When are kids ready to read/listen to Harry Potter books?

Re: When are kids ready to read/listen to Harry Potter books?

• DandelionMom

  April 2011

  DD started in 2nd grade.  I think 1-3 are fine for that age but the 4+ ones are a little dark for 8 y/os. 

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• neverblushed member

  April 2011

  DH, DD, and I are all big HP fans.  We could hardly wait until DS was ready to have them read aloud.   We tried right before he turned 5, but he was too young to really follow the story.  I knew when we got to the part where Harry goes to Diagon Alley for the first time and he was kind of restless and bored that he wasn't really ready.

  We put it aside for a while and read some other, easier chapter books.  HP has some tricky vocabulary, but it also has a lot of subtle language.  A young reader has to work hard to visualize everything going on in the story, and the reader has to infer a lot about the characters.

  We got back into them early this year.  Now he's 6 1/2, in kindergarten, and reading well enough on his own to tackle "real" chapter books.  I'm reading the books out loud; he's re-reading them on his own after I finish them.  We're about a quarter of the way into Prisoner of Azkaban now, and he's really hooked.  I will make him wait a bit to read Goblet of Fire, though. After book 3, I think the series gets too scary for younger kids.

  High School English teacher and mom of 2 kids:

  
  

  DD, born 9/06/00 -- 12th grade

  DS, born 8/25/04 -- 7th grade

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• indigo91804

  April 2011

  My 7 y/o started to get into it the beginning of this school year. He is on book 4. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the content. He devours them. My 5 y/o watched the 1st movie with us and it gave him nightmares for a week. His kindergarten teacher gave him the books on CD to listen to and he seems to do better with it this way. He acts completely into since his brother is but I think it is too much for him at the moment. He isn't there with his reading skills yet so the books are not an option unless we read them with him and right now all he wants to do is read Captain Underpants with us right now. 

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• Tonya_G member

  April 2011

  I teach second grade, and I have one student who was able to tackle them this  year- I suggested to his mom to stop him at book 3 for awhile, as the themes in the later books are far darker for such a young kid.

  I haven't read them to my son yet- he's 5, and I just don't think that it's something necessary to read to him. His time will come, and when it does, we'll gladly read them together. What time that will be? Who knows. Each kid, IMO, is different when it comes to these books.

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• 9yrsLater

  April 2011

  DS is 8 and just now getting into the books. We tried to start them a couple years ago but he was extremely bored with the first chapter of book 1 (it is a pretty boring chapter compared to the excitement of the movie trailers he sees on tv!). I agree with other posters about how the content shifts to the "dark side" a bit around book 3.

  We've always given him a disclaimer that books and movies are "fantasy" and not reality; that seems to ground him pretty well when getting into the scary stuff. It is a little hard for him to grasp the depth of the characters though - the movies should help a little with that. He was rewarded with the first movie after finishing the books (DH and I "screen" them first).
  

  BFP 11/1/11 EDD 7/13/12

  

  

  9 Years Later

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