Too Old for Harry Potter [hardly]

[Anne <urbana@charter.net>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "heiditandy" <heidit at n...> 
wrote:
> What child (read: 12 and under) should read GoF without at least 
having
> a parent or teacher available for questions? 

I read SS, CoS and PoA pretty much verbatim to my daughter (who is 6)
earlier this year. When we were about halfway through GoF, a boy we 
know who is about 12 (and who's read all 4 books a couple of times) 
told me 'There's a lot of really *creepy* stuff in Goblet of Fire - 
so when you get to the creepy stuff, you might want to edit it a bit 
while you're reading it to her." I had no idea just how creepy GoF 
was going to be until we got to the part in which Wormtail cut off 
his own hand and put it in the "stew" that made Voldemort corporeal 
again. When I was about to read that out loud to her, I realized I 
needed to substitute "hurt his arm" for all references to amputation. 
I'm glad I did, because when Wormtail cut Harry's arm to get blood 
for Voldie, my daughter was very upset, and I had to reassure her 
that Harry had not been killed....especially since Cedric had been 
killed immediately before that. Maya, my daughter, is still a 
beginning reader and won't be able to read these books on her own for 
a few more years. Even though she's only in first grade, we've 
occasionally stopped during the stories and discussed plot points and 
things didfferent characters (especially Dumbledore) said. I'm glad 
I've already read them to her (and plan to read them again myself) so 
that she *can* ask me questions when she starts reading them. 

Anne U
(who gave Maya "FBWTFT" and "QTTA" for Christmas)