Letting young teenager read "It"

[Itsreallymehonest]

I won't watch or read It as I hate horror. My 14yo dd bought the book and is enjoying it. AIBU in letting her read it on the basis that we just have different tastes? I wouldn't let her watch the film, but am I being naive in thinking that we are only limited by our own imagination with books? Has anyone read it, and is it absolutely awful?

I think 14 is ok. My ds was desperate to read IT from around 12. I told him he could when he was 14.

I jumped quite quickly from goosebumps books to Stephen King and read most of his early stories in secondary school, they did scare me but in a good way :).

Re read them again a few years back as an adult, I had to laugh when I noticed some of the more 'adult' bits that wen't wayyy over my head the first time round.

I loved Stephen King and other horror at that age, my parents encouraged it

Stephen King is quite vanilla compared to lots of modern day horror. I definitely had seen IT at her age, it’s not scary in the slightest (we laughed at it).

Some of SK's books are certainly more adult orientated - Pet Semetary is about every parents nightmare for instance.
Stories like The Shining and It can be enjoyed by young adults.
Get DD The Stand for her next read OP.

It's a 15? Surely if she's old enough at 14 to read then she can watch it?

Yeah, I agree with this. The book is a lot more graphic in certain areas, worse than the film, and I'll bet she'll really want to watch it after she's finished reading it.

The first film is quite fun, not that bad really in terms of being traumatic. The main theme is coming of age and is more charming than scary. The second is a steaming pile of shit though

I think I read it at about 8/9, but I was allowed to borrow from the adult section by then as I had read all the child and teen books. I have always loved horror, though absolutely nothing scares me book or film wise these days.

I think people know their own children and what they are okay to read. For me I always remember this book because it taught me adults can sometimes get it wrong and be bad people and it was something I needed to know at that time. People have different tastes in books really and I think part of encouraging people to love reading is allowing them to read what they enjoy rather than what you think they should enjoy.

Now I wish I hadn't read Graham Masterton at that age as it made me sick. Those I would be more hesitant about.

SPOILERS WARNING for the book

Op, I have just finished the book on the Kindle app and enjoyed it. You will be aware that isn't contained gory violence but there are many other dark and disturbing themes which you may want to be aware of.

From the top of my head there's gruesome child murders throughout the book, a baby sibling murder by one of Henry Bowers gang, the infamous group sex towards the end of the book, a male on male masturbation scene which turns into blackmail and extreme cruelty towards animals.

A lot of the sexual stuff is omitted in the film.

I would let my 14 and maybe even my 12 year old dcs watch 1990 IT and the first IT film without any objections as it is much less graphic than the book. Going to see part 2 myself on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to that even though a few mners have already given it the thumbs down.

should be "it contains".

I'd let a 14-year-old read any book they wanted. I think once they're at that age they can choose for themselves. They can stop reading if they're bothered by any of the content.

Before YA fiction was such a huge market it was the norm for teens to be reading only adult fiction at 14. When I was at school people read Judy Blume and Goosebumps when they were maybe 9 -12 or 13 but after that, it was mostly just reading the same things adults read.

I read it when I was about 11/12 it was and still is my favourite book

When i read IT, i had no idea there was a bit about group sex, what scared me was the subconscious stuff, in italics - it was truly terrifying and many years later, i think i was too young to read it.

When my DD was 14, i wouldn't have let her read it.

All the IT films are childish nonsense.