hmm, i'm not sure where this all took such a weird turn. i promise i'm not to force DD into anything, and i desperately hope i'm not imposing my weirdness on her - maybe i don't have enough distance to see it, but i hope i've been actively engaged in making sure DD has access and exposure to all sorts of reading material.
the OP was about finding funny, relatively dense literature for a 5 y/o who we recently discovered legitimately likes that kind of thing - it was about adding to her options, not restricting them. of course, along the way i have a few things to keep in mind - she's been through the wringer in the last 12 months and clawed her way back from a terrible depression, which was partly caused by being constantly told (by her teachers and librarians) that she couldn't/shouldn't read what interested her. those feelings are still quite fresh for her and i have to be overly careful not to compound that particular problem.
ha - Mana, that's so funny about Swimmy! (it's a favourite of mine, in spite of the massacre!)
we backed into HP accidentally - the series was sitting on a shelf in the living room, and DD asked me about it, so i explained the premise. even though we'd already read longer books like Wind in the Willows to her, if i'd thought we were anywhere close to HP stage, i'd probably have moved it somewhere else; i've done that with some other books since then. ahh, child-proofing!
so of course, DD immediately requested i read her some pages, which i did. it was enough for her that day - she said she just wanted to know what it was like, so no harm done (ha). then about a month later, the chickens came home to roost. she brought it out for us to read at bedtime and never looked back. we repeatedly made it clear we would stop at any time she felt it was too much. the first time through the series i censored a bit and answered any direct question she asked - so she knew in advance if characters would be ok (or if they wouldn't.) it never occurred to me that this would change her view of literature and cause all sorts of problems - she was clearly getting a LOT of joy out of it. her play changed, her artwork changed - she really bloomed in so many ways. it was the same when she found Terry Fox - it was like this whole new world opened for her that she connected to on quite a deep level. at the time, i kept thinking "how could this be bad?" even with the problems it may have given us, i'm not sorry about it.
we did (and continue to) have the most wonderful conversations about HP. everything from speculation about the "rules" of the magical world to weirdly sophisticated interpersonal issues. i was especially grateful for HP all last year with the bad school situation: DD had a boatload of friendship/bullying problems and we could talk about issues in terms of "that time that Ron... or Neville... or Mr. Malfoy" etc. it was an unexpectedly helpful shorthand for her. i know that all good literature works that way, i just happen to be specifically grateful to HP!
Zen - thanks so much for that recommendation! a character called "Ethan Cheeseman" sounds like a goldmine, if you ask me!
