Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials Trillogy, suitable for a class of 7/8 year olds???

I am starting to wonder if you are my sister Ormirian, except I think she is still recovering from a c-section
Did you also have Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars for surreptious enlightment?

I think one of the biggest dangers of reading so far ahead of age is that the children may be turned off an author that later on they would have enjoyed very much.

The cutting scenes in N L are too brutal for my 10 year old, they are very detailed descriptions of child abuse after all. I think the gay angels, adult relationships, elephants on wheels etc can also wait a year or two.

Think the teacher must be planning to heavily abridge. Sounds a bit self indulgent to me.

Did he sex her miss, is, unfortunately, the chosen way of articulating this currently
I was forced on to the back foot with ds re The Talk after a string of comments along these lines from a charming little classmate

The orange paperbacks as I remember Marina. I tackled Robert Graves Greek Myths - the truly horrifying bits seemed to pass my by somehow.

marina, i'm guilty of reading a lot less subtlety into your pov then I should have and deserve shooting for that as I know you better.

you are right. absolutely some git could pipe up, oooo mis, did they shag.

at 7.

I read The Woman Who Rode Away at that age too Ormirian , and Sons and Lovers! Were your parents' copies soupy old Penguins too?

I agree (Earthsea was what I had in mind) Ormirian. I am ashamed to admit that I raided my parents' bookshelves from a young age too (Robert Graves, George Orwell, DH Lawrence, Laurie Lee etc) and there is a very different dynamic to sharing in class.
What I meant about Lyra and Will, sophable, was more the real chance this tender and beautifully evoked relationship would be picked up on by at least one child with more awareness of sexuality and ruined for the rest of them.
Ds is enjoying the Dalemark Quartet at the moment, by Diana Wynne Jones, but I am not sure I'd want him to be reading this in a group setting either.

I quite agree sophable. But part of the problem is that in a class of 30 kids, some of them won't be remotely ready for Pullman even if some are. I'm not sure they'll be 'damaged' in the way that they might be by visual violence in films, although some might be distressed. But perhaps the worst out come might be to put them off reading. Which would be tragic! And wouldn't it be a shame if she 'spoiled' Dark Materials for them so that they never wanted to bother with it again? I read a lot to my oldest (he's 10 but a lazy arse and doesn't like to read for pleasure and we like reading together) but I can judge his responses and reactions as we go in a way that a teacher of 30 probably couldn't

but do you see what i mean orm....you weren't damaged by lady chatterly in the way you might be were you exposed to, for eg (and a very tame one) jilly cooper riders at that age.

if it is good literature, then within reason, it is for all surely?

I think there's a difference between children reading books alone and hearing them read in class. You build much more of a relationship with a book by reading it yourself. I read everything and anything as a child - at 8 I read Lady Chatterley's lover - the only damage being I didn't realise what a heap of bollocking trash it was If a teacher tried to read that to a class there would be a riot or total incomprehension.

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If the Narnia books are too difficult, then the Philip Pullman books will be much more so. And they're boring.

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Well, my sister is 12 and very bright and regardless of the violence and imagery in the books (though still pertinent points for 7/8 year olds) she can't really "get" the books. They are pretty complicated and intense I think, better for teenagers.

She'll never in a million years get as far as 'The Amber Spyglass', unless she's planning on making it the entire curriculum from here till July! So I'd not worry about the Will/Lyra relationship.

I've taught 'Northern Lights' (to 13 year olds). Fabulous book & I'd love my dc to read it at 7, but agree it might be worth raising concerns about some of the potentially distressing sections, eg. Tony.

and coming home all lit up about books as good as these....got to be good surely?

I read Silas Marner, when not that far off this age (might ahve been 9). looking back that was TOTALLY unsuitable, but i loved it and it was part of what made me love reading.

do we assume that children can't deal with adult themes such as death and the awful things that we can do to each other, whilst exposing them to all kinds of cartoon violence that is much much worse?

ds loves greek myths (he has the orchard book) which is pretty bloodcurdling stuff, he is not 4 yet.

I think perhaps that these things ARE ok, fairy tales for eg are incredibly grim sometimes but deal with very important life themes, as do these books, and to some extent this younger age group won't pick up on the more disturbing aspects imo.

oooo yes the earthsea trilogy has scarey bits but more suitable.

having said that, this is NOT on a par with watching for eg spiderman films...which I bet lots of these children have watched. or watership down which i confess i completely misguidedly let my nearly 4 y o watch the other day.

wouldn't be at all concerned about lyra and will's relaitonship marina, it's dealt with in a really subtle way and as an adult you get the subtext but not as a child i don't think.

tony and his demon is hard, but the more i think about it the more i believe that most of these kids will have been exposed to much much worse with none of the fantastic payoffs.

Which le guin, Marina? I love Earthsea but I think it's too difficult for that age. Is there something more suitable that you would recommend? I'd love to start them with my children.

Yes Ormirian
I am honestly a bit disturbed that a primary school teacher is suggesting these books.
Epic adventure for this age group can be supplied by writers as diverse as CS Lewis, Ursula K Le Guin, Rosemary Sutcliff etc

If she really wants Pullman, the one about the rat who turned into a boy would be better.

Or alternatively choosing a few suitable passages from Dark Materials might be a possibilty rather than the whole kit and caboodle.

Is Tony the little boy who has his daemon cut away Marina? If so I totally agree - very distressing. I really don't think the teacher has really though it through.