them on audio book and seen the movies up through #4. We made him stop there for a while, but he's been bugging us incessantly and seems to be handling the subject matter well, so we're currently listening to #5 on audio book in the car. After that I don't know.

[Mrs Mungo]

My eldest started when she was 6, but they weren't all out yet. That made it easy. :D

 

Middle dd wasn't really interested until she was 9 and she didn't do 5-7 until she was 11. That was just due to her own interest, not an edict by me.

 

DS has only read the first one, but he's listened to them all on audio at this point.

[MelanieM]

My 7 yo just finished book four. We discussed whether or not she felt any of the book was scary, upsetting, etc. and she seems completely fine with it. So she says she's going to start book five this week after she finishes the Nanny McPhee book.

[susankenny]

I think 10-12 (and up) would be a good range for it, depending on the kid.

 

:iagree:

[UnsinkableKristen]

I'm glad you asked this, I was just thinking about it myself!

 

I probably would have waited longer, but my Mom let the kids watch the first movie last year when they stayed with her(when they were 5 and 3 - :glare: - much earlier than I would have let them, but oh well) and now they haven't stopped asking to have me read it to them. I'm still not sure about it, even though neither of them gets scared very easily and both handled even the movie fine. It's good to read all the different ages!

[Laurie4b]

Our oldest ds was 6 when he was given the book, but I preread it and decided to wait a few years. Harry is 11 in the first book and personally, I think that's a good guide in its own way--is your child old enough to hang out with 11 year olds? (And they get older as the series moves on and teen-type issues arise.) Another issue is that I was careful about introducing any "dark" stuff when they were young--including fairy tales. I am very glad I did. My kids were not scared of the dark, monsters, etc. because they hadn't had that put into their heads. Other families make different decisions, but that's the way I looked at it.

[katemary63]

My DH read them to DD starting at age 7.5 and they finished up the series before she was 9. She LOVED them and has seen all the movies. She reads by herself now.

[kitten18]

DD (just turned 7) has listened to all of the books as audiobooks. She actually watched the movies first, then listened to the books.

[dcjlkplus3]

My oldest (dd9) read all the books last year and loved them, her sister (dd7) listened to all of them within that same time. Their brother has no interest but that may change as he gets older.

 

FWIW, my husband and I had both read (or listened to) the whole series before letting them start.

[Nakia]

My oldest is 10 and has read the first 3. She has started book 4, but she keeps finding other things she'd rather read. She loves fantasy books, so I was sure she would LOVE Harry Potter, but she hasn't been as into it as I thought. Some parts have grossed her out because she has a really weak stomach. :ack2: :lol: Right now, historical fiction is pulling her in. She just read The Witch of Blackbird Pond and LOVED it! So, we'll see.

 

I read the first 3, as well, and then I lost interest. I am planning to start book 4 (again) if she decides to continue and read them as she does because I have also heard they get dark as you go.

[amey311]

My 7 year old has read books 1-6 to himself and has listened to all 7 on CD (often as "background music" while playing). He started book 7 a couple weeks ago and then decided he wasn't ready to read it. My 10 year old hasn't tackled the books yet, but he's a less confident reader. He has listened to the stories.

 

As an FYI, a "good" character dies in every book starting with the 4th (Goblet of Fire). "Bad" ones die earlier (like Professor Quirrell in the first), but things definitely get rough at the end of book 4. We won't let the kids watch the end of that movie (even tho they've seen the books) because it is pretty scary. I think CommonSense has rated all the books and movies.

 

SPOILERS!!! Related to Book 7 and why my 7 year old stopped reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was quite upset at the loss of Hedwig and then Moody's death and George's amputation. He could tell the story was only going to get darker and decided he just didn't want to read anymore. He's been very sensitive about death (and getting rather existential about his own), and I'm glad he was able to make this decision on his own. He usually is pretty good about that.

[hsmamainva]

My youngest son is reading the series now and really enjoying them!

 

So I'd say 10-12 is a good age. I wouldn't recommend them for any younger than that, as they do get more intense as the series progresses.

[Jilly]

My twins started the series at seven and finished the last one when they were nine.

 

My youngest has no intrest in reading Harry Potter. :001_huh:

[DaffodilDreams]

I began reading the series to dd when she was 6. She just turned 7, and we just finished the last book a few days ago. She wants to start the series all over again now. :tongue_smilie: