Comments on: Harry Potter to the Rescue

By: Julie Nilson

Julie Nilson — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:43:45 +0000

My 7-year-old started reading the books this year. At first, she was upset to read that Harry’s parents were killed in a car wreck, but then felt better when it was revealed that they were killed through magical means (since car wrecks are real and magic isn’t, I assume). She plowed through books 1-4 in record time, and wasn’t all that disturbed by the death of Cedric (again, since magic isn’t real). But she started the 5th book and has put it aside for a few weeks, and I’m not sure why–the 5th book is not only darker but also denser than the previous books, so it could be for either of those reasons, but if she wants to pause for a bit, that’s fine with me.

By: Nicole McInnes

Nicole McInnes — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:27:38 +0000

Well, I just ran this question by my 12 y.o. son. He said, “I don’t know, 7, 8, 9?” He was a bit older when he started reading the series, but he’s a diehard fan now.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:58:43 +0000

I love all these great comments, thank you! I started describing the books to my 6yo last night, and she was really intrigued. Especially when I showed her with my fingers how thick the books are. We decided it would take us a year to get through book 1

By: Kristi Helvig

Kristi Helvig — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:43:55 +0000

My oldest is 7yo and has asked about reading Harry Potter. Though he’s a great reader and is capable of reading it, he also has an active imagination (one episode of Scooby Doo gave him nightmares for a week.) I’m not worried about the first book, but since they get progressively darker, I’ll probably wait until he’s 8 or 9.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:47:03 +0000

I have four boys, ages 11, 9, 6 & 4.

Both of my boys read the first three books in when they were eight, then took a break. For me, the HP world takes a darker (and older) turn in book four, and the last four books of the series feel more YA than middle grade to me. But then at ten and nine, respectively, they devoured the last four (after re-reading the first three!) And then we talked about them (since I’d read all 7, natch).

I loved the series, and they did too. Everything gets turned into a wand at our house, and we debate endlessly about which house we might be sorted into, and why.

What an incredible gift J.K. Rowling gave to all of us. 😀 A world full of Severus Snape, chocolate frogs, wandlore, and brave Harry Potter (the boy who lived & who makes incredible choices).

I know when you do share them with your kiddos, they will enjoy the ride. 😀 Happy HP reading!

By: Carol J. Garvin

Carol J. Garvin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:22:07 +0000

Any child old enough to read the text of HP could get through the books, but I don’t think the maturity needed to deal with the plots is present until after age 9 or 10. Didn’t Rowling herself say they were never intended for younger children?

By: Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:46:51 +0000

My two older sons both had me read the first three books to them in 1st grade. My oldest, a little more fearful, decided to take a break for a while at book 4, but the intrepid second-born ploughed on to the end. (Nothing seems to faze that chap, and he loves playing the villain in plays. If the movies get remade 30 years hence, he’ll make a stellar Lord Voldemort.)

By: Stephen King (the other one)

Stephen King (the other one) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:53:28 +0000

To answer your question, I think that any age is fine to start reading HP, as long as the skill of reading has been absorbed. I learned to read at the age of 3, and there’s no reason I couldn’t have launched into HP early on. Well, there’s one reason…at the time I was 3, the availability of children’s books was relatively thin.

Thank you for the information. The link you gave needs “online.was.com” changed to “wsj.com,” but otherwise it’s a great, great article. Interestingly, as I recall, HP didn’t gain a lot of traction here in the US until churches started burning it in mass quantities. “Whatcha burning?” the media asked. “Harry Potter, the evil books telling evil tales of evil witches and evil wizards and evil evil and other evil stuff,” the reply came. “Oh, sounds interesting,” the public said, and sales went poof! It kinda worked for Dan Brown, too…might be generalizable to a business model, in fact.