DD wanted to read the series when she was four but I didn't think she was ready.
She read Book One through Four at age five on her own, although there were a few chapters I insisted on reading together and a couple of chapters scared her enough that she asked me to sit right next to her. I am not comfortable with her reading Book Five and beyond until she is seven or older.
I've only shown her the first two movies and that was after she read the books over and over.
This is roughly how it worked out for us-- but only because of DD's age being coincident with publication of books 5-7, that is, and her reading level syncing with the books at age 5.
She read books 1-5 pretty rapidly at ages 5-6. I made her buy books 4 and beyond for herself-- that slowed her down some because she had to save for them. She went through a period of not wanting to read them for a few months after her dad wisely (ahem) opted to let her watch HP2-- with the giant snake. Sigh.
Books 6 and 7 were published when she
was those ages. That helped. I would not have wanted her to read book 7 in particular until she was that mature.
I have to add that knowing your own child is
critical here-- I've never known another child that I'd have recommended anything beyond HP3 to at anything less than 6 or 7 years old. DD didn't have any trouble with that kind of heavy-weight content, and yes-- she understood it and processed it just fine. She talked to us a LOT about all of it. Our home was lot like an endless book club, basically.
