Harry Potter - what age?

[polkadottytotty]

Hi all

Just wondered at what age did you start reading the Harry Potter series to your DC?
My DS is 6 in October and was thinking of getting him the first book to start reading to him but not sure if he would appreciate it quite yet.
He's bright and has a good imagination - we've read most of Roald Dahl and reading How to Train your Dragon at the moment and he has loved those.

cripes, 6 yr olds reading Potter.

Perfectly fine for a six or seven year old in my opinion. The last three books are definitely darker, so I'd advise caution with those, but the first few are great for children.

I was in Year 3(I'm in 6th form now...) when I started reading them, and was instantly captivated. I read the majority of them between the ages of six and eleven. If they can read, and they want to read HP, then let them.

I'm with pointydog on this one. The trouble with these giant tomes is that children miss out on so much else that is out there and that is frankly miles better. We seem to have ended up with copies of most of the HPs, but I don't even keep them on the shelf because they take up too much space, are disconcertingly fat and awkward, and I'm not keen on the girls spending their relatively limited reading time on something so long.

On the subject of better books, we recently discovered Ruth Thomas - her "the Runaways" which won the Guardian award in the mid 90s about a couple of misfit 11 year olds who find a stash of money in an old house and then go on the run with a pair of tents, is well worth reading. The characters were brilliantly drawn. Or for fantasy, Marianne Stott - e.g. her "The Mirror Image Ghost" was good I thought.

Depends on the child, I'd say. Dd was a fast and avid reader, so no risk of her reading being swamped by Harry Potter (she read the Lord of the Rings too).

But I would say they are not the best books for reading aloud- as others have said, the prose style is not the greatest.

I did read the first volume to dd, but after that I let it be known that I would buy the books but not read them aloud.

Far better authors for reading aloud imo are Mary Norton (Bedknobs and Broomsticks is very well written), Noel Streatfield (Ballet Shoes reads well), E. Nesbit (if your dc does not find her too wordy).

Now, I found E Nesbit very hard going to read aloud - much too wordy - better IMO for reading alone.

Currently reading Diana Wynne Jones, I find her prose style good for reading out loud, & her stories move fast, so even in 20 mins a night you get plenty of plot :)

Takver,

I love Diana Wynne Jones. DD1 thinks she's boring, DD2 loves her too - so DD2 (7) is currently reading 'Witch Week' and loving it. DD1 is a big HP fan, has 'Goblet of Fire' as her school reading book and is whizzing through it (alongside a lot of other books too).
Going to try DD2 on 'The magicians of Caprona' and 'The Pinhoe Egg' next (she didn't get on with 'Conrad's Fate' and I can see why). Diana Wynne Jones is lovely for eading out loud, but I have to read to both of them.

Truth be told I'm currently reading Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series to them out loud - now he really is a joy to do. (though I'm a bit worried about the most recent one, it's very dark in places, starting off with MAJOR domestic violence, going onto attempted suicide - beautifully done, but hmmmm).

Agree that Nesbit is wordy, but the style is still good, not many words out of place. Which is very different to Rowling, with her repetitive stereotyped language: you really hear the stylistic defects when you read aloud.

Very interesting thread. I have one DS who is 9 and is just progressing from the dreadful Horrid Henry/DirtyBertie stage. I have been looking forward to him getting into HP but he keeps telling me he is not ready yet! Haven't seen any of the films yet either.

He is currently working his way through a lot of the Michael Morpurgo books at school and seems to be enjoying them. I just wish he would read more. I was constantly stuck into a book at that age. But I didn't have the distractions he does.

I would say 8 yrs is about right to start with the HP books, or 7 yrs if they're really keen. The last three books I wouldn't think were appropriate for the under-11's, not just because of the scariness factor but because the ideas in them are quite complex. They do dominate the bookshelves with their sheer bulk and can dominate time-wise because they are so lengthy, when other books are missed out on. I found them tedious to read aloud, and gave up by Book Six.

D Wynne Jones is great for reading aloud. Not just the Chrestomanci books but The Homeward Bounders, Howl..., Black Maria, Eight Days of Luke, Fire & Hemlock (just reading that to a 12 yr old because it's too complex otherwise), and The Ogre Downstairs is a hoot (the toffee bars esp.)

pointythings - your dd1 has no taste :) I'm currently reading The Lives of Christopher Chant to dd, and she's just finished Witch Week herself (as I've posted before, she doesn't like anything too tense for her bedtime story, which is a bit limiting on what I can read out loud given that I like either plenty of plot and action or something funny!).

I think next I might try some more Just William for a change, dd wasn't so keen last time I tried them, but I'm hoping that they'll appeal more now she's a bit older.

@DandyDan,

I love Fire & Hemlock, it's one of my favourite books, but agree definitely wait until they're older. I've got some of the raelly old DWJ books (70s editions and all) sitting in the bookcase waiting their turn - Power of Three, Wilkins' Tooth, Eight Days of Luke, Dogsbody, Ogre Downstairs - the toffeebars still make me laugh out loud). My mum still has both the Howl books so will have to threaten her a bit to get them back...