Harry Potter books

[LoveMyFamily]

Have you read them? Were they ok? My dd will turn 8 next week and will be getting the first 3 for her birthday but I'll have to read them to her. I find it hard to read her chapter books that are not interesting and although I've seen the movies except the latest one I'm not all that into them you know? But my dd loves them.

I think maybe 2 things here haha!

1: Are they ok and did you like them;

2: How can you focus on reading to a child when you find it a little hard to get into?

[~@Carol@~]

My kids loved them. The twins are 23 now and still quite often re read them. When the first book came out I read it to them as well and quite enjoyed it. Part my enjoyment was sharing the time with the kids. I think the secret is to make sure you aren't rushed or needing to be doing something else instead of reading.
The last movie was very dark and heavy, I suggest you see it before taking your DD.

[LoveMyFamily]

Oh yeah she's only seen to number 4 at the movies. I think we'll take it easy with the books too. We have story time now but the books are short so we have maybe 3 or 4 books at a time.

[~@Carol@~]

well the books are a long read so they should keep you busy for a while :-) Maybe get her to read some to you as well :-)

[Heather]

Is her reading advanced for her age?
I ask this because my son started reading them between 8 and 9 because the school Librarian knew he would be able to read long chapter books unlike the rest of his Year 2 classmates. He loved them and on the school holidays I borrowed them from the school to see what the hype was about (no movies as yet)....felt really silly crying my eyes out during 'The Goblet of Fire' over essentially a teenager's book.
There is a lot of detail omitted from the books that I feel make the earlier movies acceptable to a younger audience, so you might just find yourself enjoying them.

[LoveMyFamily]

Unfortunately she isn't very good at reading yet. It's the area she's a little behind with but excels in math and science. I'm hoping that reading these types of books will help her though because she might focus on the words instead of pictures.

[Heather]

In that case, check with the school librarian...she may have some better books that would encourage reading, sorry LMF, I just feel that these would be a waste of your money and time at the moment.

[Naomi]

I started reading the first one to my 6 year old. (He's only in year one, his reading is good for his stage but not that good). I've read them myself and I really enjoyed them. I actually found it kind of boring to read them to him though and this is why - there's a whole lot of 'set up' stuff at the beginning that, when you read it yourself you can skim but it actually takes ages to read aloud.

I enjoy reading to my kids, we read a huge range of genres from picture books to chapter books. He enjoyed the Harry Potter book (I haven't read any more to him yet, I'm not sure they're age appropriate for him). I like the enjoyment he gets out of it. And I also think reading to him (even though he's started reading for himself as well now) is a good way for us to spend time together and unwind at bedtime. And HP is way more interesting that the lame home readers he is required to read daily for school. So while I got bored occasionally (mainly because I've read the books, several times before) we persevered. If you haven't read the books before, you might actually find it interesting?

[RedCarpetDresses]

They are really great I love them, and the earlier books are probably a good idea, but as they go on they get very dark and I dont think an 8 year old would really understand the plot line and it may be too dark and scary!

[Frannie]

My whole family have read these books and completely loved them and they even got my DS to start reading again. He has ADD and when he was yournger he did not have a great attention span so reading was difficult for him but he started reading them when he was about 15 and he has read everyone of them now and it has really developed his choice of words in conversations..... I found the imagination of the author compelling. We have the whole set of books and DVD's.....