War Horse

[Department]

To my shame I've never read this book.

DS2 (10yo) was given it as a present and we've been reading it together.

We've only got to chapter 6 but it's had me in tears several times. DS seems unaffected and finds my tears amusing

I'm wondering if we should continue. What do you think? Is it suitable for a 10yo?

We had a discussion tonight about why he doesn't find it as sad as I do. He said he does find it a bit sad, but he knows it didn't really happen "obviously the war happened, but these people never existed"

Perhaps he's better balanced than I am?

Are you me? We are exactly the same. Ds, 10, gets a bit sad at times but it's me that cries! We have only just started it too.

Read "Elephant in my garden" last week and really enjoyed it. Ds found it amazing that I struggled to read through my tears!

Ds loved it last year when he was 5yo. But he is very interested in WWI and WWII, so he already knew a lot of the background. A few tears, but he really loved the story.

His sister otoh (age 9yo) cried so much in the first few chapters she decided not to read any more, despite ds telling her to.

It is fine for a 10yo. Why not let him read it by himself if you are finding it too emotional. It's a 'free reading' book in our Y3 class.

I think it's fine for a 10 year old. DS1 read it this summer at 9.5 and was fine with it. Not his favourite though.

I'd second the comment about 'Elephant in the Garden' - this was one I read out loud to him earlier this year and it was truly traumatic - but excellent all the same, and we both really enjoyed it (despite a few tears). Currently enjoying the 'Ghost of Grania O'Malley' by the same author - less traumatic (so far - haven't finished yet though!) but another excellent story.