Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Harry Potter--Doling out the books in the series

In a nutshell: I have a preschooler who now loves Harry Potter. At what ages did you let your kids read/see the third installment and up?

Last weekend, I showed my 5yo Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone so he'd have another topic of conversation during a play date. If the circumstances hadn't been what they were--first time meeting another gifted kid his age--I probably would have held off introducing him to Harry Potter for a few years, and I would have started him with the books instead.

Well. To say that he took to his first taste of Harry Potter is an understatement. The following day he asked to start having the book read to him at bedtime. Then he asked if he could hear two chapters instead of one the night after that.

My question: Now what do I do? I can read him the second book, but I can't see how the third would be appropriate for a five-year-old, even one who knows that death exists, and can read a few grades ahead no problem, and is really eager for more.

Has anyone been in this position? I'm assuming we'll have to rotate books and movies one and two for a while, maybe with the Quidditch book and the Fantastic Beasts one thrown in. Under what circumstances did you allow your younger kids to advance through the Harry Potter series and movies?

Both of my DYS have loved those books, but we didn't start with them until age 7...and both of them ended up getting hooked and reading them all rather quickly. I'll admit, that even at age, I was a bit concerned about the content of all books after Book 1. I think it is really about knowing your child.

Can you just "neglect" to tell him about the other books for a bit? So many great books out there...can he read some others first and then you can circle back a little bit later?

BTW, both DC also found the books worthy of re-reading .

It can be tricky! And each kid is different in what they are sensitive to.

Common Sense Media has a good guide to which movies and books may be appropriate at which ages:

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/harry-potter-age-by-age-guide

My DD11 whipped through the HP series between the ages of 9-10 (she wasn't really interested before that). I did try to get her to wait to read the last couple of books, but she really wanted to read them. I ended up reading them along with her, in case there was anything she wanted to discuss...

She hasn't yet seen the movies though beyond the 3rd one.

I started reading the series to DS8 when he was 7. We got up to book 4, but I kind of skipped a lot of the ending because it seemed too dark. He is more sensitive than my DD. I have started reading him book 5, but he hasn't wanted to continue.

DS has seen the first 2 movies (I think - sometimes hard to keep track).

I find it hard to predict sometimes what will or won't bother my kids in terms of media. I thought the last Star Wars movie was quite violent - but neither of them had trouble watching that. However my DS will ask me to turn off or skip parts of wildlife documentaries.

It makes it hard to find appropriate material that everyone will enjoy when I want to read to the kids, or even watch a show or movie together!

A side question bud does anyone know why philosopher was changed to sorcerer in the title of the first book in the US market? It has always troubled me because the aren't really the same thing.

And I haven't had the problem because neither ds7 or ds9 would cope.

Ok, this is helpful, thanks. Part of my problem is my kid isn't great at articulating what he finds scary. I'm left to guess. I guessed right that the first Harry Potter movie was at the edge of what he could handle.

I think I'm going to try to hold the line on not reading him HP3 and up until he's in third grade at least. As for knowing about the existence of the other books--that ship sailed ages ago. He can see all seven books lined up on our shelves, and he notices when we move even the smallest thing on those shelves.

DS8 read books 1-5 just as he was about to turn 6 (in KG). I had read the books and did not feel comfortable with him reading 6 and 7 at that age. He read the whole series at the beginning of this school year (so he was about 7.5) and it was fine.
We have only watched the first 3 movies because DS feels they leave too much out and change too much of the story

At that time, I remember reading that the American publishers thought that Americans would not understand the meaning of the word "philosopher"! So, they changed it to "sorcerer"! Apparently, American kids have a limited knowledge of the english vocabulary according to Scholastic. They feared that no American kid would want to buy a book that had the word "philosopher" in its title ...

To expand on that, they thought that the "philosopher's stone" is a thing that kids in the UK are more likely to have heard of that kids in the US. And without knowing specifically about the philosopher's stone, a philosopher doesn't sound like a very exciting character.

I would tell him that he needs to read the rest of the series on his own. And then dole them out as you see fit. I would not allow him to watch the movies until he has read the books.

I agree with this. I have also always thought that kids often do not imagine things they read in as scary of a way that is portrayed in the movies. The last movie, at least, is rated PG-13, so keep that in mind as you allow the books and movies.

I think DC read the books independently starting in K and ending in 2nd.