[HPforGrownups] Reading HP books to chilldren

[Rebecca Scalf]

No: HPFGUIDX 154080



--- Pamela Rosen <pam_rosen at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Here's something that has been on my mind lately.  I
> wonder how many of you are (or have) read HP to
> children?  

Witherwing:
I have read all six books to my seven year old,
starting when she was five. I had been a fan for
years, and once we made the read-aloud foray into
chapter books, we tried Sorcerer's Stone, and she
loved it.

Like your experience with your son, my daughter
remembers details, but I also made a point of stopping
and checking in with her about certain characters and
plotlines along the way. 

We went through a time when we read and reread and
listened to audiobooks of HP for months on end. Now
she knows many of the details by heart, but she is
still making associations across books and she will
ask me VERY interesting questions.

When the HBP came out, I started reading it to her
right away, but I read ahead. I thought about editing
out some of the snogging, or the inferi, but in the
end I read it word-for-word. I knew that her memory
for detail is so good, I would certainly hear about it
later if I left anything out. I just told her it was
scary, and if she wanted me to stop, I would. I made a
point of NOT reading the scariest bits at night.

After I read the next-to-last chapter of HBP, the big
scene on the tower, she asked me to stop reading, and
we talked about it over a few days. I thought to
myself, what have I done? The shock of an unhappy
ending was too much. She said to me, *This one ends
different,* and so we talked about how the books
usually end. She finally did ask to hear the last
chapter, and I was glad, because I thought it would be
good for her to see how the characters mourn, and
start making plans for the next step. We have not
reread HBP, and we have moved on to Iva Ibbotsen and
Narnia.

I teach elementary age children, and every year I read
one HP book aloud to the class. I have a first through
third grade combination, and I only read the first
three - I think the Goblet of Fire is too much for my
class, mostly because I find the ending too disturbing
for the average first-grader. I don't want to be
responsible for nightmares, and in my experience the
first three books are perfect.

A lot depends on the child you are reading to. I have
loved reading them all to my daughter. We stop and
discuss, and wonder what will happen. She laughs aloud
a lot, thanks to Fred and George and many others. In
my own mind the Order of the Phoenix is a downer of a
book, but my daughter laughs a lot, hearing it,
reminding me that the humor is there too.

My recommendation is to take the time to discuss the
books if you read them with a child, so you know what
level the child is tuned into. Of course many things
will not make an impression the first time around. And
they will probably read HP more than once in their
life. In my experience when a child makes a break into
reading chapter books on their own, they soon make
their way to HP.

Witherwing, who was deeply moved by the voice of her
daughter reading HP aloud for the first time