What age Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?

[Noreen Claire]

DS7 (he'll be DS8 next week) finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. DH took him to visit his grandfather this afternoon and they all watched the movie together. This is how we've handled the first four HP books with *this* child.

 

Now, DS7 wants to start Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix immediately, to continue on with the story. I think that I want him to wait. Book #5 is where the story gets darker, beloved characters start getting killed off, and the action is scarier. Also, Harry is a bit of a miserable punk in this book and I'm not really interested in my darling child getting any hints on how to become a surly teenager any earlier than need be. He's mad at me for not letting him start it right away. The librarian gave him half a dozen other books, all 4th-6th grade reading level, but none of them as *dark* as Order of the Phoenix. He doesn't seem interested in any of them, yet.

 

How do you handle it when your child is capable of doing the reading but might not be ready for the topics? Should I just let him read it? FWIW, DH hasn't read any of the books and defers to my decision.

Edited March 26, 2017 by Noreen Claire

[LucyStoner]

He's 15.  He has his birthday at the beginning of each book.  11 for book one, 15 for book 5.  

[LucyStoner]

We took a break after book 2 with our younger son.  He's 8 and we will start up again when he's interested/ready.  The break was because he found the climax to be too intense on book 2. He's not interested in starting again just yet.  

 

My older son wasn't interested in any of them until he was 11.  I let him read them all in order that summer.  

 

Our older son was a very young reader.  Honestly, after the Boxcar Children level at about age 4-5, he gravitated to non-fiction for years and years.  

Edited March 26, 2017 by LucyStoner

[Riverland]

I was a very early reader and was so angry when at around 6 or 7,  the school librarian wouldn't let me check out what I wanted. She handed me some other books that she felt were more appropriate for my age, but I refused to read them. My parents let me read whatever I wanted and we had plenty of books at home.

 

So, for my very early reading kids I generally let them read whatever interested them. For Harry Potter, ds was 6 when he read all that had been released to date, which included the Order of Phoenix. Then he read each new one as they were released. I think he read them all before I did! It did not hurt him a bit.

 

He continued to be a very prolific reader of multiple genres.

[bettyandbob]

My ds read HP1,2,3 in kindergarten. I made him wat until summer after second grade to read HP4. I think the content more teenage stuff and the generally darker theme makes a clear change from the first three books in the series. After HP4 we read them as they came out. If all had been published at that point he probably would have read all that summer. Maybe I would have had a break between 5 and 6.

[mamaraby]

Dd1 is 8 and currently in book three. She started reading the series this school year and I just planned on letting her move forward at her own pace. We have already read through them once as a family, though I doubt she remembers it much because she was a few years younger. I basically did the same thing with ds, but he started reading the series in second grade whereas dd didn't start until 3rd because it took that long for the books to be on her reading level.

 

The rule at our house is that the movies after #3 require you read the book first on your own.

[Guest]

We are just doing the audiobooks in the car with all our kids, but nobody seems to be scared yet, which is surprising given one of my older kids is very sensitive to thematic content. We are starting book three soon and nobody has freaked out yet.

[bettyandbob]

Dd1 is 8 and currently in book three. She started reading the series this school year and I just planned on letting her move forward at her own pace. We have already read through them once as a family, though I doubt she remembers it much because she was a few years younger. I basically did the same thing with ds, but he started reading the series in second grade whereas dd didn't start until 3rd because it took that long for the books to be on her reading level.

 

The rule at our house is that the movies after #3 require you read the book first on your own.

 

We had the book before movie rule for all the books in our house. The first movie didn't come out before oldest read the first three books, so it wasn't an issue with him. I helped my dd get started on the first book. At some point I remember her racing to finish a book so she could see the movie in the theatre. I think she saw 5, 6, 7.1 and 7.2 in the theatre.

 

My youngest has intellectual disabilities. He's unlikely to read the books himself. We have read them to him multiple times. Initially we stayed with the first three and the first three movies, but we moved on through the series eventually. 

[Guest]

Honestly, the only book I withheld for a while based on reader's age was The Last Battle from The Chronicles of Narnia. DD was 9 when we read all the Narnia books in order, but when we got to that one, I held off for a while. It was so much darker than the others. With HP, DD didn't start reading them until - I forget - maybe age 10? And all the books had not been completed yet, so I think Phoenix was as far as she got at age 10.

 

I don't remember what I did with my boys, though. They read all of the HP books and I don't remember ever delaying them as they came up. They were not early readers, though. I do remember delaying the movies, but I don't remember which movies I allowed when. I kinda just lightened up about it all after my DD was around 11, because I could no longer keep up with previewing books she wanted to read while also reading the books I wanted to read.

[nansk]

DD12 read all the seven books when she was 6 and 7. I'm sure she did not catch all the nuances of the politics, the racism, and the teen angst at that age. She just read the books to get the full story. She has re-read the last three books again since she turned 11. She is noticing more of those aspects now. :) I'm sure she will read the books yet again when she is a teen or young adult, and will notice even more shades then.

[FriedClams]

He's 15. He has his birthday at the beginning of each book. 11 for book one, 15 for book 5.

We waited to start until 10/11. We did one book a year for a while, then did the last few in twos. I LOVE HP, and I'd wait a while. There is so much in these books and reading them too early losses the depth of them.

[SKL]

My sensitive daughter read all the books and finished the 7th shortly after her 8th birthday.  No problem.  Personally I'd let him read it and if he finds it to be too much, he'll stop on his own.

[Mergath]

My dd read them all by seven without trauma or the need for professional therapy. ;)

[poppy]

i know many people are proud of their kid finishing the series by age 8. MANY.  I think much of the torture and murder will go straight over his head. It's not a big deal to let him. But I'd suggest he just stop. Wait until he's older so he can get the emotions and politics a little better.   I think 7 is my favorite book but it's pretty awful if you race through it for plot. 

[Guest]

i know many people are proud of their kid finishing the series by age 8. MANY. I think much of the torture and murder will go straight over his head. It's not a big deal to let him. But I'd suggest he just stop. Wait until he's older so he can get the emotions and politics a little better. I think 7 is my favorite book but it's pretty awful if you race through it for plot.

Honestly, I would be quite impressed with any kid under, I don't know, 10? - keeping track of whose wand does what under which conditions and understanding all the subtle storylines. I don't really know how a young kid can really make much sense of Deathly Hallows. But I wouldn't think it would hurt anything.

[kitten18]

My dd started them when she was 6 and finished by the time she was about 7.5.

She's listened to them many times since then so I'm not worried about her missing the depth.

 

DS listened to them when he was 8/9. He's generally very sensitive to scary/suspense (he won't watch Aladdin 😂) but he had no problem with HP.

[mamaraby]

My dd started them when she was 6 and finished by the time she was about 7.5.

She's listened to them many times since then so I'm not worried about her missing the depth.

 

Maybe depth is only an issue if you aren't the re-reading type? I have lost count of the number of times ds has read the series. I have every once in awhile asked him if he knows that other people write books too. :p

 

Free reading is free here so I nudge, but he re-reads it (again) all he wants. I've re-read the series multiple times myself and pick up on something new just about everytime so I'm not worried about my kiddo missing depth either just because she's younger this swing through the series. So, maybe if your kid is not the re-reading type?

[Seeking Squirrels]

When we started listening to them last year I let DD7 know up front that I would be slowing her down between 4 and 5. I'm not sure exactly what age to allow book 5 as it's more of a maturity thing, so I told her probably 10 or 11. She chose to pace them slowly so she didn't race through 4 then have to wait years. So we took a several month break between 1 and 2 and it's now been several months since finishing 2. A few months ago I suggested she read 1 & 2 herself to lead into us listening to 3. She made it a few chapters in, but the size of the book is still overwhelming to her even though she can handle the reading level, so she stopped. I'm going to encourage her to try again or else listen to the first two on our upcoming road trip and then we'll listen to 3 this summer (she'll be 9). I think after 3 is where we will stop listening together and she will have to pick up the book when she's ready for 4 because younger sis listens in. 

[Seasider]

At the youngest, mine were 12 for the last few HO books. Not so much because of heaviness, but because of richness. Intricate plots, intricate themes, and the sheer number of characters... that's a lot to absorb.

 

Plus, what a bunch of carrots! I got a lotta math lessons out of those kids between each dangled volume!😆

[Farrar]

I wouldn't suggest the later books for a kid that age, but I wouldn't take them away either. If he wants to read, I say let him.

 

I think people get really, really weird about Harry Potter, honestly. Like, I've known of a few families who are actively stopping their 9 or 10 yos from reading the later Harry Potter books, but were fine with a whole slew of other fantasy books... Gregor the Overlander, Percy Jackson, Eragon, Ember, Inkheart, Ranger's Apprentice... Guys, every one of those series has serious violence or themes that are also just as heavy as Harry Potter gets. They're just not as famous and famously dissected. 

[Guest]

I wouldn't suggest the later books for a kid that age, but I wouldn't take them away either. If he wants to read, I say let him.

 

I think people get really, really weird about Harry Potter, honestly. Like, I've known of a few families who are actively stopping their 9 or 10 yos from reading the later Harry Potter books, but were fine with a whole slew of other fantasy books... Gregor the Overlander, Percy Jackson, Eragon, Ember, Inkheart, Ranger's Apprentice... Guys, every one of those series has serious violence or themes that are also just as heavy as Harry Potter gets. They're just not as famous and famously dissected.

Nor as well-written. ðŸ˜

[Noreen Claire]

I wouldn't suggest the later books for a kid that age, but I wouldn't take them away either. If he wants to read, I say let him.

 

I think people get really, really weird about Harry Potter, honestly. Like, I've known of a few families who are actively stopping their 9 or 10 yos from reading the later Harry Potter books, but were fine with a whole slew of other fantasy books... Gregor the Overlander, Percy Jackson, Eragon, Ember, Inkheart, Ranger's Apprentice... Guys, every one of those series has serious violence or themes that are also just as heavy as Harry Potter gets. They're just not as famous and famously dissected. 

 

Thanks for this. Several of the other books you listed were sent home with us from the librarian! I think I'll ask him to finish one other book first, and then he can move on to Order of the Phoenix. He does have three younger brothers, so it's not like he won't get a chance to re-read/re-listen to them again!

 

Thanks, everyone. 

[historically accurate]

I wouldn't suggest the later books for a kid that age, but I wouldn't take them away either. If he wants to read, I say let him.

 

I think people get really, really weird about Harry Potter, honestly. Like, I've known of a few families who are actively stopping their 9 or 10 yos from reading the later Harry Potter books, but were fine with a whole slew of other fantasy books... Gregor the Overlander, Percy Jackson, Eragon, Ember, Inkheart, Ranger's Apprentice... Guys, every one of those series has serious violence or themes that are also just as heavy as Harry Potter gets. They're just not as famous and famously dissected. 

 

We do Harry Potter #5, 6, & 7 at age 11 (but I don't let them start the series until age 9). I know OP's child is age 7, so I don't suggest waiting  years to finish the series.

 

All of the above listed are allowed at ages 10-11 here (my just turned 10 year old has read Gregor - book club book and Percy Jackson; my 11 1/2 yo has read all except Ember, Ranger's Apprentice, and Inkheart, which she just picked up). At about age 11, they're pretty much turned loose in the library. I still maintain veto power; I just don't exercise it often after age 11. Until then, I keep a pretty tight rein on their reading.

[poppy]

I don't put all those book at the same maturity level, personally.  Gregor and Percy Jackson are written for a 3rd-6th grade audience. 

[Aura]

Regarding HP specifically, my dd10 has read all the books and seen all the movies. Ds 9 and ds 6 have both watched up to Order of the Phoenix. 

 

It's been interesting to note how these things work for different kids, though. My oldest is 20. My youngest is 6. Even though I tried not to let what my older kids watch influence what my little kids watched, something obviously happened. My younger kids are just NOT as sensitive to things as their older siblings were at the same age. 

 

(For instance, we recently watched all the Jurassic Park/World movies. My oldest two could not have handled those movies at 6 and/or 9. Whereas, my two youngest laughed when the T-Rex bit the lawyer in half.  :blink: )

 

As far as political or sexual suggestions/comments, I have consciously let go of some of my worry about those things. I've noticed they just go straight over their heads. When they're little, they just don't get it and just dismiss it.

 

(For instance, in Jurassic World Owen commented to Claire about what dinosaurs need, including the need for sex, followed by "You can relate to at least one of those things, right?"--my youngest two definitely did not get the sex reference at all.) 

 

At some point, they start to pick up on the comments whether they really understand them or not, but by the time they actually start to notice those things instead of outright dismissing them, they're old enough to have a decent conversation about it.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Aura

[Aura]

Also, just for reference on HP and ages, one of my dd's friends that is also 10 is still working through reading them, but the only thing holding her back is her own time management.

 

Another set of siblings my kids are friends with are ages 9 and 7. They have both read all the books and watched all the movies.

 

And one of my older kid's friend wasn't allowed to even start HP until she was a teen (she was highly sensitive).

 

Really, to me it just underscores that it is dependent upon the child and the family.

[Mom22ns]

My kids stopped on their own. Ds slowed down at Goblet of Fire and then didn't pick of Order of the Phoenix for a long time. I don't know what I would have done if he had wanted to read straight through. I think they enjoyed them more and got more out of them by waiting, but I don't know if I'd have stopped them.

 

Dd was super sensitive and Goblet on would have led to nightmares before age 10. She stuck to one a book a year, but wasn't a huge fan until she was a teen. 

 

My sister's kids were the perfect age, her dd was 10 when the fist book came out and she read them as they came out. I wish all kids were forced to go through them slowly like that and grow up with Harry rather than rush through and read them at such young ages. 

[JessReplanted]

My kids had to wait to read them until they were 9, and then they had freedom to keep going through the series.

[Butter]

For my sensitive kid, 10.  Because that's how old he was when he wanted to read the series.  I read them aloud to my older two when they were 7-9ish.  My 8yo has shown no desire whatsoever to read them.  Once he does, however hold he is, he can read them all right in a row or however he chooses.