Is Lord of the Rings ok for an 8 year old?

[Greenpeanutsnail]

My DD is reading the Hobbit and so far thinks it is the best book she has ever read. She wants to read Lord of the Rings next. Despite loving reading, I’ve never managed to get into Lord of the Rings. I’ve heard it’s a bit more grown up than the Hobbit. Is there anything unsuitable about Lord of the Rings for an 8 year old? I thought here would be a good place to ask! Thank you.

It’s a denser and more difficult read than The Hobbit, but there’s nothing in it content-wise that’s inappropriate for a child, so there’s no reason she shouldn’t give it a try.

I think it’s more likely to be boring than upsetting. My husband read them to my son when he was around 6 and now at 9 he’s read them again and watched the movie several times. My older daughter finds the books boring and the movies too scary so it’s super kid dependent.

This was just one of my beefs with the films, I thought the Barrow Wights encounter important. I feel Frodo's particular experience here has a cumulative affect on his health along with the knife wound, the burden of the ring and all the other trauma he experiences, it's why he can't find peace once back in the Shire - which is another problem for me, I felt the Scouring needed to be in the film, but obviously there wasn't enough time

Edited to add another gripe with the films

My 8 year old is currently loving the Artemis Fowl series plus the Fowl Twins sequels. Less of a historical feel and more technology but still fantasy.
Some sad/dark bits but no more than Harry Potter I would say.

I agree with the others - I am a big reader but struggled to get through LOTR as an adult because of the very lengthy descriptions of landscapes etc - I think I'd even already watched the films by then so knew the characters and storyline which helped to keep track of what was happening.

@Brefugee I probably need to read the Bombadil bit again, as I have been listening to the audiobook for ages and Andy Serkis does the most annoying sing-song voice for Bombadil which just hypes up my rage. It is a shame the wights were left out but perhaps they would have ended up too similar to the Nazgul and it would have been confusing. There is also the rather problematic bit where TB tells the hobbits to run around naked to warm up

Treebeard also annoys me a bit with all the faffing and "hoom-ing" and "Let us not be hasty" stuff, and he lets bloody Saruman go as well!

I'd love to hear Goldberry's story, and to know what Farmer Maggot gets up to in the Old Forest, and how Frodo's parents really died, and what was so remarkable about the Old Took's three daughters. Should probably get out more

Could she try the Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchet. My Hobbit lover also loved these at a similar age.

My dad read it TO me starting from 8. It took a while! I loved it.
I'd say independent reading through more like 10 for a good reader. It's not a kids book as such but definitely fine for early teenagers and maybe a bit younger.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am making a long list. She is really enjoying Harry Potter too.

I read LOTR around ten, introduced by my brother, and have been a nerd ever since, it would depend on her reading capabilities. It does get rather wordy and high faluting in places.
second theDark is Rising series.
hated Dark Materials, what a depressing set of books.
Think you can read Narnia without being aware of the Christian undertones,

On other books...

Joan Aiken is incredible for this age and up, and much more accessible. Tons of books.

For something newer, the Nowhere Emporium series.

Audiobooks my 8 year old likes a Secret Garden, Peter Pan, Little House on the Prarie series, Howls Moving Castle and other Diana Wynne Jones, Gobbolino, A Wrinkle in Time, the Hilda series (which is also v good on netflix).
Some of these including great new adaptations are on Audible Plus so are free with membership, or you get 15hrs free with Spotify Premium.

My 10yr old who is a pretty advanced reader is on His Dark Materials and loving it.
He's also enjoying The Dark is Rising and the Lockwood Series, and Percy Jackson.

Also A Wizard of Earthsea which is a good one to read aloud as quite dense. And Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

For others for kids who love fantasy - My kids both loved Terry Pratchett wee free men. My son is obsessed with the Skandar series and any books about dragons - reading Dragon Force right now.

And also there’s Pratchett’s ‘bromeliad trilogy’, Truckers, Diggers and Wings (I’ve dusted off an old user name ).

Everyone with any sense loves Pratchett 😍 I really should suggest DD1 gives him a go. DD2 loves the Carpet People, she'll be old enough for Discworld soon enough.

DD1 is 11 and very much enjoys the Hunger Games books too. More dystopia than fantasy, but they're an easy and engaging read, and DD1 enjoys that they don't have formulaic nearly wrapped-up happy endings.

Dragons reminded me of the book series Dragonriders of ROAR which have also been very popular here.

I would try Alan Garner's "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen " - I think it's first of a trilogy, or at least the "The Moon of Gomrath" was published shortly afterwards and has the same characters. . I loved The Hobbit and I loved those.
Also "The Dark is Rising" Susan Cooper.

Personally I would let her try LOTR but also let her put it back on the shelf for later if it becomes heavy weather. I read it at 9 but I did skip over a lot of the Elvish singing etc. TBH I am in my 60s now and I would still skip over all those bits.

Absolutely. Terry Pratchet is a genius and all you need to do is pick the entry-level/gateway drug for any particular person.

I suggested an ex-journo friend should try reading The Truth. The next thing I knew, she'd read every single bloody book in the Discworld series.

Yeah!

I second the suggestion for Howl’s Moving Castle, that’s one of my all-time favourites from around that age. I was a precocious reader and enjoyed Northern Lights when I was nine, though I think it took me a couple of years to make it through the second and third books of His Dark Materials.

I read LoTR at this sort of age, following on from the Hobbit. I would warn her its much denser and with a lot more deviations from the main plot and that if she finds it tough going then put it down and come back a year or so later. That is what I did when mine were ploughing through my shelves.

Standard recommendations are for Narnia (although a bit dated) for this age but I was this age or younger when I read the Earthsea trilogy and adored it. I would second Diana Wynne Jones and add in Diane Duane’s “So you want to be a Wizard” series which my DC loved. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper is a fantasy classic which works for this age. More modern writers such as Eoin Colfer were popular with my DC.

The Pratchetts are all readable by children but some are written intentionally for children/young adults. (Bromeliad, Johnny and the Bomb trilogy and the subseries within Discworld labelled the Tiffany Aching adventures). I wouldn’t say the DW series is unsuitable for children but many of the jokes and references will mean more when they are a bit older (although they loved the puns at this age).

Totally agree with this, don’t worry about the writing order or the published reading orders - pick the book which will appeal to that particular reader as the gateway drug and they will go back and work through the rest 😀

@C8H10N4O2 Bit tricky trying to explain Mrs Palm's House of Negotiable Affection and the Ankh-Morpork Seamstresses' Guild to an eight year old 😂

To read!? Ha! No! I was an excellent and prolific reader as a child and I still couldn’t successfully make it through the Lotr until u was an adult, it is an incredibly complex story with multiple story lines, many different characters and some quite arcane language and culture.
There are about a million books more appropriate for a child his age.

I just didn’t and it passed over their heads😀