Subject: REDWALLLLL!
Author:
Posted on: 2019-05-26 21:51:00 UTC
*ahem*
I read the original Redwall in first grade then devoured most of the series over the next several years, finishing it off sometime in middle school when I finally grabbed the last of the books. So elementary school seems to be a good age bracket provided the reader isn't put off by book length or density. Or violence.
I'm pretty sure everyone here has favourite books, and wants to pass the love on, but unlike films, books have a frustrating lack of age recommendations. I thought it might be interesting to hear what age people think is appropriate to share their own favourites at - whether it's with your own children, children of friends or relatives, or any kids you come into contact with through work.
-I can confirm that The Hobbit is great to read aloud around age 6. Not sure they'd be able to get through it themselves, though.
-Harry Potter works from about 8, though the series does tend to age up; we hit a stumbling block a few chapters into Azkaban.
-Percy Jackson, again, is good for 8 and up; I don't know yet where we'll stall out.
-We haven't yet tried LotR, Discworld, or Young Wizards; I feel like the Discworld 'children's' books will be suitable pretty soon, but don't want to push it too hard.
-And of course, Roald Dahl is great as soon as they can read. >:D Seriously, we got a 6/7-year-old blazing through Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and several others. (Not BFG or Witches, though; too traumatic for me to pass on. :D)
hS
I feel like this depends a lot on the kids themselves, their interests and reading levels, ect. I’ve always been a bit wary of assigning age ranges to children’s literature just because children the same age can have a broad range of experiences and comfort levels, both with reading/vocabulary and with various kinds of subject matter.
There is a story, though, about my sister reading “Alanna: The First Adventure” for the first time. She was six, and there’s a scene in there where the protagonist gets her period for the first time. My sister, confused, asked our mother what was going on, and our mother was rather taken aback. She did her best to explain and resolved to pay a little closer attention to the books we were reading in future.
(I, on the other hand, remember reading right past that scene as a kid. “Women in this book-world bleed once every moon? Definitly just another odd fantasy thing...”)
*ahem*
I read the original Redwall in first grade then devoured most of the series over the next several years, finishing it off sometime in middle school when I finally grabbed the last of the books. So elementary school seems to be a good age bracket provided the reader isn't put off by book length or density. Or violence.
Anything really goes when Games Workshop is writing children's novels set in one of the most violent, depressing, gory, grimdark, non-PG-13 settings ever:
https://warhammeradventures.com
I mean, seriously?
Children?
Warhammer 40,000?
Who the hell thought that was a 'good idea'?
There's a lot of children's media based on much darker originals. Have you read the traditional versions of the various fairy tales adapted by Disney? I know the Little Mermaid dissolves into sea-foam, for instance.
Oh, or one of my favourite examples: remember the Spielberg A.I. film, a couple of decades back? They said at the time that they'd deliberately given it a happier ending, which - given that it ends with literally everyone in the film dying - always seemed a bit of a bizarre claim.
Then I read the original story, which ends with the robot child protagonist being sent back to the factory to be disposed of. You know - for kids!
For that matter, I think Greek mythology can lay convincing claim to the 'most non-PG13 setting ever' title, and look at Percy Jackson...
hS
That's kinda not really what the subject was about. No need to go off on one bashing 40kA just now.
Although I will say that 13-16 is roughly the correct range of introduction for 40k. Start them off on Cain, or Horus Heresy. Or Gaunt...
I was given a copy of... what's the second Gaunt book? Ghostmaker, by someone who was definitely a friend from Primary School (ie, up to age 11), but I think it may have happened after starting Secondary School. Probably 12-13.
Of course, Gaunt's Ghosts are surprisingly non-gritty for 40K. I'm continually surprised by the lack of smut-and-swearing issues (cursing in Tanith-Verghast dialect don't count), though of course they're stuffed with violence.
(Currently waiting for 'The Victory Part 2' to come out so I can read the final(?) two books and finish the collection. No spoilers please!)
hS
HH gets more graphic IIRC.
Still, it's a good intro to the setting.
Honestly, I'd suggest an omnibus of short stories like my first lorebook was. Generly gives a broad overview. And the newer ones don't assume prior knowledge, to my understanding.
Crusade and Other Stories seems to be marketed to new players, who are often kids wirg starter sets and not much else. So that could work.
I’ve introduced the eight year old to The Hobbit and he’s been hanging onto every word, though sometimes he asks me a lot of questions that make me wish hS was there. (Can I do that, have a pocket hS to consult for LotR questions?)
The six year old’s class has actually been reading the first Harry Potter book with her class. She was so cute, coming home every day to tell me how certain she was that Snape was trying to kill Harry. Her face when they finished the book was priceless.
I remember I read the last book when it came out, and I was ten at the time. I think that’s plenty old to be exposed to some of the darker stuff;m, though admittedly I didn’t understand how dark it got until I was older.
I’ve been reading the two of them a lot of Roald Dahl as bedtime stories, too. Matilda is the six year old’s favorite, they both love The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and we’re currently reading The Twits.
I’d love to get the six year old into the Princess School series, where Cinderella (“Ella”), Snow White, Rapunzel, and Briar Rose become friends while attending school to learn all the skills a princess needs to know like embroidery and hairstyling, while at the same time becoming damsels out of distress. It was a favorite series of mine when I was little, and even going back to them when I was older, it holds up, even if it’s a bit too simple to properly hold my interest now.
For the eight year old, I’d like to introduce him to the Divide trilogy. It’s about a boy with a heart defect who falls through the titular Divide and ends up in a fantasy world where gryphons and elves and the like are real, bur humans and lions and dogs and the like are fictional. It’s a more obscure series, but another favorite of mine growing up that tackles hard themes about friendships, growing up, and chronic illnesses in a child-friendly way.
(And if I may cheat a bit, their mum and I are planning on introducing them both to Doctor Who soon, since neither of them scare easy and the eight year old especially loves aliens and outer space.)
The most complex question I've been asked so far is 'what's a Hobbit?'. ;) I don't think they've invented a Pocket Me yet, though you can always bounce me an email and see if I can come up with a quick answer.
Doctor Who works wonders at 8 - we got through Series One, and then Series 11 as it came out. It didn't manage to hold the six-year-old, but that's a child who tends to be dubious about anything scary (down to and including 'mild peril' in unfamiliar films). We'll try again in a year or so.
hS