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Reading Harry Potter with your kids?

post #1 of 21
11/20/01 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
I told my son (almost 7) that he could see the movie when he's read 2 of the books. I figured it would be out on video by then and we'd buy it.

We started the first book 2 weeks ago and he's almost finished! We take turns reading pages - he's such an awsome reader! It's been so much fun reading these books with him - the fantasy is wonderful!!! :cool:

I'm so glad to be past 'the little train that could'......

Anyone else enjoying these books with their kids?

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post #2 of 21
11/20/01 at 12:21pm

Harry and Delia

I thought I'd use your method, too, since I know at not yet 5 she will not be able to handle this scary movie. We DEVOURED the book (she didn't read any, just me!)
I am hoping to go back through them with her when she can read. But she's way too young for me even to read books 3 or 4 out loud to her. The moral questions get more convoluted as Harry grows up, one of the strengths of the series as I see it.

A great gift that JK Rowling has given many families is just this ritual of reading aloud after the picture book stage. There are so many great books to share that she won't make it through as a little one, but that are great entertainments for kids--like Dickens. Like you, I welcome the day The Little Engine that Could is a fond memory.
post #3 of 21
11/20/01 at 1:37pm
My husband, two of my sons(ages 23 & 14 ) and me have read them all and we've had some great discussions. My 4 year old, eager to be a part of everything wanted to know more about "Harry Potter" so my husband has been reading book one to her. I agree that the other books and the movie would not be right for her at this age.
We're hoping to see the movie over the Thanksgiving weekend.
peggy
post #4 of 21
11/20/01 at 2:19pm
DD and I read all four books in a month this summer. We then re-read 1 and 2 about a month ago. 4 was really scarry and, in hind sight, prolly way to above her head (though she says it was her favorite book of the 4). 5 is being read by mom before dd gets her hands on it, though she will be nearly 8 yrs old when it comes out. I think it depends on your kid...my kido has (unfortunatly) had to deal with the death and dying of people close to her since she can remember so I think she gets some comfort from the books.
post #5 of 21
11/20/01 at 3:22pm

Read them all and loved the movie!

My DD is almost 11 and read them a gazillion times each (she reads like a maniac), and the movie was really done well we both felt.

I agree though, it is not a movie for little ones. It did not transfer to screen all "warm and fuzzy", but it DID transfer well!

I saw it on the opening day I must admit. How hard up am I?
post #6 of 21
11/20/01 at 6:08pm
My ds is 9 and we have read the first 3 three times and the last one only once. We LOVE HP! Haven't seen the movie yet... didn't want to go (well, did, but you know what I mean) on opening day.. then dh went away on business for 10 days, and ds wanted to wait for dad to see it. So we will prolly go after dinner on Thursday!
post #7 of 21
11/21/01 at 3:03am
Ds received the Harry Potter series as a gift last Christmas when he was five, way too young in my opinion, for these books (thought he would have nightmares). But not in dh's opinion--he wanted to start reading them with ds right away. So I caved, and I am sooo glad I did. We have all enjoyed these books so much--and no nightmares. We have read all four with ds and just finished about two weeks ago. It took a few months to get through the last one, because we would often just read a few pages a day, discussing word definitions and concepts. Whew! Complex stuff for a 6yo!

Now that we haven't had our nightly HP fix for a couple weeks, we're looking forward to seeing the movie Friday!
post #8 of 21
11/21/01 at 7:50pm
I bought the series while I was pregnant with DS who is now almost 16 months.

I actually have a really cute picture of DH reading one aloud to DS when he was about 3 days old. Needless to say, that did not last!

I did read portions of them to DH, until I got too busy and he couldn't wait anymore and read them himself. I really look forward to DS being old enough to read "real" books. He's pretty cute asking for "hippos go berserk" 50 times a day tho'! :
post #9 of 21
11/21/01 at 9:15pm
Hi there. My almost 10 year old son and I started reading the books when the first one came out. I thought that I would read them to him but I was too slow. Before I knew it he had read all four of them twice. We went to the movie this weekend with our almost 10 year old, our 5 year old and our 3 year old. The little ones insisted that they go and I was fully prepared to leave with them if it got too scary or if I felt the material was innappropriate. I thought that it was a wonderful movie. I couldn't believe how captivating it was not only for me but for the kids too. The little ones didn't budge through the whole thing. We are a very limited TV family so it's not like they have been exposed to lots of shows like this. At home we do PBS for a half hour/day maximum. Anyway, they loved the movie and so did I. I was ready to sit through it again immediately after it was over! Now I know what all the fuss was about!
post #10 of 21
11/22/01 at 2:27am
Thread Starter 
BathrobeGodess (always loved your name) Thank's for the heads up on #4. My ds has also had to deal with a lot of death in his short years, so when we get that far, I'm sure it won't be a problum.

I'm so glad that we have such wonderfull books to share with our children - GameBoy eat your heart out!!

Yeah Reading!
post #11 of 21
11/22/01 at 9:44am
Ms. Mom - I'm also from the Detroit area! It's nice to see I'm not alone in Michigan!
post #12 of 21
11/24/01 at 1:18am
Talk about starting early...
Ds was in NICU for 14 days after birth, dh and I read all the books aloud to ds before we left. Talk about devowering them. Ds obviously didn't understand a bit, but dh and I have always read aloud to each other and can't wait to continue with ds. The tradition has already begun.
post #13 of 21
11/24/01 at 1:20am
Opps, I lied....
I don't think we finished the last one before we left the hospital. But I do think it was done the next week. Swore we would only buy them used and in paperback. that is until we got to the last one and couldn't find it anywhere... we paid full price for the hard back. I think it was 700 pages or something like that. A Great read for us
post #14 of 21
12/5/01 at 12:05am
OOooh, I loved these books! My father actually bought me the 4th for my birthday, and I just re-read it after seeing the movie. I thought the movie was excellent. BUT, I don't think my children are ready for it yet. My eldest is 5, but I'm going to wait on it yet. I thought there were a lot of scary parts in the movie - too much for small children, but then again, I don't let my children watch television (very tame videos of PBS shows or selected movies are about it). I'm really looking forward to the next one!
post #15 of 21
12/9/01 at 6:57pm
I've read all four books and Ds, age nine read the first three. He started #4 and couldn't get into it, just as well, because I think it's very dark, probably better for11-13 year olds. #3 is pretty scary as well, with Harry remembering his mother's screams as she was being murdered. Puhleeese! Dd's teacher is reading the series out loud to her class (she's 8), but I may ask the teacher not to read books #3 & 4. I took my three oldest children to see the movie and I thought it was too scary for my 5 year old. I covered her eyes a few times. I enjoyed the movie and my 8 & 9 year olds LOVED it. I think J.K. Rowling is an excellent storyteller, but as literature, the books are lacking something. The character development is not great. Harry and his friends are one dimensional. The books are all about action and you feel shuttled from one event to the next. Compare the Harry character to Anne of Green Gables or Laura Ingalls. By the end of the Anne series or the Little House series you feel as if Anne and Laura are real people (well, Laura was a real person, of course) but at the end of a Harry Potter novel, you close the book and forget all about him. You just remember what happened to him.
post #16 of 21
12/9/01 at 7:47pm

worlds youngest Harry Potter fan!

DS Nicholas got hooked on HP back when he was about 2 1/2. I brought the audio tape home to listen too myself, and he really got into it. We've read all of them aloud to him, plus hearing the audio tapes.

He uses the charactes a lot in fantasy play. But often he'll tell me to be the GOOD Lord Voldemort, or something like that.

He has picked up on some the the "bad" lanuage.
For example, if he mad at you he might call you a "stupid git."

So it might have been better if we'd waited, but I don't think they scary parts have caused any lasting harm
post #17 of 21
12/10/01 at 6:33pm
Ever since the HP movie came out, my ds has really wanted to see it. We haven't read the books yet and since he is only 5, I told him that we would have to read it together first and then we would decide. Well, we have gotten through the 1st chapter and he hasn't wanted to read more. I don't think he is ready for a chapter book yet. I have tried reading him other chapter books, but he gets restless. He LOVES to read books, but just not chapter books. So, I think I'm just going to continue reading it myself!

Warmly~

Lisa
post #18 of 21
12/12/01 at 11:19pm
I'm reading it to my 6 six year old son. He really enjoys the story and so do I.
It's such a nice change from the same picture books over and over!
post #19 of 21
12/14/01 at 7:20pm
My DS is 4 and wants to see the movie, so I told him I would read him the first book to see if he would like it. We are on Chapter 5 or 6 and he listens but gets restless easily. I think he has trouble visualizing the story in his head. Not to mention, that I have a terrible time with some of the names in the book and get tongue tied.....I'm sure that adds to his restlessness. I like reading the story and want to just keep on reading by myself. I'm still going to try to get through the first book before I take him to the movie.
post #20 of 21
12/14/01 at 7:56pm
Since you asked, no, we're not exposing our children to Harry Potter. I'm often the oddball here!
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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › The Kitchen Sink › Books, Music and Other Media › Reading Harry Potter with your kids?