How old for Stephen King? (or other scary books)

[JamAtkins]

I've never read a Stephen King book so I have no idea but DD has asked if she can read one (non specific). She is just 13, in Y8, and relatively mature but is a 'reluctant reader'. Are there any Stephen King (or similar) books that are suitable for her age? I mainly mean in terms of scaring the shit out of her but also are they difficult as her reading is not great

Stephen King's writing can be verrrry descriptive so she might struggle in that sense. Sometimes I find myself skimming certain chapters.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon might be a good start for her. I think I read that one when I was a similar age.

What about Point Horror books? Are those still a thing?

I read most of them from 11ish onwards. From memory I would avoid Geralds Game but i know I definitely read IT and the stand quite early on.

I wouldn't read them now but I'm a wuss.

DD (nearly 12yo) is asking to read The Shining and I've agreed but not sure how she'll find the language yet. I was reading Stephen King at the same age.

Only thing to watch out for is adult themes in some of the books.

Other books your DD might enjoy are The Demonata Series by Darren Shan, Coraline and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman or The Point Horror books which can be picked up quite cheap on Amazon.

Personally think Stephen King should be left till DD is older. Whether the reading level is too difficult or not isnt really the issue. In my opinion the themes of the books can be very sinister i think for a child to read alone at night by themelseves etc.

I asked this about a month ago, same age DD, consensus was no but lots of good alternative suggestions, search for the thread

From memory (haven't read any since my teens) there's a fair amount of pretty graphic sex as well as disturbing horror stuff in some Stephen King novels..

Ps what about the Twilight series? Easy reading, very addictive, horror element but very much at teen level.

Eyes of the Dragon is a good SK book to start with and was written for young teens.

Thanks all. I will check out the recommendations and the other thread

I have just begun re-reads get some Stephen King (I originally read them aged 14-16) but I am shocked at how casually racist they are (n-word, "blacks", all sorts that is very shocking to me now) and also how juvenile the sex is (though obviously your DD is juvenile!)