Harry Potter books and 5 yr olds

My ticker is hopelessly out of date, but the kids are 5 now, and DD is a total chapter book fiend. I've read her the Oz books, the Narnia books, the Moomin books, Peter Pan, The Hobbit, and probably others I'm forgetting. We just started the first HP book, and she's hooked. I'm just wondering how far into the series to read with her. I've read all the books (with great pleasure!), so I know what's coming, I'm just not sure how much would be too much. Kind of on the fence about Goblet of Fire - most of it would probably be ok, but then Cedric dies in the end and there's Voldemort's resurrection. And then the last 3 are pretty dark, and the politics would be over a 5 yr old's head.

How far would you/did you read with your kids, and at what ages?

 

You might try the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. It's got great humor in it, while mixing Greek mythology in with modern New York. It doesn't jump around on the storyline hardly at all. I just have to explain a few back story myths to the kids like Achilles or Sisyphus so they understand it a bit better. He also has a series featuring Egyptian mythology "The Kane Chronicles" and he's starting a follow-up to the Percy Jackson series that introduces the Roman mythology.

I've never read Harry Potter. I saw the first movie and was unimpressed so I can't help you with that one.

Marissa

 

I'm not a big hp fan, but we've read a ton of Roald dahl which can be pretty dark. Right now we are reading black beauty and I forgot some parts From my childhood (like the drunken falls, etc), but my girls are into it. My feeling at 5 is not to censor and instead take the opportunity to discuss it with them. But Iike I said, I'm not a huge hp fan and only read the first book, so I don't know what happens in the later ones... And the magic, death and resurrection might be hard to explain to 5 yr olds. Marissa, thanks for the rec! We will check out Percy jackson books!

 

I probably wouldn't read goblet of fire. My daughter is 5 and she's seen the first 3 movies and that's about as far as I want her to go right now.

 

I think Goblet of Fire would be too much for a 5 year old-like you said the whole ending is pretty dark-so I'd stop at Prisoner of Azkaban. Naomi and Luke (who are 8) were too scared by the end of Goblet so they have stopped there and won't read any more until they're older.
Also in my experience most children find Chamber of Secrets scarier than either the first or third ones.

 

My son's class went through the one where they break into the ministry of magic and steal the prophecy (it's been a LONG weekend and thinking has all but stopped so I cannot remember the book names). The teacher edited them while reading and simplified some of the concepts. The kids loved them. I think the first few are worth a shot.

 

I think it might depend a little on how sensitive she is. Sage read the first one at 6 and had nightmares from it. She's never read the rest of them, but she did just read the Hunger Games and reads constantly. She's just never wanted to go back to the Harry Potter books, even though she's seen the movies always has a book in her hands.

 

What about Anne of Green Gables, The Borrowers, The Boxcar Children, Little House on the Praire, The Littles? There are so many other kid friendly books out there that I, personally, would start with those before I'd go into Harry Potter (just due to the violence and such in the last few).

 

^ Amen. How about black stallion and the misty pony books. We are reading a book about wolves that is from the same author of guardians of those one owls :lol: We have to read 25 a month during the school year so it's not possible for us to do chapter books then.

 

There are a few series that I won't let the kids start until they are old enough to handle the whole thing and HP is one of them. It is a very addictive story and to allow them to hear only the first few and then have to wait years seems mean. We did listen to the first book before I realized this would be a problem and I made the rule that they could finish the series when they could read it themselves. That was enough incentive for my oldest to pick up book 2 on her own and she has always hated to read. Now she wants to read The Hunger Games, but I don't think she is ready for the later books so she will have to wait a couple of years still.

 

I started the first Harry Potter with my girls a few months ago (they just turned five) and actually stopped... not due to the violence, but due to the mean kids and mean teachers. My kids may be super naive, but they were confused as to why Snape was so mean to Harry, and why other kids weren't nice. They could handle the suspense and scariness, but I realized for them, the book wasn't age appropriate because they simply didn't understand that adults could be horrible to kids. And I decided that if they don't know that yet, I don't need to introduce it to them! So, I vote that you wait on HP for Ivy.

Little House on the Prairie was a big hit here, and I only had to censor a few things (like the completely racist views on American Indians).

 

Oh the Littles! I had forgotten all about the Littles.
One of my girls is really scarred of a lot of things like that and the other isn't. Even at 7 I'd probably only read them the first HP book for now. I was a huge Little House fan myself at that age. But I lived 10 minutes from a place called Living History Farms where I got to see them come to life. And my Grandpa's old blacksmith shop in his back yard was full of fabulous discoveries of strange old tools that I could read about in the Little House books. So who knows how it would appeal to your kids. I also enjoyed Anne of Green Gables, and Beverly Clearly books Roald Dahl books and Judy Blume books.
Of course those might all be out-of-date to today's kids. Here is a list of some 2012 award winners http://www.skippingstones.org/2012BookAwards.LR.pdf (I have this because my friend Laura Resau's book is on the list--she has a few earlier books that would be suitable for younger ages like What the Moon Saw and Star in the Forrest all her books have to do with the topic of immigration.) You can also find a good list of recent releases here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Young_People%27s_Literature

 

My boys read the entire HP series last year in 3rd grade, they really weren't ready for it before then. They are begging to read the Hunger Games, but I am making them wait. There are so many others out there, like pper's have said. There are also the Dan Gutman books--he Weird School series is a lot of fun, and written for 1st and 2nd graders--and my 4th grades will go back and read them once in a while.

 

Hi:

I am a Harry Potter fan and cannot wait to share these with my kiddos.

My take on this was, if the books were coming out over time (as they did originally), then the kids would look forward to and "grow" into each new book. However, to read them now a series, with the latter books in the series being so dark -- I just can't see that until the kids are older.

Good books can always wait!

Best,

Meg

 

Holly,
I'm trying to grade student papers and something in one of them, made a connection in my mind and I was suddenly like--Has she read them The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles?!?