At what stage do you stop "reading" the books before your children?

[Katymac]

I read roald Dahl before she did, I read Jacqueline Wilson beofre she did, "the boy in strioed PJ's" too

She bought a book home from Guides tonite (2nd time she went) & I want to read it first

When do you stop doing this?
Am I being an over anxious mum?

My dd is already reading the High School musical books! I'm sure that they're really meant for 11+ children.

Most libraries (I wish I could say all) will have someone with experience of children and young people's services picking the stock Katymac. Ideally they will break up the browsing areas into eg Picture Books, Young Readers, Older Children and Teens.

I think you can be fairly confident that your dd will not see anything hugely unsuitable in the children's section, but then again I think Goosebumps are meretricious drivel and our own excellent local library gives them shelf-room .

Trust your dd. Ds brought a Goosebumps home and I resisted heckling or confiscation. Sure enough, he concluded that it was a load of old toss very quickly.

There's a huge shelf devoted to 'Princess stories' and 'Fairy stories' in my library - next to the irritating 'Animal Ark' books. I have to resist the temptation to sweep them all into the bin since I'm sure small girls really do enjoy sacharine literature . I say girls since I've never seen any small boys pay any attention to those shelves!

• I was more worried by my need to read stuff before she does that what I can find for her to read

Checking what she reads isn't that bad then is it? The covers of some of these books combined with the blurb send your heart cold

If she stuck to HSM et al - I'd be happy

Was thinking about what you said: perhaps it's more of a worry with girls because they have their childhoods ripped away from them by all the pressures to get into adolescent stuff too soon.

My ds1 has always read way above his age but we haven't had a problem. I sometimes skim books that he reads.

Katy just stopped checking DGDs books, luckily have a BIG selection of girls books 7-12 as had 5 girls in that age bracket for ages, so bought loads of sets from The book people and read them 1st.

You are being overanxious - I read HP Lovecraft at 10 - it gave me one sleepless night and broadened my vocabulary considerably. Not recommended, but you see my point?

If she has brought it home from guides it will be age appropriate.

To challenge her reading ability, how about some old books, like Cs Lewis, or The Hobbit? None of these deal with the sex and drugs you naturally want to avoid, but are more challenging than typical books aimed at 9 year olds now. Probably a combination of children than not having TV, and older children still doing younger things.

I read the HObbit at 9, and enjoyed it.

Try Anne Of Green Gables, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, what Katy Did, some of the older Enid Blyton (the Malory Towers stuff, and some Famous Five)

My dd is 14 months so we are not at that stage yet....however. I was an avid reader, and I never remember my parents vetting anything I read...and I was an only child of what were pretty protective parents in most ways. I probaby gave myself the heeby jeebies a couple of times, and worried myself about a few adult things (Holocaust etc) before some of my peers, but on the whole it was a life enhancing and broadening experience. I was reading from the adult section at 12, and I wasn't conscious of my mum vetting then, but she may have taken a peek at what I was reading. TBh, she was busy with work and reading her own stack of books. From about 11/12 we used to swap books and my dad would give me his Alistair Maclean/Douglas Reeman war stories to read, and my Mum would pass on thrillers that she had finished.

A bit of a ramble, but the point is, I think you need to relax. She will get a LOT of information that you will not like from friends/tv etc. You cannot control it all and really should be proud of having such a good reader, and ready to chat to her about her books. The most I would do is try passing her books you think she would enjoy.

I read Jane Eyre when I was about 10 and although I didn't understand it (tbh, it makes me angry now) I wasn't too disturbed by it. A lot of the words probably went over my head. I think the TV adaptation around that time got into my psyche more as it was literally in front of me. You could also try your dd on stuff like the Little Women series - again another book that puzzled me at the time.