My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Children's books

How old were your DC when you introduced Harry Potter?

25 replies

Mummyhug · 28/10/2016 01:13

I'm just itching to read my DD the first couple of books but I'm pretty sure she's too young.
How old were your children when they were introduced to the magical world?
How long do I have left to wait?? Grin

OP posts:
Report
Manumission · 28/10/2016 01:18

Six

Report
Labtest7 · 28/10/2016 11:20

My daughter was 6 too.

Report
2legit2knit · 28/10/2016 11:21

6

Report
WhirlwindHugs · 28/10/2016 11:27

7, only the first 3 books. I think the others are too much for her yet. I am feeling very impatient too!

Report
BertrandRussell · 28/10/2016 11:30

6/7 for the first one, probably. And then the next two. And then a decent wait for the rest. Don't spoil them by giving them too young. There are loads of other brilliant books.

Report
user1468589135 · 31/10/2016 15:07

My DS was nine and he read them year by year as they came out. We had the tapes for travelling in the car. The books gave him his love of reading for pleasure on his own.

Report
FV45 · 31/10/2016 15:10

Both boys were 7 and read the first couple independently. I'd say it was the HP books which took them from the beginner chapter books, like Horrid Henry and Flat Stanley to proper paperbacks. Pretty sure they didn't understand all the words, but my older son (now 17) has read the whole set a number of times now so that doesn't bother me.

Report
BeMorePanda · 31/10/2016 15:39

I think DD was just turned 7 when I started reading them to her - I read the first 3 and then she read the rest of them herself.

Report
2014newme · 31/10/2016 15:44

8 for both films and reading the books themselves.

Report
2014newme · 31/10/2016 15:45

We are going through them slowly. They have still 4 films to see and 3 books to read. There is no rush.

Report
SortAllTheThings · 31/10/2016 15:47

Six

Report
mrsmortis · 01/11/2016 08:36

She read the Philospher's stone at 7. But I've told her she needs to wait a bit longer before she reads the next one.

Report
birdybirdywoofwoof · 01/11/2016 08:41

DS8/DD7 reading together up to book 3 - DS8 is up to 5 by himself, (I think its mostly going over his head) and we've just watched the 4th brilliant film together. We are all obsessed!
My Dad died this summer and I blub at any mention/sight of Harry's parents, Luna Lovegoods wisdom, anything. It's immensely cathartic!
(My poor DC!)

Report
SeptemberBlues · 01/11/2016 09:57

Six, and I couldn't stop her reading the rest - she loved them so much she went through them all within six months or so. She's now on her third or fourth reread of each (and she doesn't seem anywhere near as bothered about the deaths/scary bits as I am).

Report
SallyGardens · 01/11/2016 10:17

Oldest was about 7 when she read the first book - she had the full series read by her 9th birthday. We had a rule that she had to read each book before she could watch the movie :) She's still totally obsessed with the books and is waiting for the Fantastic Beasts movie with great anticipation.

Second and third haven't read any of the books, DS(11) is dyslexic and DD(8) says "they're too scary!". They've both seen the first 2 movies afaik.

Report
Undersmile · 01/11/2016 10:23

How old is your child?
Mine were both 7, but my youngest was too scared by it really. We havent read past first one until older.

Report
Stiddleficks · 01/11/2016 10:26

My 5yr old Dd had seen the first two films and were going to read the first book together after Christmas as I'm having the first two illustrated books then. She doesn't scare easily though, although the spiders may be a bit much in the second, I'll see nearer the time. I wouldn't do anymore than the first two stories though for a long time yet.

Report
normage · 01/11/2016 10:32

Very much depends on child. My ds read them from 6 onwards, but my 9 year dd is showing no interest and prefers humorous books. She scares quite easily.

Report
Whattodosue · 01/11/2016 17:29

My DD was 6, and read and loved them all. The rule in our house is that no film until you read the book (or listen to it). My DS (just turned 5 at the time) was DESPERATE to watch the films and so to read the books (one of his new school friends had seen the first three). Because DD had loved them, and DS was desperate to read/see it, I started reading the first one (and told him we would watch the film at Christmas). But he was too young, he just struggled with following the story night after night (would have been no problem for DD at same age). So we gave up (and watched the first film only having read half). We then started listening to Stephen Fry reading it (way better than me I was told) in the new year, and he loved it. We have done the second one as an audiobook, and we will watch the second film this Christmas. So the long and short is that all children are different and what suits one won't necessarily suit another.

Report
ButtonLoon · 01/11/2016 17:40

We are reading book 3 right now to DD who is just-turned-6. I have seen before that we should stop after book 3 though until she's older? I had some serious trouble reading about Harry's remembering his mum's murder today, so I can't imagine reading some of the bits from book 4!!

Also, there's a lot of romance in book 4. Hmm

Report
Pointeshoes · 01/11/2016 17:52

Just half way through reading book one to Harry Potter to do who's 6- he loves it :)

Report
Gwlondon · 01/11/2016 20:57

My son is 5 and we have read the first one but he didn't understand all of it. So we had to explain bits.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Witchend · 02/11/2016 22:04

Dd1 read all that were out (book 5, I think) in year 1.
Dd2 read them in year 5, she doesn't do scary books, so only read them when her friends were talking about it.
Ds, I think read the first one last year (year 4). Enjoyed it a bit, but not that much and didn't bother with the others as he's more interesting books to read. Like the Spitfire instruction manual Hmm

Report
LaBrujita · 07/11/2016 17:51

The way I saw it was that I could read it to him any time, but he would only have had the most basic understanding of it. Oh, right, yeah, boy went to a magic school, think he wore glasses, the end. 80% would go over his head.

So I waited until I could be sure at least a bit more would sink in and he'd actually get some enjoyment from the tale.

I also didn't want him to read the later books too soon again, not just due to the deaths and scariness, but missing most of plot and its nuances.

Anyway. He's 8. At late 6 or 7, I read him 1 and 2, waited a while, then 3. We read 4 together because he begged, this year. I'm leaving it there for a while, mainly because 5 is a bit of a slog to be honest.

He's now reading 1 alone, with the illustrated version, and I'm thinking he can read the first four again this way. Then he'll be, what, 10, 11? by the time he wants to perhaps keep on reading and tackle 5 onwards.

There's only one chance to hear those twists and spoilers the first time, so I'd like it to be at an age where he gasps and he remembers it as I did, rather than be 5 or 6 and just go 'what? Who did what? What's a wand?'

Report
BlueChampagne · 10/11/2016 21:24

DS1 read the first one at 7 and had finished the series before he was 9. He'll probably want to re-read them soon!

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.