GOOD BYE! Yes, you heard me, GOOD BYE! (HP spoiler inside)

For every book release I went to Kroger at midnight.  I had to wait about 2 minutes at the most...I don't need a party...I need to book! []

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

ORIGINAL: Benedict

Sorry agile...I have a sick sense of humour!

Becca - the books are GREAT! You get lost in an entirely different world.

I can imagine. I lived on Middle Earth for like 3 months.
And I was always saying, "Thag you berry much" whenever I thanked someone.
Quite embarrassing now that I think about it.
D'oh.

Don't feel bad. The other day on the bus, some guy wasn't watching where he was going and plowed into me. I called him a "Muggle" without even thinking. (Harry Potter term for non-magical person.)

ORIGINAL: Benedict
Don't feel bad. The other day on the bus, some guy wasn't watching where he was going and plowed into me. I called him a "Muggle" without even thinking. (Harry Potter term for non-magical person.)

 
LOL!!!

Think my 7 year old would like these books? He's fascinated by the movies and the idea of Harry Potter, but he is only 7. The books state ages 9-12, but if they're too difficult I could read them with him.
Or are the books rated those ages for content purposes?
My son has only seen the first and second movies. I was told after that that I might not want him to see them due to...some kind of "scary factor". I guess the movies got freakier after that?

We saw the one where the dark lord came back to life last weekend and I probably would NOT allow him to see that movie right now. It would scare him.

I don't know, I think it depends on the kid, some kids are a bit tougher than others, at his age I was still having nightmares if I watched wizrd of oz!!!
 
I think maybe you could read them with him slowly.  Maybe a chapter a day or something.  After one book have a gap til the next one.  They do get darker as the series progresses.  Give them a whirl yourself first and then you can judge how well you think he can handle it or whether to wait a couple of years.  Trust me, you will NOT mind reading them a second time around!
 
All bias aside, the books are very well written.  I remember when I first got into them thinking "wow, these are way too good to be just kids books!"  A lot of subtle stuff in there.  Stuff planted subtly early on that turns out to be hugely important later.  Reading the books for the first time and the twists at the end had me hopping with excitement.... Watching the films kinda spoils that for you, you get less pleasure from reading because the ending is not a surprise anymore and you dont appreciate the subtle clues leading you up to it....... JMO.

Well, you're talking to someone who had read The Little Prince like 83895 times and I love it JUST AS MUCH everytime I read it and I STILL cry in the same places as I did the first time I read it. I know the ending of it and I STILL love it.[]

And that's The Little Prince.

I've also read The Hobbit 3 times, know the ending, and absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It was my favorite book up until I read The Little Prince.
The Little Prince is my heart book. Then The Hobbit. Then anything Hermann Hesse ever wrote.[]

I'm going ahead to order the first book now.
The first one only has 309 pages, right?

The first 2 are only dinky slim volumes.  There's an impressive amount of info effortlessly passed on in those fairly short, easy-read books. The 3rd is a little bigger, the 4th bigger still, the 5th a bit of a mammoth by comparison and then the last 2 are a bit like book 4 sized ish.

My husband and I only got one copy between us so we're trading it back and forth, 2 hours at a time. Right now he's got it (for another half hour!).

As for ages....

I think 7 is probably too young to start. I'd start at least at age 9 and then give the kid the next book every year for his birthday because by book 3 the characters are teenagers and liking (innocently) people of the opposite sex and getting kind of angsty, and then books 4-6 are all about some serious teen angst that would go right over the heads of younger kids, and by book 7 (it's not a spoiler) they have paired up in to couples and are smooching with somewhat less innocence and are using some mild curse words and phrases. I would not want a kid younger than, say, a mature 13 or 14, reading Book 7.

Our nephew who just turned 10 just read them all this year and honestly I don't know how much he could have gotten out of the last few. He's a bright kid and his reading level is good enough to like comprehend the plot and all, but 10 I think is too young to read the last few. The first couple, though, yes, 9 or 10 I think is a fine time to start. They say that kids identify with characters in books who are 1-2 years older than themselves, and Harry is 10 in the first book. He's 17 by the last one, and thinking and behaving like a 17 year old.

well, I ordered the first book.
I think I'll read them and then decide if I think they're appropriate for my son. Right now, he's only 7 and he's REALLY into the Captain Underpants series (we've read through them twice now and are working on #3) and The Magic Treehouse books.

He reads well, but there's a different between being able to read and actually comprehending what you read. I think he could read a LOT of things, but comprehend what he's read? I'm not sure how much of Harry Potter he'd truly grasp like he's supposed to right now.


Thanks, guys!

I think they understand it ok... and then on re-reading when they are older they understand more.
 
I read The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe when I was about 6 or 7 and enjoyed it.  Now I look back and realise I didn't really understand it at all.... the religious connotations went right over my head.  It didn't stop me from enjoying the book though.
 
I think most kids have got to be teens before they reads the last books though.

This is true...
I could read the book WITH him and then he can take from it what he will and ask me questions if there are parts he doesn't understand.

Then when he gets older and re-reads them, THEN he'll be able to read them and walk away with something entirely different and it'll probably blow his mind![]

Still read them by yourself first though.... some of the imagery is pretty scarey.  Not hugely so, especially in the first books, but like I said, some kids are less tough than others []

Oh, definitely. I'll be reading them first![]

I'd be most concerned around book 4 or 5--people start dying. People we like, good people, good guys.

well, I figure by the time I make it through the books, he'll be old enough to understand them better.

He's only 7 so he's not going to understand them just yet, especially the later books.
He might not even be able to actually read them yet.