To let DD read Goblet of Fire

[Karlkennedyslovechild]

I don’t know so I’m throwing it out to the people in my phone to make my decision for me. DD turned 7 last month and has always been a reasonable reader but has really taken off since lockdown. She’s read all of Mallory Towers and can polish off a secret seven or Worst Witch in an evening. I’m running out of reading material and really miss the library.
We read the first 3 Harry Potters together probably around the end of last year and she loves it. A couple of months ago she asked if she could read them again to herself and I agreed. Now she’s pestering for book 4. Part of me thinks she’s too young but she has never been upset or scared by anything she’s read. Am I being too protective to say she has to wait? Realistically this will then lead on to books 5,6,etc.

So yes - I am a terrible negligent mother letting her read inappropriate material
No - go for it.

Well you lot are no bloody help. I keep swinging back and forth!!

DS read all the ones that had been published by the time he was 7 - up to number 5, I think. I had been worried that he would be upset about the death of some characters, but he took it all in his stride. He re-read them all later when the the next two came out, and probably got more out of them then. DD read them all when she was about 8, which was probably more suitable.

If you are looking for alternatives, I would recommend Diana Wynne Jones, Eva Ibbotson and Susan Cooper's Boggart books (written before JKR featured boggarts, by the way) as similar ones to appeal to that age group. Also perhaps Lemony Snicket, and the Madame Pamplemousse series?

I thought the same as you OP but now I think meh it's just a book, a bit of peril is good for kids I think.

@Brandaris but they're teenagers from book 1. I loved the yule ball and all the funny things that when I reread as a teenager picked up as romance.

I'd let her. If it's too old for her, she'll get stuck (the 1st 3 Harry Potters are much shorter and easier, she might find she struggles to get into this one). If she manages to get into it then she obviously has the reading maturity and personally I would let her get on with it.

We read them all with DD from age 5-7. She has re-read multiple times now. Perfectly fine. They’re amazing, don’t let them be spoilt by the films or someone else getting there first!

I don’t think I’m worried about how ‘scary’ it is as I agree Quirrell and Dementors are pretty terrifying and she had no issues there. Lots of other things we’ve read have had death and other unpleasant themes which she’s taken in her stride, I expect she glosses over them.

Those of you who had DCs who re-read them later. Do you think they regretted reading them young? I started them at 18 when book 4 came out so no personal experience of reading them as a child.

I’m currently reading Azkaban to DD who turned 7 last week. I’ve already told her that we won’t read the others for a few years. Going to do Malory Towers as our bedtime books next.

My just 8yo is reading currently- it's taken about a month of lockdown. (But she's reading about 30min a day only).

I think she has preferred David Walliams as GOF is very long.

The joy of books (compared to films) is that you usually can’t imagine scenes that you have no reference for so they are less traumatic. We are reading DS2 the Harry Potter books at the moment and having the same debate...most of his friends have had them all read to them though or watched the films (which horrifies me far more - the last couple particularly).

SellFridges. Yes. The spoilers!! Someone at school already told her Harry and Ginny get married.

I wouldn't, personally. The themes are fairly mature. I also disagree entirely with the idea expounded upthread that someone who is physically capable of reading something should be allowed to read it, regardless of content.

I don't think reading them would be a huge issue. Generally I think that the motivation to read something is really positive. But there are loads of alternatives, if you want to suggest something else!

I loved the ballet shoes series and if she liked mallory towers she will like them too! The wolves of willoughby chase sequence is one of my all time favourites. Currently reading 'the stolen Lake' to my own children. Swallows and amazons are really good fun, plus would take her a while to get through. What about all the Enid Blyton adventure, secret seven and famous five books. I also enjoy the Diana Wynne Jones books and also Eva ibbotson. Narnia is one of my all time favourites and I read to my dd when she was 6-7, and is now her absolute favourite. She also loves Amelia fang.

I love the 7-11 children's books! I literally could continue suggestions for ever. I do spend a fortune on books though!

My DD had read all of them by the time she was just under 9. The language is simple, the plot isn't complex. I'd let her get on with it. (I was slagged off the last time I said that on a thread as I was being smug apparently) The only part in all the books she found icky was the inferi in the water in Bk 6.
She tried Chrestomanci at about that age but didn't like them (neither did I, I don't get the love for DWJ at all) loved Narnia and Phillip Pullman and started Shadowhunters at around the same time.
Narnia and The Hobbit are written in beautiful English, which can be a bit off-putting for tiddlers.
I'd still give them a go though.

I read this book when I was 7. It’s not scary at all! She should be fine

@LouHotel

What about the younger Jacqueline Wilson books?

Double trouble, breakfast kid....

These are brilliant I loved them as a child!

I've read GoF to my 7yo, she enjoyed it. Her reading isn't quite up to reading it to herself yet, but if your dd is then I'd say go for in. My 9yo is just finishing the last one I had thought the older ones might be less enjoyable to read due to the mote mature themes, but she has been glued to them.

I read them all when the Deathly Hallows came out as I refused to buy into the hype before
Obviously, I've read all of them about twenty times now. When I'm wrong, I'll admit it!

My 7 year old is on the last few chapters of Goblet of Fire. He has really taken to the series since lock down. He flew through the first 3 books and has spent 5 or 6 weeks on this one. I had read 1-4 to him and his sister previously. He takes a break and reads something else if it gets too stressful. He is keen to start no 5 after

I absolutely loved reading as a child. I was about your daughters age when I started reading Harry Potter. I remember laying there in bed with a torchlight staying up late as I couldn’t put them down! I probably didn’t take as much in as I would have if I’d started them older but it was when they came out. So I’d say let her read it.
My copy of goblet of fire is falling apart I’ve read them so many times 😊
I also enjoyed Narnia, Enid Blyton (has she read the Twins at St Claire’s as well as MT?). I think I was a couple of years older when I started reading Jaqueline Wilson. Also loved Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, Little Women. Probably a year or two older as well.

My DD read the first three HP books at 8. She tried number 4, but did not get in with it. She then read the Charlie Bone books by Jenny Nimmo and was hooked. She was also.hooked on the Crestomanci books already mentioned.b

I would let her, but I don't really understand restricting books. It's a children's book, what could be the problem?

My own nearly 7yo dd has the reading ability but not the attention span, she's started the first book but her heart currently belongs to jacqueline Wilson. Some of her books are 400 pages long op and my dd has reread the entire Tracey beaker series 3 or 4 times during lockdown!

I myself read all sorts of inappropriate stuff when I was younger, I just glossed over what I didn't understand. Harry Potter is absolutely fine and not remotely inappropriate. I think if she's scared she'll stop reading.

There’s nothing worse than being half way through a series and not being able to finish it and find out what happens. I’d let her read them personally. And to PP mentioning Charlotte’s Web - that’s far more harrowing and upsetting! Yes to ballet shoes and the rest of the ones in the same series, try the Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, the What Katy Did series too. But I think if she’s interested in reading then let her read what she wants, if she gets scared she’ll stop.

I'd let her read them. I was the same at her age and read almost every book my parents owned and I'm still an avid reader who loves to reread everything. I read the All Creatures Great and Small series aged 7 and The Lord of the Rings at 9. I read Dick Francis murder mysteries in primary school interspersed with Enid Blyton. My parents respected my ability to put a book down if it wasn't right for me but let me discover that on my own. I think reading is such a personal activity that I would have hated to be told I couldn't read something. I can remember getting up at 5am to buy the Goblet of Fire and not stopping reading until I had finished. I can't begin to imagine knowing it was in the house and I wasn't allowed to read it!!