To say no to the 6th Harry Potter book...

[TabbyTigger]

DD is 5. She’s just finished the first five Harry Potter books and, obviously, now wants to move onto the 6th. However from what I and other DCs remember, this one has more mature themes (romance/more detailed deaths) and is generally more complex. AIBU to ask her to wait a year or so before reading it or should I let her try and see how she does?

Is she reading the books herself or are you reading them to her?

To add, it’s brilliant if she can, I’m just shocked that so many people think this is common. It’s definitely not and I work with children.
I loved reading as a child and was very advanced but can’t remember at what age.
With my own children I very much believe in the Scandinavian approach and do not put too much emphasis on reading and writing before age of 6/7. Prefer to let them learn through child led activities and in the moment (although obviously I help them practice what they have learnt at school)

Seriously? My child is in reception and I don’t know of any who have moved on from the biff and kipper books yet

On this thread alone there are a few. DD was first of her friends I think (she read the first one just as she started year 1), but now one of her friends is just starting the 4th one and I know another has read the first three and a third friend has read at least the first. They’re all 6. 12yo DD’s friends weren’t dissimilar at that age. They’re definitely not geniuses - as someone upthread said, no relation between reading ability and academic ability. Just kids who like reading, and so read a lot and are therefore good at it.

Is she reading the books herself or are you reading them to her?

I read the first chapter of the first book to her as my intention was to read them together, then the next night went in to read the second chapter and she said no - she was already on chapter 8. After that I just let her get on with it.

My friend was reading advanced books very young, maybe 6 or so. I remember specifically as I was quite in awe of her. Not HP as this was the 80s.

She went on to come around the top in her state in school examinations (Australia) and then went onto Oxford and a masters at a top London university.

So unusual and very clever but not genius.

My 7 year old has read all of HP now but did struggle with the later ones. I didn't think of banning them. I was more concerned when we watched the films TBH.

We're currently reading The Chronicles of Narnia together. I love introducing him to new books.

He was on Biff, Chip etc age 5 but just progressed very quickly when he "got" reading.

Perfectly possible for a bright almost 6 yr old.

I’ve never forced her, or her siblings to read, and I never try to “stretch” their reading. But I am constantly reading - I’ve managed to make a stand so I can read while cooking/ironing, and I plough through at least a book a week, often up to three. I guess that is why my older DC developed a love of reading, and now DD3 has picked it up.

I read Harry Potter as a child with my parents and we read the fourth when I was a similar age and for some reason I vividly remember describing Cedric Diggory's death, she read until Pettigrew cast the spell and said 'And Cedric fell on the ground, dead'.

That was it, she missed out the whole duel and Harry jumped back to Hogwarts with Cedric and I was none the wiser until a few years later when I re read them myself.

I think you can tip toe round some aspects and she won't really know. Just read ahead without her so you know exactly what's coming.

Wow, it happens. I was reading newspapers at 3 and was actually in my local paper because of it which is quite embarrassing now

I understood that level of book at 5. It depends on the child.

I'm also a primary school teacher and I have taught some who read at a similar level. It's not that rare. If a child has a passion for reading, they will read.

I'd wait a bit though, as far as Half Blood Prince is concerned. I found it difficult to read as an adult because of the deaths and the awful scene with Dumbledore in the cave. It is frightening.

I've only just let DD start OOTP at 9. She watched the first four films from 3+ and the next four at about 7. The books are worse.

That’s amazing.

I think I would just let her read whatever she wants, to be honest. She probably won’t understand it all anyway, but she can re-read them when she’s older if she wants.

Tabby, I think that's why I have an avid reader too. I am never seen without a book. I read while I'm doing chores, cooking, in bed, the bath, the car, watching TV

She models what I do. I've never forced it.

I had a similar dilemma with DS. I found the Terry Pratchett books about the Nomes went down well. He also liked The Phantom Tollbooth and the How to train your dragon series. He may not have understood every concept but still enjoyed them immensely.

I agree that putting the later HP books away for a few years is a good idea. Ds read them at 9ish.

Its not that weird for a Year 1 child to read Harry Potter. Having worked in schools there is usually one or two that just "get" reading quick at this stage and its a challenge to find things suitable to their emotional level but difficult enough to hold their interest.

I agree with a poster who said it's hard to find appropriate yet challenging books for bright children. I have a bright one myself although we were still on Biff Chip and Kipper at 5! But very quickly she was a good few years ahead. Keen readers exhaust the more challenging but content appropriate books quickly - Roald Dahl, David Williams, diary of a wimpy kid, horrid Henry etc and are eager to find new content. I struggled with it myself.

Saying that, I let my child read the first three hp books early on, then moved to the later ones aged 7 and 8. I was worried about them being scary but, as it was, she was fine and was just mad about the dangers in the plot.

Shakespeare at 7 is unbelievable? At school he Year 3's are currently studying one of his plays. They're 7 and 8.

I read a lot of books very young. I don't think it brought me any huge benefit it was really just a side effect of being the youngest of a family of big book readers and being very lonely at junior school. I can imagine a six year old reading the first few Harry Potters quite easily, but wouldn't they get pretty bored in the later ones? All that tedious teenage angsting about dating your best friend's sister for example. Still I expect she's like me and just skips the stuff she doesn't understand or doesn't find interesting.

Oh! My daughter absolutely loved How To Train Your Dragon when she was in year 1/2. Maybe that's a good, exciting option?

Massive stealth bragging
Yawn

What a wonderful stealth boast for a Thursday night.

Sometimes my 4 yr old DD sticks crayons up her nose and crawls around the house growling.

She's soooooo smart.

Ah, the "stealth boast" claimants. How very tiring.

I read A Midsummer Night's Dream to my Year 2 class, a bit a day, at the end of the day. They absolutely loved it.

My son was reading prolifically at that age, but I left off the Harry Potters until he was about 6 or 7. Only now at 10 has he read the last 2; I think they’ll make much more sense and be far more rewarding at a slightly older age.
I remember ‘reading’ The Hobbit at 6. I couldn’t tell you a word of what happened after I’d read it, though, even though I could ‘decode’ every word.
I think there’s a level of sophistication needed for the last few HP that a 5 year old (though undeniably very bright) would probably not have.

I remember being really stressed out because my friends little boy was 5 and had apparently read the Hobbit and was a massive fan and mine was 18 months older and just enjoying snuggling up and having it read to him and asking questions about the plot.

Only when we were having a chat about the best bits and the scariest bits, my friends little boy obviously didn't have the slightest clue what the book was even about. So I tend to take these things with a pinch of salt

DS2 is fairly bright (120,120,118 in SATS); no way was he able to read Potter with any worthwhile level of comprehension at 5.

@ICantCopeAnymore ** The thing annoying me most on here is that young children couldn't possibly enjoy Shakespeare. I really don't understand where the commentator is coming from.

You could try Wizards of Once my HP loving DD really enjoyed it and whilst it's exciting there are no deaths.

Raindrops - it's very odd. I loved Dickens too. I do wonder why people think children can't enjoy classic literature.

Ah yes, this thread has just been me going on and on about how smart my child is.

She likes reading.
She is good at reading.
She won’t be reading the next Harry Potter for another 6 months.
She’ll probably come back to Harry Potter in 5 years and take a whole lot more from them.