Jump to content

Menu

Later Harry Potter books and LOTR


Recommended Posts

Ds loves listening to The Harry Potter books. We are halfway through book 3 and he asks to read it any chance he gets. He is also listening to The Hobbit audiobook with Rob Inglish and loves it. If we happen to be in the car and it isn't on he asks to put it on. I think he would enjoy listening to the later Harry Potter books and The LOTR trilogy but I am a little hesitant since they are a little darker and he is only 6. He listens to some emotional Patricia Polacco and books on World War I and II and he is fine with them. I do not think I will let him watch the later Harry Potter movies or the LOTR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 6yo is about 2/3 of the way through the 4th HP. I am starting to get a little concerned about the scariness, but ds is really dying to continue the series. Our happy medium for now is that he can't read them right before bed. As a result, I frequently find him reading in the living room at 6 am instead. All I all, this is working and we haven't gotten any nightmares. The romantic aspect in the later books will probably go completely over his head, but that leaves something fun to discover in a second reading a few years down the road.

 

He has also watched one of the LOTR movies with dh (one of the recent ones, maybe the one that was released last year?) and that did cause some bad dreams. We're going to hold off on those for a couple more years I think. They are intended for a little older audience anyway.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We let our oldest read the next Harry Potter book and then watch the movie as she finishes a school year. At the end of second grade, she read and watched Chamber of Secrets. When she finishes her last assignment for fourth grade, she'll read and watch Goblet of Fire. It motivates her to finish her work when she's in the last couple weeks of the school year, and allows her to grow alongside the books.

We haven't decided when we'll do LOTR.

Ruth

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We let our oldest read the next Harry Potter book and then watch the movie as she finishes a school year. At the end of second grade, she read and watched Chamber of Secrets. When she finishes her last assignment for fourth grade, she'll read and watch Goblet of Fire. It motivates her to finish her work when she's in the last couple weeks of the school year, and allows her to grow alongside the books.

We haven't decided when we'll do LOTR.

Ruth

What a clever idea!  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We read the first three books aloud to our kids and then made them wait a couple of years until we read book four. Then while longer for the next book. When they were able to handle the darker themes without trouble, we would continue to the next book, and we finally finished the series. They were not allowed to watch the movies until we had finished reading each of the corresponding books. Because we did them as readalouds, we were able to gauge when they were ready to move on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm currently reading The Hobbit to my 5yo, and we've decided to wait on LOTR. He tells me he feels it's a bit "too serious", and he'd like to try it at 6.

 

I admit to being a little tempted to read it aloud while he's still on the young side of his education, simply because we do currently have so much time for lounging about reading together, for hours at a time. But then, I'm not sure that I'm ready for the commitment of such a weighty tome! I'm very impressed with those of you who have made it all the way through. Maybe we'll listen to the BBC dramatisation together, instead.

 

The Harry Potter books are not works which I have strong feelings about. I read them aloud to my little brother when we were kids, and I'm happy for DS to read them to himself at any age. Or perhaps I'll call in a favour and have his uncle read them to him!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't comment on HP, but I think that the problem with LOTR is likely to be boredom rather than scariness.  In book form, I don't know that they are especially scary - I think perhaps the giant spider in the tunnel might be the worst part.

 

But LOTR is a bit  like an adult book than The Hobbit, in its form.  It seems more like reading history, and I think the emotional themes are more mature and would go over the heads of many five year olds.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...