Harry Potter - what age?

[polkadottytotty]

Hi all

Just wondered at what age did you start reading the Harry Potter series to your DC?
My DS is 6 in October and was thinking of getting him the first book to start reading to him but not sure if he would appreciate it quite yet.
He's bright and has a good imagination - we've read most of Roald Dahl and reading How to Train your Dragon at the moment and he has loved those.

[amidaiwish]

we've been reading it to DD1 (6) and DD2 (nearly 5) and they are loving it. nowhere near as scary as the films (so far anyway, nearly at the end of book 1)

[mummytime]

Book one isn't scary, it gets scary about book 4. JK would allow her then 9 year old to read that book onwards at the time.

[inthesticks]

I wouldn't bother.It seems an odd thing to say but I think HP had an adverse effect on my son's interest in books.
DS1 was an early reader and HP himself from age 6 and loved it so much that no other books have ever been good enough.

[SleepingLion]

DS, at 7, has read the whole series twice. He loves them - to the extent that I can see your point, inthesticks, but we have managed to get him interested in other books as well. He reads all the time.

[amidaiwish]

oh no inthesticks!

[inthesticks]

I may be wrong to blame HP as DS2 did not respond the same way.
DS1 is 14 now and he read all the time up to about age 11. He re-read HP several times and did read lots of other stuff but since then has gone off fiction completely. I feel he misses out on one of life's great pleasures and he still says if there were another HP he would read it.
DS2 is 12 and reads all the time.

[nooka]

I'm not sure I'd bother either, unless you yourself really enjoyed them. I started reading them to my two when they were 6 and 7ish and found that they were very clunky to read and the children weren't terribly interested. So I read other books instead. But then I don't think that they are very good books, the series has a really pappy ending, and gets totally bloated in the middle IMO.

My ds also does the obsessional reading thing, getting him to move from re-reading particular series to something new is always a struggle. But he is dyslexic, so perhaps reading anything for pleasure should be enough.

[misspollysdolly]

Just on the last few pages of reading Book 1 to DS1 who has just turned 5 - he has very much enjoyed it. DD (now nearly 11) was this age when we began reading them to her and - having had all seven books read to her over the years - she has spent this summer re-reading them all and loving them all over again.

Think it depends what else you read to them. DS has had all (pretty much) Roald Dahl books read to him plus others of a similar style/level and he loves stories. We have been reading 'proper' books (rather than just picture-type storybooks - we often read both at bedtime) since he was around 2.5 years.

The main difference with moving from these other books to HP was the writing was definitely more in-depth and complex. The first chapters of HP1 are like this and with both DCs, I found myself thinking that perhaps we'd taking on a bit much, a bit too early/young. But we carried on and they were both a good age to start this series. - Go for it!

[Rhiannonthescribbler]

I have just finished reading bk 6 to my DS and he is 7, he is so excited about the last one. They are an utter JOY to read aloud and I feel as if I am reading them anew this way having read them numerous times myself.

[pointydog]

After book three, I couldn't bear reading them aloud to anyone. So tediously over-written and poorly edited.

My ears screamed just having to listen to the interminable cd of book four on a long car journey.

[WoodyAllen]

DD was 5 and DS was 3 but he liked them too. A bit freaked out by the end of Goblet of Fire so I had to 'explain that bit,don't read the words' so we are having a break and reading Tom's Midnight Garden. Not so much action but much better writing. Do love HP though and both older ones now obsessed. Even DD2 who is 2 lisps on about Hermione although is always cast as Dobby in games.

[pointydog]

Get them the films and read them proper books

[Rhiannonthescribbler]

Lol, my kids both went through a Dobby phase. I have never found HP over-written! Ok, I shall stop now as this is getting into sensative teritory.

[Pluto]

I couldn't imagine having the stamina to read all the HP's aloud to my DCs. DS1 read the first one on holiday when he was 8.9mo. I wouldn't let him watch the films until he'd read all the books.

Personally I find the series dull beyond belief. However DS was a confident reader and had a good reading habit by the time he was able to read HP on his own and it has had no adverse effects. He's no big HP fan now though, aged 10.10mo

[Checkmate]

I'm surprised so many are reading them so young.
DD is 8 and about to start y4. I allowed her to read the first 2 this summer holidays, as she seemed at the right level, in terms of the text and the content. She'd just read the Narnia books, the Borrower series, and the Hobbit and was asking for something similar.

I'm going to let her read HP4 when she's 9 and see how we go... I think she'll be ready for all of them from then onwards.

I read the Narnia's to DS who is 5 and he loves them - try those first. I much prefer them to read aloud to HP.

[dearprudence]

I know what you mean Checkmate - I resisted letting my DS move on to the later books as some of the themes are pretty scary. But he insisted he wasn't scared by them, and was always begging for the next book so I let him move on. He'd finished them all at about 7 and a half.

I've not read beyond the first three myself, but I read parts of book 7 to him aloud, and I found it overly wordy as well, pointydog

Percy Jackson is a nice series to move onto.

[exexpat]

Started reading them to DS when he'd just turned 6 - one chapter a night, which was all my voice could take - but by a chapter or so into book two, he grabbed the books and started reading them by himself - powered through the first five (all that were out at that date) by the time he was six and a half, then went back to the beginning and read them all again.

But luckily unlike inthesticks' DS, it didn't put him off reading other things, as he then plunged into Anthony Horowitz and so on. He's now 12 and doesn't read as much as he used to, but can get seriously absorbed in the right sort of book.

[DilysPrice]

DD finished reading the last one on her 8th birthday or thenabouts. I tried to suggest that she stop after the 4th book, on grounds of subject matter in the last 3 books, but she insisted that she really wanted to finish, and wasn't scared so I let her.
I can't imagine having the stamina to read them out loud past the first two - I'd have thought that any child old enough to understand the content of the later books would want to finish them at reading speed.

[DinahRod]

Am going to wait until ds can read them himself (maybe 7 or 8 at a guess) otherwise I shall be tempted to sit up late at night with a thick black marker and severely prune books 5-7.

[ravenAK]

Mmmm. Ds (6, confident reader) & I haven't enjoyed them read aloud - I find them clunky, definitely, although I quite enjoyed them when I read them for myself.

I think they're better read independently tbh. & ds hasn't been grabbed so far - he's toyed with the first one, but hasn't got stuck into it the way he has with Roald Dahl, say.

I'd say certainly no harm in proffering HP&TPS/COS from age 5/6, though - the later books are a little darker, but again I'd be OK with dc progressing on to them.

Slightly inclined to agree with pointydog about watching the films & reading proper books , though. Ds would certainly endorse that!

[pointydog]

Never found them over-written, rhiannon?

I'll start quoting bits at you soon

[pointythings]

I've read book 1 and 2 to my girls this year (they're 7 and 9) and that was fine, told them that I'd do book 3 with them but then stop for a bit. My older DD is reading book 4 but I've told her it gets a bit dark after that so she's happy to wait for a bit - she is quite sensitive but knows this about herself so that was no hardship).
I did find HP hard work to read aloud, it works much better just to read. By contrast I'm now reading Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series (The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith) out loud to them - have just started on book 2 and these really are lovely to read out loud, TP has really thought about his use of language as well as about the big ideas that he sneaks into the books while you're busy laughing at the Nac Mac Feegles.
We're also big fans of the How to Train Your Dragon series - have read all the books to them AND bought the audiobooks - I cannot recommend the readings (by David TennantI highly enough.

[pugsandseals]

DD got the 1st on audiobook for her birthday (age 8) & it lasted us all the way to Cornwall and back! We were all totally seduced by Stephen Fry and had the best car journey ever.

Another seducer is the guy who reads the Artemis Fowl books- such a low powerful voice. We are also still working on the Narnia's and plan to start the Hobbit soon. Audiobooks are definately the way to go IMO [lazy mummy alert!)

[massivemammaries]

DD (6) has just read HP & the philosophers stone through and really enjoyed it. She has been reading about 30 pages a night in bed and in the morning enjoys giving a detailed synopsis!