My DD (7 years old in Sept) just started reading HP Book #3. She just loves them. In fact she called down, very excited, (when I thought she was asleep at 10:30 last night) to let us know that "Guess what??? Hagrid is now an instructor at Hogwarts!"

I haven't read any of them, but I am enjoying the movies with her! It is my understanding that the series gets darker as the books progress. This was all fine and good when the 1st book came out 10 years ago aimed at 10 year olds, which meant, of course, these same kids finished the series as young adults. However, my DD has access to all of the books now at age 6.

My question is at what point should she slow-down the pace of the HP series due to its content? As a reference point to her readiness: she hid under the blanket during the last 20 minutes of the 2nd movie. But it wasn't because she didn't want to see what happened - she just didn't want to see the snake.

It might happen naturally.

My DS7 just kept reading until they got a bit dark for him (somewhere around the middle of book 5).

My DS has read a lot of Roahld Dahl's books; especially loved BFG, Matilda (about a gifted little girl) and Witches. He is just about to read one of his collections of short stories.

I have mentioned before somewhere about the Emily Rodda books; Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, The Wizard of Rondo - my DS loved them.

He also loved the Narnia series.

He's currently giggling his way through the 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series and has just finished giggling his way through 'Just Macbeth' by Andy Griffiths.

I'm writing this fresh from the theater--just saw HP 6 with DD and a couple of friends

When DD began reading the books she was about a year older then your DS. She picked up the first book over spring break and finished book 6 by the end of the school year (so I guess maybe 8-9 weeks?). I had already read the series, and I began rapidly re-reading them trying to stay one step ahead of her so that I could decide when she should "take a break". Silly me. I think her head would have exploded if I had interrupted the series!

What I realized as she went through the series was that some of the disturbing/dark aspects of the later books are disturbing because of the parallels we can make to the "real world". For her, with her limited understanding of the social-political world, there were parts that were sad and parts that were scary, but only in the same way that the Wizard of Oz is scary, if you know what I mean. Events were less "disturbing" to her than they were to me, because it was a completely fictionalized world in her reading of it. She has now re-read every book about a million times, and I can tell that there are parts that resonate differently with her now that she is older and has had more experiences.

That said, I recommend that you read them too (or listen on audio). The books were DD's favorite topic of conversation, to the exclusion of almost everything else. She was fascinated by the characters, by the direction of the story, by the choices characters made, etc.

Since few kids her age were reading them, and since many of the kids that were reading them were reading with a relatively superficial comprehension, she needed me to be her conversational partner. If your DS falls for them as hard as my DD, he'll be looking for someone to talk to, and may also find few good conversational partners in his peer group.

Really, some of my favorite memories with my DD will probably always be around her love of HP. When book seven came out later that summer, we dressed up, went to the midnight party, and came home with two copies so that we wouldn't have to fight over the book. We lucked out with her discovery of HP coming when the fervor was so high--it was great fun for her to swap predictions and opinions with her camp counselors at the ripe old age of 7 !

The Faraway tree series by Enid Blyton has wonderful characters (some laugh-out-loud ones! and beautuiful little stories for kids from, I would say 4 through 8:
http://www.amazon.com/Folk-Faraway-Tree-...4311&sr=8-1

Another Enid Blyton series is "the Find Outers". ANy of these 'detective stories' are really good, funny, and captivating with good characterisation, for boys (and girls -why not) from age 6 through 10 and older (heck, I love them myself. just beware - the main character, the brains of the outfit, is called Frederick Algernon Trottville - "Fatty" - which some may find offensive ?

http://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Banshee-To...4607&sr=1-1

Our ds fell off interest in having them read to him at the same point, I thought it was more about the fact that Harry wasn't a kid anymore, and was getting interested in kissing girls, but maybe it was too scary as well. Now that he's reading them himself I wonder if the same will occur. He had a friend who finished book 7 this year, age 8, and gave a report on it. One of the questions someone asked him was 'Did this book give you joy?' to which he responded, 'No', at least that's the story.
I could definitely see a kid that age loving the first several books but having the last few be set aside for later.

(Diary of a Wimpy Kid was a huge hit for ds,too.)

George's Secret Key to the Universe
George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt
both by Stephen Hawking and Lucy Hawking.

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Secret-Uni...5812&sr=8-2

My DS8 who loves math and science really enjoyed them. They are full of science concepts with interesting stories.

Hank the Cowdog series by John R. Erickson
Very funny series.

Hank Zippzer series by Henry Winkler andLin Oliver.

http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-Falls-Does...7142&sr=1-1

My 2E son loves Hank, who has learning disabilities.

Pick Me Up
http://www.amazon.com/Pick-Me-Up-Jeremy-Leslie/dp/0756621593/ref=ed_oe_h

Very interesting non-fiction with full of information about many subjects.

We have a few favorite series for DD6. She plows through these books like there is no tomorrow, only to reread them again and again and again...


The Pony Crazed Princess: Princess Ellie Adventures about a princess who would rather be with her horses than be a princess by Diana Kimpton

The Disney Fairy Stories, about Tinkerbell and all of the other fairies that live in Pixie Hollow.

Ivy and Bean Series by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall about 2 7 yr olds (I think they're about that age) who are neighbors and get into all sorts of mischief together.

And she recently started the series by E.D. Baker With the books Frog Princess and Dragons Breath in it. These are about a princess who kisses a frog to turn him into a human and she ends up turning into a frog instead. DD was laughing out loud when she read these two books, so I'm sure we'll be getting the rest from the library soon.

When she needs a break from these she reads the Berenstain Bears chapter books, which are fun to read.

And of course there's "Stig Of The Dump" by Clive King
marvellous!
http://www.amazon.com/Stig-Dump-Puffin-M...8274&sr=1-1

Can I add a couple of recent reads?

"David and the Phoenix" by Edward Ormondroyd (Purple House Press, reprint of 1957 original): 175 pages, fantasy, about David, a boy of about 7 or 8, I'd say, and his adventures with the Phoenix, who lives up the mountain behind his house. The Phoenix is being stalked by an evil Scientist, who wants it for a specimen. David and the Phoenix conjure up various plots, some of which involve travel to the abodes of mythical creatures (Gryffins, Sea Monster, Banshee, Leprechaun, etc.), for foiling the Scientist's scheme. Sadness warning for the sensitive: the Phoenix dies on a pyre, but of course, a new Phoenix (who seems to retain some glimmerings of the memories of the original bird) arises from the ashes.

Reading level is hard to pin down on this one, though my older two haven't had any trouble with it, and the youngest is enjoying it as a read-aloud; the narrative itself is quite easy reading, but the Phoenix has amusingly elevated speech, so the dialogue is a good deal more difficult than the rest. Try it around 6, maybe?

Tove Jansson's "Finn Family Moomintroll" (originally published 1948, in print in Puffin, 150 pages) is the first of a series about funny little critters (the Moomintrolls, the Hemulen, the Snork Maiden, the Muskrat, Snufkin, Thingumy and Bob, usw) who live in the Valley of the Moomins, eat lots of pancakes, and have various adventures together; in this volume, the action is mostly motivated by the discovery of a magic hat, the results of the use of which are sometimes funny, sometimes useful, and sometimes unexpected and rather unpleasant. These books are pretty odd, but we like them--quirky drawings, funny little footnotes on several pages, stories that turn out all right in the end, characters who are (mostly) kind to one another....About a grade 3 or 4 reading level, maybe? (I'm sorry, I just don't know how to gauge these things very well.)

An adult book I recently reread which I think kids from about 12 would enjoy is "English Creek" by the wonderful Ivan Doig. It's the first-person narrative of an almost 15-year-old boy growing up along the eastern front of the Rockies in Montana in 1939. The summer of that year changed his life and the lives of his family, and it's a skilfully done, sensitive, and funny evocation of that betwixt-and-between age of no longer a child, not yet a man. It's also a wonderful snapshot of a particular place and time (Doig has a PhD in history, and it shows in most of his books, though he wears it lightly). The author is a brilliant stylist, and I think teens would really enjoy his use of language. (There is some not-very-serious profanity and the occasional mildly rude joke, if those sorts of things worry you any.)

Anyway, I hear some books calling...off to read!

peace
minnie

Oh golly- I really enjoyed reading this thread!
Already mentioned, I have to second:
the Moomintrolls series of books- whimsical, delightful!
And the Jenny Linsky cat club books- very fun.

I wanted to suggest:
The Cay by Theodore Taylor- preteen book. About a boy who is shipwrecked and blinded- stranded with a sailor- book about survival and love. Good ending but some tragedy involved. I remember loving this book.