My son just turned 9 and is in the 4th grade. He has read the books and is excited for the movie (we already have tickets for Friday) I also think that a lot of 8-9 years old (3rd-4th graders) that should not be reading the books as they do have mature content that will not be fully understand by a lot of children in this age group. We can only make this decision for our own children not the other children in the class.
I don't think this is censorship at all. I would respect the teacher's wishes that it not be talked about in class. When the other children are ready for this type of book/movie I am sure that their parents will let them read/ watch it. The movie has a PG-13 rating, I think that the parents should be able to decide individually if their child is ready.
I guess that for me this might fall in the whole Santa Claus discussion...some children are ready at 5, some at 7, some at 10 and some might never be ready. As parents we should respect other parents and their children.
