I need some age recommendations- war horse, his dark materials etc

[hoolies]

Can anyone tell me roughly what ages these books are suitable for? Any info appreciated, I know this is a long list and I don't expect one poster to provide all the answers! Thanks in advance

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
Skellig- David Almond
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- John Boyne
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
Artemis Fowl- Eoin Colfer
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe
My Family and Other Animals- Gerald Durrell
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison
Diary of Anne Frank- Anne Frank
Iron Man- Ted Hughes
Stig of the dump- Clive King
War Horse- Michael Morpurgo
Tom's midnight garden- Phillipa Pierce
Uncle Montague's tales of Terror- Chris Priestly
His Dark Materials Trilogy- Philip Pullman
Holes- Louis Sachar
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D Salinger
Frankenstein- Mary Shelley
It was a Dark and Silly Night- Art Speigelman
Maus - Art Speigelman
The Hundred mile an hour dog- Jeremy Strong
Secret Diary of Adrian Mole- Sue TownsendTalking Turkeys- Benjamin Zephaniah

That should be:

Secret Diary of Adrian Mole- Sue Townsend
Talking Turkeys- Benjamin Zephaniah

Well, I can give you when ds1(13)and/or ds2(10) read most of them if that helps?

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams 10
Skellig- David Almond 11
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas- John Boyne never - bloody awful book and certainly not a children's book

Artemis Fowl- Eoin Colfer 9
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe 10
My Family and Other Animals- Gerald Durrell 10

Stig of the dump- Clive King 8
War Horse- Michael Morpurgo 9
Tom's midnight garden- Phillipa Pierce 8

His Dark Materials Trilogy- Philip Pullman 10-11
Holes- Louis Sachar 9
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D Salinger 13

The Hundred mile an hour dog- Jeremy Strong 6
Talking Turkeys- Benjamin Zephaniah 12

DD did the Iron Man and Stig of the Dump in Yr 3 (7/8 yo) iirc.

Ahh thank you!

Why such strong feelings about TBITSP?
I know it's riddled with inaccuracies which creates some problems as it's quite a 'realist' book otherwise

Basildon's ages all look reasonable, though My Family.. could be a year or two earlier perhaps? and I'd put Hitchhiker a year or two later.
Frankenstein at least 13 I'd say (readability not content).
Adrian Mole 12 I reckon - it's all about the adult perspective so would be lost on a younger child.

A Clockwork Orange????

Have never read the book but can't imagine it's for children of any age

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - teenage
Skellig - David Almond - dunno
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne - not for children
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess - see above!
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer - suspect Y5/6 but haven't read
Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - never read it, no idea!
My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell - teenage (lovely book but fairly dense text & adult themes)
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison - no idea
Diary of Anne Frank - Anne Frank - older teenage
Iron Man - Ted Hughes - teenage
Stig of the dump - Clive King - I read at about 9
War Horse - Michael Morpurgo - dunno
Tom's midnight garden - Philippa Pierce - older primary
Uncle Montague's tales of Terror - Chris Priestly - never heard of this one
His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman - first 2 Y5/6, 3rd one older I think
Holes - Louis Sachar - not read
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger - older teenager
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley - older teenager
It was a Dark and Silly Night- Art Speigelman
Maus - Art Speigelman no idea for either!
The Hundred mile an hour dog - Jeremy Strong - Y5/6 I think
Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - Sue Townsend - mid teens
Talking Turkeys - Benjamin Zephaniah - dunno

My family and other animals would be hard work for an average 8 yo imho - I think Basildon's 10 yo is more accurate.

A lot of these could be read earlier, but not properly appreciated IMHO

I'm not a good person to ask because i (uniquely as far as I can see) believe in children putting off reading the more intende}adult" themed books, like TBIYSP and War Horse, and cifficult to read "Classics" like Robinson Crusoe until as late as possible. Just becuase they can read a book doesn't mean they should.

I presume you slipped A Clockwork Orange in there to make sure we were paying attention?

Ha Ponders I wasn't planning on giving it to a 6 year old, don't worry! More like is it suitable for a fifteen year old or a seventeen year old iyswim.

Boy in the striped pyjamas seems to be meeting with quite a lot of resistance!

We did My Family and Other Animals as a read aloud, judiciously edited when the dcs were 6 and 11. But we have a very posh, eccentric and in some cases,"foreign" extended family, so they could, to my shame, recognize lots of it! I think it would go right over theheads of a lot of modern children. Sadly, because it is very funny indeed.

Lol @ "paying attention". The language in clockwork o is incredible and the film is actually much more violent than the book IMO.

Realise these books are for a real mixed age range. V. Interested in age suitability more than anything else as I tend to be more liberal about these things than others.

*within reason!

i am very liberal too - in that I don't ever censor and and the book shelves are there for them to help themselves from. But I do try to "steer". I think that there are so many wonderful children's books around it's a shame to move on too soon. I also think that reading some books too young spoils them a bit. You can have the reading ability but not the emotional maturity to really understand what's going on.

Mmm I see where you're coming from, but I would never hold dc back from anything if I thought they could deal with it. It's good for them to learn about the world and not wrap them in cotton wool. Plus it's interesting for them- if they're intelligent enough to deal with war horse there's no point restricting them to, say, the hundred mile an hour dog- they'll find the limitations dull and lose interest in Reading.

There's nothing to say you can't have a mix of stuff, either- I think say, Enid Blyton and Anne Frank could happily be read at the same time in the right child. Moving on to new stuff doesn't necessarily mean leaving the old stuff behind. Even today, I can read Virginia Woolf one week and sit down with dd's jacqueline Wilson the next.

But I don't want to push dc's further than they are ready iyswim

I loved Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, but didn't read it until I was an adult. I would have thought age 16 minimum for the reader to really grasp the complexity of the book and to identify with the main character.

A Clockwork Orange - sixth form, I think.

Please don't make them read Robinson Crusoe. I was an adult and I hated it to bits. As for the others, why not just leave the books on the bookshelf and let them help themselves? They'll soon figure out which ones are too hard/beyond them - and they can alway re-read them. Even as an adult you never really read the same book the same way twice. Probably why I never tire of teaching Hamlet and why I've sometimes ended up teaching teh same poem to year 7 and 13.

I can tell you more or less what my kids have done and when, BUT, nowadays, I am more of a mind that there are some things that need to be left until children are a bit older because many of the themes are not really suitable and also because their wee brains miss so much because they don't have the level of understanding required. Various kids have read all of these at one time or another, so my informed opinion is:

Hitchhikers 12/13 or so
Skellig - was set text for DS1 in 2nd year, so about 12
BITSP - not really a children's book, tbh,
Clockwork Orange - definitely an adult book, I read it in last year of secondary, as did DS1
Artemis Fowl - 8 and up (best books for boys I have EVER read, DS1 is 20 and in 3rd year of an MSci Hons and still reads these)
Robinson Crusoe - 12 or so
My Family - teenage (grown up themes)
Invisible Man - 15 or 16 at the earliest, or it just escapes you.
Anne Frank - if you want to read the whole thing, slightly older teenager (boys often find it embarrassing and there are clear sexual themes etc.)
Iron Man - perhaps about 8 or 9, but you get much more from it if you are older
Stig - 9 or so.

War Horse - early teenage
Tom's Midnight Garden - set text for 11 year olds here
Uncle Montague - 12 or so, DS2 used to love Chris priestly
Dark MAterials - 1st one from around 10/11 (DS1 read when about 8 but missed most of the significant stuff until reread much later) other 2 are definitely teenage books, especially the last one which is really almost an adult book.
Holes 10 and up, you get more from this one if you are a bit older, as well, and know a bit about civil rights and whatnot.
Catcher - teenage (was a set text for higher english when I was at school so 16 year olds) younger kids cannot relate to it at all.
Art spiegelmann - see, I would put these with the manga stuff, so although reading level is about 10 or so, thematically they require a lot more maturity. I would say definitely teenage books, maybe even older teenagers of 16 or so.
Frankenstein - Ds1 was about 15 when he read this, as was DS2, none of the others have tried it yet. It is heavy going as are things like Dracula, Jekyll and Hide...
HMAHD - all 5 of my kids loved this at about 6 or 7 years
Adrian Mole - mid teens, younger kids just don't get it.
Talking Turkeys - I would reckon at least 12, you get much, much more out of this if you are a bit older. Benjamin Zephaniah was on the reading list for DS1's 2nd last year at school as part of the literature analysis stuff.

Like seeker, I think that there are so many really good, age appropriate book for children that there is no need to push them on to things that they are not really ready or able to appreciate. Much better to widen their scope within kids books and save the other stuff for later.