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.

I loved the Hobbit as a child but didn’t read LOTR until I was early teens, or maybe 12.
DS is a very able reader in year 9 and he loves fantasy but has just finished FOTR recently. It was just too heavy going before, even though I told him to skip Tom Bombadil 🤣

Yep!

Small children, OTOH, presumably depend on care from their parents, their librarians, etc. Tiffany Aching, anyone?

There's nothing "unsuitable" but the LotR has a much higher "reading age" because of the denseness of the prose and deliberately rich linguistic style. The Hobbit was specifically written for children with more accessible language but tLotR was written very much as an adult thing partly as an academic exercise to envision what might become like the Holy Scriptures for that civilisation. At times it is like reading the OT book of Deuteronomy or Leviticus and deliberately so. Tolkein was a Professor of English Language and one of his works is a translation of Beowulf from Old English into Modern English, and there's passages in LotR where he is clearly trying to mimic the style of Beowulf - I would say if she can tackle Beowulf (in an Adult-audience edition, not abridged and adapted for a child) then she might be ready for LotR but most 8 year olds would not be ready.

The films are good but only cover a fraction of the story - each film is only 3 hours long but each unabridged book takes at least 11 hours if you listen to the audiobook

I read the lord of the rings first when I was in my late teens. Absolutely loved it, but it is so dense It took me about 9 months to read it. I cried when I finished.

I then went on to read the Hobbit and it was so basic in comparison. I rushed through it and was just really disappointed in how different it was in style and story telling. .

I think it would be too much for an 8yo personally

OMG the elvish singing. I can't put up with that kind of nonsense. I have a younger sibling who would insist that we not skip any elvish singing, or dwarf songs in the Hobbit and it was excruciating. My view was: if you can read well enough to notice me skipping it, you can sodding well read it yourself.

Anyway, I still think it's fine for 8 year olds to read pretty much anything they feel motivated to, because most of the unsuitable stuff goes over their heads, and if they get bored, they stop.

I first read LOTR aged 10 . I still have the copy I was given on my 10th birthday aeons ago , now very battered ( me as well ). Read it countless times, loved it then and still love it now, though I can see the flaws. I’m a fan of letting children pretty much read what they like. Let her try and if she struggles tell to try again in a couple of years. Loads of good alternatives on this thread.

I agree with the person who recommended Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series.

I loved it as a child - and still do!

I read it at that age and loved it. There were a few bits that I didn't 'get' until I reread as an adult.

For you Dark is Rising fans, there's a nice adaptation the BBC did at Christmas a couple of years ago, it's what got my son into reading the books:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvp7?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

OMG not the Deptford Mice it’s fucking terrifying, really horrific. Cute animals murdering their siblings, diseased creatures who eating off their own fingers :-0 absolutely horrible.

how about some Diana Wynne Jones instead?!

Also the LOTR is loooong and the dwarf songs, Tom Bombadil and whatnot are highly tedious. If she’s into that world you could watch the movies with her because the dwarf songs are not too bad when used as background music! but I can’t remember if they are suitable are for an 8yo.

Yikes the Weirdstone of Brisingamen- brilliant but also bloody terrifying. The bit in the mine shaft :-o read it in broad daylight as an adult and still my blood ran cold, never ever could consider going caving after reading that! <shivers>

I first attempted to read it at about 11 and struggled, tried again at 13 and got a bit bored, then picked it up again at 15 and absolutely loved it. Maybe I was a late developer but blimey all those reading it at 7 and 8 please tell me you were just skimming a lot of the detailed passages or at least missing much of the nuance? Feeling very inadequate 😅

The Box of Delights might be good. I didn't read that until I was an adult - can't now remember whether I saw the classic BBC adaptation first, or read the book, but they're both great.

I don't know if they're still in print but when my son was about 8 or 9 he and many of his friends were very into The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Beautiful illustrations which are an essential part of the books, not just an add on.

I also loved the Hobbit, and aged 11 got really bogged down in LOTR (in fact I realised 15 years later when we listened to the radio series that I hadn't actually finished it).

Consequently I attempted to discourage S1 from reading it age 8, to no avail. He had no trouble at all (and technically he wasn't as good a reader as I was even at the same age).

Years later he interrupted my well-rehearsed spiel about the bleak grey stoniness of bleak grey stony Mordor (the point at which I gave up) with "Mum! It's about half a page!"😄

I remember another school mother telling me that her son, in Yr6 at the time, told her he'd spent breaktimes playing Lord of the Rings "with the little guys" in Yr3 - he was dyslexic but had really enjoyed her reading it to him.

Oh, and they watched the films before S2 was 12. Not sure exactly when, but I know the original plan was to wait till 12 but then we decided it wasn't necessary.

I second the Chronicles of Prydain (The Book of Three etc). Also the Dark Is Rising sequence.

For something slightly more aimed at the younger reader, Carbonel by Barbara Sleigh and sequels. The Last of the Dragons by E Nesbit.

Some of my DC read LotR at around that age and enjoyed. Not read the full thread but they also loved the Eragon series.

She needs the Five Realms series by Kieran Larwood. I'm a big fantasy fan myself and reading it to my son (slightly younger but there are quite complex themes) has been an experience we've both loved. Do not be fooled by it being about rabbits!

We also read The Hobbit together, I've read LotR but there's a bit too much lore and Tom Bombadil singing for a kid I think

It's always amused me that Elrond is this big serious Elven chief in LOTR, and meanwhile the elves in the Hobbit are busily singing fa la la lally and other such nonsense 😂

The dwarven songs read more like poetry, I can cope with them alright, and agree the films did a superb job with converting it to music. I really should seek out the "book cut" of the Hobbit films, without any of that nonsense with Radogast or Kili's romantic adventures. I think it might be on YouTube 🤔

I absolutely hate the Hobbit films (love LOTR films). So so over long.

I devoured it at 6, but was a precocious brat. 11ish would be more typical.

Eragon and the series that follows it is a cracking read.

Just let her try. I don't understand trying to put kids off because it is hard. Sadly by ten lots of kids have given up on reading.

My son and I both read it about that age and loved it. There was a lot I appreciated more as I got older but there was more than enough to hook me! My son needed a little encouragement at a few difficult points so we read with him for a chapter or so and then he picked up and sailed on alone. I would say it really repays reading aloud - Tolkien uses a lot of poetic techniques like alliteration and rhythm in his prose that you just don't always appreciate when reading silently.

Lots of good suggestions here including the other Tolkien books like Farmer Giles (though definitely not The Children of Hurin, very dark!), Diana Wynne Jones, Eoin Colfer, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper.

The only issue I ever had with Lord of the Rings was my dad telling me it was going to be so hard for me to read so I didn’t bother for years! I actually loved it but admittedly I’m sure I was in secondary school when I got around to it. So she probably is a bit young for it but if she’s a voracious reader she needs to have the option and I don’t think you should put her off as she might just assume the book is too long and boring and not try. And it’s a wonderful book.