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.

My 8 year old isn’t such an advanced reader so I’m reading them to him, but he’s nearly halfway through the last book. He wasn’t fazed at all by the deaths in the previous books and I’ve just read him a pretty scary bit and he was fine.

I agree that he won’t have picked up all the nuances in the plot but I’m sure he’ll reread them again when he’s older. He’s already had some spoilers from kids at school so I’m not too worried about him missing out by reading them now without fully understanding them.

Also we’ve been to Harry Potter world and he loved that - it was really magical for him at this age and I wouldn’t have wanted him to have seen the films before reading the books (he’s allowed to watch each film after finishing that book)

Meh, I remember STUFFING GoF into my book bag in yr3 when it first came out.
I don’t remember if I managed to finish it / if I necessarily had total comprehension of the whole book.
I know that I read The Hobbit when I was around 8/9 and my comprehension wasn’t there. I could read all the words but didn’t necessarily follow the whole story. I still enjoyed reading it though and re-read it when I was older.

My mum let me read pretty much anything though.

I read them at 11 and I think that was a better age where I could fully understand and enjoy it.

There’s nothing worse than being half way through a series and not being able to finish it and find out what happens.

It's a good lesson in patience though, in a now, now, now culture where we don't really have to wait for anything anymore- you can generally binge wage entire series at once. I read them when they came out originally and had to wait in between books because they'd not been written yet. Frustrating, yes, but the books aged with me. I think it's a good series to space out.

I’m very much of the belief with books that what you don’t understand goes over your head. I was a big reader of literally anything I could get my hands on from about aged 6.5-7 and some of it, looking back, wasn't age inappropriate but it didn’t do anything bad to me (except make me into an English teacher 🤷🏼‍♀️). I’d let her read them- books don’t have the same scarring affect as, say, an inappropriate film where the images stay in your mind.

*binge watch not binge wage

I allowed up to book 4 only until Dd was 8, don't know if that was the right decision, but she certainly enjoyed reading the later ones very much at 8, so I think on the whole it was better to wait a little.

Let her read it. It’s a kids book not a porno.
Surprised the terf post hasn’t been stomped on yet.

I’d let her read them- books don’t have the same scarring affect as, say, an inappropriate film where the images stay in your mind.

Depends on the mind in question. The books I've read stay with me a lot more than the films. My mother thought that books shouldn't be censored- reading erotic scenes from adult books in primary school screwed me up for years. Not a risk with HP, but the reason why I think the content of books is important when selecting readers for kids.

Book 3 is scarier than a lot of them surely? I mean,that's where the dementors come in.

I think book 5 might be too much for a 7 year old though though because Sirius dies (I think that's book 5...?).

Ballet Shoes starts with the children witnessing the disruption of their idyllic family life in a horrific way.

My sister didn't let the Tracy Beaker books near her daughter for several years because she didn't want to point out that some people abandon their chidren.

(One of my nephews didn't like watching Thomas because of all the accidents...)

My older son read the last HP book a couple of weeks after it was published - we get them from the library which makes things a lot cheaper, though obviously not helpful right now... That would make him (quick check) 7years 8months. He read LoTR around the same time (against my advice, purely because I'd got bogged down with it and never actually finished the thing).

Surprised the terf post hasn’t been stomped on yet.

Considered it but couldn't be bothered. Plus it would undoubtedly lead to a massive derail and no one ever comes out of those well.

She’ll be fine, give her the books if she’s already read the first three. Would also recommend famous five, ‘the adventure’ books, and St Claire’s by Enid blyton, I thought Chrestomanci was meh in comparison to HP.

WE NEED AN EDIT FUNCTION

ooops, ignore me on Ballet Shoes - I was thinking of Ballet Shoes for Anna which is totally different

My DD is 8 and has read all seven books. She wasn't frightened and worried by them. She loved them and I dare say she will enjoy rereading them when she's a bit older.

I can’t really comment on HP (not read any of them!) and I don’t have kids, but I am a voracious reader and as a child devoured anything I could get my hands on. My favourites I still read at least once a year, and top of the list is the Green Knowe series by Lucy M Boston. Username sort of gives it away!

It sounds like your daughter enjoys the magical, mysterious sort of books — even I know what HP is about, ha — and I would highly recommend The Children of Green Knowe. An old house, an eccentric grandmother, the companionable ghosts of children long-dead...it’s wonderful, and there’s so much to discover by, and about, the author that your daughter might find a life-long love for LMB like I did!

That went a bit off-topic :) but for what it’s worth, at that age I read stuff that I probably shouldn’t have done (my mum’s bookshelf was full of weirdness), thoroughly enjoyed it and I don’t think it’s done me any harm. Probably...

I think most good children’s books have an element of the sad or the sinister, and they’re the ones we remember for ever.

I think people my age had it best - first book in yr 5, then read as they released throughout my teen years! Unrealistic now they're all out. I think to understand the moody teenager bits of book 5 would make more sense at an older age? It depends if you mean wait so she's older and less scared (I reckon she'll handle it) or if you want her to wait to appreciate it more for being closer in age to the characters?

I really enjoyed the (hundreds) of Enid blyton stories my mum had at that age. I read pretty much every book she published. I also loved Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, as well as Artemis Fowl and the Dianne Wynne Jones books mentioned here. I also started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was about that age.

I got very freaked out by the first Harry Potter when I was about 6. I stayed up late, read about the first 10 chapters all in one go and then was terrified and then refused to read them til I was 11. Absolutely loved them when I started them again though. I was quite a highly strung child at 6 though, and more laid back by 11.

I would let her, but maybe check in with where she is and avoid the later part of the book at bedtime, just in case.

OP - You mentioned missing the library in your post - our library cards give us access to borrowbox which we have downloaded onto our eldests (DD9) kindle. You can download six books at a time which has been great! Definitely worth a look if she is keen for new reading material

My dd is 5 and dh reads HP to her before bed, she loves it and is on to book 5 now. She hasn't been phased by any of the content, dh will stop and talk to her about things to make sure she understands and isn't scared but she's been fine. She is completely engrossed in the whole universe, it's quite sweet that she's so taken and shares it with dh (I'm not a fan, find it a bit meh).

I personally would let your dd read it, just check in and chat to her about it.

I'd let her but also try her with Diana Wynne Jones, hilary mckay, Anne fine, Laura ingalls wilder, and some of the other classics from people like noel streatfield, Arthur ransome. Things like freaky Friday, no more school and Mary plain also went down well with my nieces at that age. I also agree with the people that said you tend not to notice the inappropriate stuff when you're young. (provided it's reasonably subtle of course 😊). I first read murder must advertise by Dorothy l sayers at 7 and can still remember being really surprised by the drugs and sex references when I reread it as a teenager.

I was 12 when I read the first three books, and had to then wait (sometimes for a few years) for each book to be published. So I would feel no sympathy making her wait

My daughter sounds similar, we read them all together and finished them when she was about 7, she's now re reading them on her own and is on the second to last one (can't remember what it's called!), she's 8. She loves reading and her vocabulary is amazing, she wants to be a writer, I just think that it's good that she is so into reading...my son on the other hand, not so much!! I held off on the later films until lockdown but she has watched them all now, the most shocking thing was Mrs Weasley calling Bellatrix Lestrange a bitch

My DS is quite sensitive and easily scared, he read up to the end of 4 when he was 7. The books are good for him imo, because Harry is guided through difficult events by trusted adults who explain and support him. Many parents don't bat an eyelid about their kids shooting people up in computer games, at least in HP death is treated as a serious topic. I'm holding off on 5 though which I remember as quite dark. I don't agree that these are books for teenagers - yes the characters are teenagers, but the target audience is younger.

I'm clearly a terrible mother my eldest, now 9 had read all the HP books and seen the films at around 7 or 8. He does have a fabulous imagination and a much older reading age. He understands the difference between real life and fantasy. Only you know if your child would understand and enjoy.

Neither of my children get scared or worried by films or books, I realise this is probably not the norm and consider myself lucky.