Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

What she did you introduce the first Harry Potter book?

42 replies

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 30/08/2018 07:14

DS just turned 5 and I’m trying to get him into fiction chapter books. He’s all about the non-fiction. What age do you think is ok for HP? I was going to wait until he’s the same age as the characters but apparently they’re 11. That’s so far away.

OP posts:

Nuffaluff · 30/08/2018 08:15

My DS was 7 when he read the first one. He was a strong reader and enjoyed it, but was perhaps a little young (didn’t understand some of the words), so has only read the first two so far. He enjoys reading a variety of things, both fiction and non-fiction. There are so many great children’s books out there these days.

Fantail · 30/08/2018 09:06

Depends on the child. We did first HP at 5 and have done one a year since. DD loves them!

Other books that have gone down well are Roald Dahl, The Faraway Tree, the whatever story treehouse, we’ve just finished Pippi Lomgstockings again and next up is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Also The Worst Witch was a favourite.

Original poster

Iwasjustabouttosaythat · 30/08/2018 09:09

Thanks for all the information. Most people seem to go for 7 or 8 it looks like. I think I will hold it back for a couple of years.

Thank you for all the book suggestions too. Can’t get enough of those!

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Children's books

Tinythenewt · 30/08/2018 09:13

I have not tried reading HP to my 5 year old yet. I am really looking forward to my DC reading and enjoying them. He loves Horrid Henry though, and he has had a crack at the early readers himself which made him feel really grown up.

isittheholidaysyet · 30/08/2018 09:57

Rrad it to my 3 DS's at age 7.

Just tried with my 7 year old DD and she is really not ready and we have stopped.

The boys are really good readers though. DD really struggles.

SilentHeadphones · 30/08/2018 10:01

5 is a bit young. But DH is reading The Lord of the Rings to my 6 yr old, so what do I know 🙄
I started eldest at 8, he enjoyed the first but not the second, told me to stop reading it and find something else

Witchend · 30/08/2018 10:27

Dd1 read them (or up to book 4 which was what had been released at the time) in year 1. Loved them, and we had tears in year 2 when I meanly made her wait until the next morning to collect book 5 rather than getting it at midnight.
She reread them when older when her friends were getting into it.
Dd2 I'm not sure has. She started book 1 and decided it was too scary.
DS read book 1 aged about 7yo, said it was boring and went back to Biggles. 😁

IncyWincyGrownUp · 30/08/2018 12:05

I read it to year four, and read them book two in year five.

My son read all seven books in year four. My daughter never bothered because she didn’t like them. I’m going to chuck the first book at the six year old soon.

AspieHere · 30/08/2018 12:21

DD has just started OoTP and she is 7. But she is a very good reader and had been begging to read them for ages.

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 30/08/2018 12:41

Surely by the time their 10 they've seen the films and know what happens anyway?

IncyWincyGrownUp · 30/08/2018 14:11

MrsSnooty

My son’s like me, wouldn’t watch the films until he’d read the books! :o

Clairetree1 · 30/08/2018 14:16

why are you trying to get him into reading fiction at all? If he is enjoying non fiction, encourage this.

HP is suitable for about age 9 upwards, I'd say

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 30/08/2018 14:34

@IncyWincyGrownUp that's lucky!

I have to admit my DD is 5 in 2 weeks and has watched the first 4 films.

She's never been scared by the content or themes in it. She knows about death as we explained it very openly and directly when relatives have died.

If anything, it's encouraged her imagination and she loves playing Harry Potter

If your child wants to read it then let them.

kenandbarbie · 30/08/2018 14:41

I started reading them to dc when I got sick of reading picture books. They were 6.

IncyWincyGrownUp · 30/08/2018 14:45

MrsSnooty he has ASD, and some things just have to be be done the ‘right’ way. Sometimes it amuses me (like the books), and others it is a right royal pain in the arse! :o

My youngest is currently refusing to read anything that isn’t a picture book, despite having an assessed reading age four years above his actual years. He is a sod!

I may yet resort to buying illustrated copies of good books and lie my considerably fat arse off and telling him they’re just picture books.

DinosApple · 30/08/2018 15:01

I've gone with a when they can read them themselves approach.

DD1 (9) started reading them age 7 and finished the whole series age 8. Reading is her mega strong point.

DD2 (now 7) prefers a less tense and exciting read and is enjoying the Magic Faraway Tree at the moment. She's not interested in reading them yet. And I think it would be hard work for her at this stage.

JynxaSmoochum · 30/08/2018 15:08

I've read the first one to DS1. I've bought a beautifully illustrated copy that he enjoyed. He's bright but just scrapes an average reading age so enjoys the content but isn't ready to read it himself yet. I'd like to get more of the illustrated copies over time.

At 5 we were sharing Roald Dahl, Horrid Henry and Captain Underpants.

I've also read The Magician's Nephew (Narnia) after watching the classic BBC adaptions from the early 90s.

Flip

1 2