Harry Potter for almost 7 YO avid reader?

[tammyw]

My dd is nearly 7 and reads a ton. She loves mysteries right now - her favorite being the A to Z mysteries. It occurred to me that she might soon be ready for Harry Potter? I don't know. It's been quite a while since I read them (I haven't even read all of them). Thoughts?

[AAK]

I know several 7 year olds who have read the first few. The first one is pretty benign really unless your dd is sensitive. There is a bit of scary stuff (1st with the troll & 2nd when they go through the trapdoor at the end--the big potentially scary scene). My dd has no restrictions on the Harry Potter books and sort of petered out after book 3. I assume that she will try again when she is a bit older.

Amy

[Martha_2sons]

My son and I read them together this summer when he was 6.5 years. He loved them so much; we went through all 7 books in 9 weeks. He's not very sensitive to "scary" topics though so if your DD is, you might want to reread the first book yourself first.

I have to say though that the reading level for Harry Potter seems way more advanced than for A to Z mysteries (which we have also read). So unless A to Z mysteries are an easy read for her, Harry Potter may be too advanced. (If that's the case you could always read them together!)

[ocelotmom]

Originally Posted by tammyw

My dd is nearly 7 and reads a ton. She loves mysteries right now - her favorite being the A to Z mysteries. It occurred to me that she might soon be ready for Harry Potter? I don't know. It's been quite a while since I read them (I haven't even read all of them). Thoughts?

Books 5-7 start getting more heavily into boy/girl relationships, nothing particularly graphic, but there is some kissing.

Books 4-7 include the deaths of major and minor characters, and a lot of violence.

I wouldn't get a kid started on them unless you were ready for them to open those particular cans of worms, since they may lose interest when the topics/writing starts getting more mature... or they may voraciously devour them all.

[CorasMama]

I would say definitely books 1 and 2. Book 3, almost certainly. Starting with book 4, it gets quite a bit darker, with the Death Eaters, the return of Voldemort, and Cedric's death. In book 5, you have Nagini, who is creepy as all get out, more Voldemort, including Voldemort invading Harry's mind/dreams, and of course, Sirius' death, which hit my then-seven or eight year old (I don't remember exactly when she read it) REALLY hard. Book 6, the whole thing gets dark, with lots of foreboding, and should be read together if a seven year old is going to read it, to prevent anxiety. IOW, don't have a seven year old read book 6 at bedtime! And book 7 has many sob-worthy moments, and some scary scenes.

[waiflywaif]

Just keep in mind that the Harry Potter books, while compelling, are very long and quite a bit higher in reading level than A-Z series. If you kid is motivated to read them on her own, I'm sure she could, but it will take a lot more effort and concentration. They're more "literary" and just require more brainpower in general.

My DD is 6 and reads very well. She read Harry Potter book 1 on her own and liked it, but it was a bit of a slog and she was not used to reading the same book for over a week, when usually she reads at least a book a day.

[April Dawn]

Why Harry Potter, if she's into mysteries right now? There are a ton of good mystery series out there... if she wants something on the same reading level as the A-Z, you might try the Jigsaw Jones or Cam Jansen or Geronimo Stilton series. If you want to move up a bit in reading level, have her try Boxcar Children or Nancy Drew. For a more quirky mystery series at a higher reading level she could try the Sammy Keyes books. The Chet Gecko mysteries are funny so she might like that. There's also a series by Carole Marsh that takes place all around America's national parks that some kids really get into. I mean, if you think she'll be into fantasy, go for Harry Potter - but if mysteries are her thing, there's a ton of good ones out there!

[DaughterOfKali]

My son reads Harry Potter (he's 6). The books are very words and tend to ramble, though. I tell him if he sees a word he can't read or if he can't figure out what it means, ask me to help him.

Most of the time, we sit next to each other and he reads the book to me. It seems to help him understand context, etc, when he reads out loud.

[ChristaN]

My older dd read them starting when she was 6.5. B/c she is nearly 11.5 now, she had to wait for some of the later ones b/c they weren't out yet when she was that young, so we didn't have any issues with content concerns. Dd#2 didn't read any of them until she was 8, but she is less of an avid reader than her sister and has less tolerance for long books that take a long time to read.

If you are looking for mystery suggestions as some of the pps mentioned, my one who likes reading enjoyed The Egypt Game and even some of the Nancy Drew books when she was younger.

[kittywitty]

My 8 year old has read the series twice now. We also have read them aloud and on listened to them on CD. My 7 yo ds just picked up the series. My kids have never had problems with the violence/deaths. Just about every series has them in some way or another. They are also loving the Percy Jackson series. They aren't "mysteries" but they are fantasies and they pull you along like mysteries.

[Ruthla]

DD2 started reading Harry Potter when she was in second grade. IIRC, she read the first book repeatedly before ever moving onto the rest of the series (which was only 5 books at the time.) She might have been 8 before she moved onto the rest of the series.

She was quite capable of reading and enjoying these books even when she couldn't handle the movies (the "Voldemort in the back of Quirell's head" scene was pretty creepy in the movie.) When reading books, it was only as creepy as her own imagination, while the movies were filled with the imaginations of the film makers. She was an extremely sensitive little girl (Elmo in Grouchland left her in tears!) but she didn't have any problems with the sad or scary parts of the books.

However, your child might be sensitive in different ways than my child was, plus the whole series is currently available. I don't think DD2 would have been deterred from reading all 7 books had they been available when she was 8, and I don't know if she would have really been ready for them.

I woudln't stop a 7yo from reading Harry Potter if he or she picked it up independently, but I don't think it's the best thing to introduce right now if she currently has other interests.

[eilonwy]

My son read the first one at 6.5, but he wasn't interested in moving on to the second and I didn't push it at all. I'm very lucky in that he has a cousin of similar reading ability who is somewhat more sensitive to "scary things" than he is. As she's his best friend in the world, he's very happy taking book advice from her.

If your daughter likes mysteries, you might suggest The Westing Game. That's a really fun book, everyone I know who's read it has really enjoyed it.

[tammyw]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone!

[lorrielink]

The first HP was the first really long book my DS read. He was 7 and had been reading magic treehouse and other stuff on that level for a while and was ready for something more advanced. While it would have been possible for him to read the book himself I thought we should read it together since there is a difference between reading and understanding what you read and while the book is totally readable at that age, there are many things in it that were great to be able to explain.
We read the whole book together, taking turns reading aloud to each other. The advancements he made from the start of the book to the end were I think better than any reading lesson I could have found.
This series is a little different than the average series as the books advance in levels by the age of the character. each book is one year of Harry's life, so while the first is readable to average 6-10 yr olds, each book advances a little more. When my son finishes a book he usually gets the audio book if he really liked it and then we get the movie. It has been great to share them together ( I had read the whole series twice myself before this, except for the last one)

[tammyw]

I like the idea of us reading it together. We've been reading some pretty advanced stories for a good while, so I think she will really enjoy it!

[JoyMC]

my nephew was a very early reader and read the first Harry Potter at 5. of course, he wanted to keep going, but being aware of how the story progresses, his parents instituted a rule of being able to read one Harry Potter each year. i'm not that structured myself, but i thought it was a pretty good idea.

[phathui5]

My oldest (now 9) started reading the Harry Potter books when he was 7. I think he was 8 when he finished the last one. He decided what he was going to do was read a book, then watch a movie, so he's read all the books and seen all the movies that are out.

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by lorrielink

The first HP was the first really long book my DS read. He was 7 and had been reading magic treehouse and other stuff on that level for a while and was ready for something more advanced. While it would have been possible for him to read the book himself I thought we should read it together since there is a difference between reading and understanding what you read and while the book is totally readable at that age, there are many things in it that were great to be able to explain.
We read the whole book together, taking turns reading aloud to each other. The advancements he made from the start of the book to the end were I think better than any reading lesson I could have found.
This series is a little different than the average series as the books advance in levels by the age of the character. each book is one year of Harry's life, so while the first is readable to average 6-10 yr olds, each book advances a little more. When my son finishes a book he usually gets the audio book if he really liked it and then we get the movie. It has been great to share them together ( I had read the whole series twice myself before this, except for the last one)

And we started buying the British editions for my oldest when she reread them. They are a bit more challenging and she prefers them. So if the HP series isn't challenging enough, that's something to try.

[lorrielink]

Now that would be fun. It was really interesting explaining all the differences for so many things. Like the ministries and changes in grammer etc. thanks for the idea!

[benaysmom]

If the HP are too scary, try Fablehaven. My 7 year old read them all in 2 weeks!!!(4 books)