Molesworth/1066 and all that: what age for a poor reader?

[joanofarchitrave]

Well, not a terrible reader but a fairly unenthusiastic one. He's 8 and these seem much too old for him at the mo, but I wondered what age others read them at? I might have been 10 or so I think, is that about right? he's very into Asterix at the mo.

I don't think he'll quite get the jokes at 8. Such a lot of half knowledge is assumed, as is understanding of public school teaching.

I think much of the humour of 1066 is wasted on most children below mid-teens, as they won't have heard of a lot of the history & it's not nearly so funny if you haven't

& as any fule kno, Molesworth is better for a child who has a firm grasp of proper spelling

so both not before 11, IMO, & probably best left even longer, which is a shame...

Yes I guess that's right. TBH I think Harry Potter has given a lot of kids a good understanding of that though...

does he watch the Simpsons at all? there are a few cartoon Simpsons books, he might like those

From Asterix, I would go to Mr Gum. I agree you need to be a bit older for Molesworth et al.

I'd agree teenager - maybe 14 or so? If he likes cartoon books, would he like Captain Underpants?

I'm not sure how many children these days would get into Molesworth at all. My son is 12 and at least he's learning Latin which makes it a bit easier. I'd definitely wait for a while and try him with "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (I don't find it particularly funny but at least it gets children reading) and "Horrible Histories" instead.