When Henry finished first grade he read every Magic Tree House book and the first Harry Potter within the first month of summer vacation. Then he kept asking if he could read the rest of the Harry Potter series and I said No.
Being the mean mom that I am, I didn't feel that my seven year old was ready for all of Harry Potter on his own, let alone watching the movies that went with them (that's the rule at our house, read the book, then see the movie). Poor Henry got to read one book every summer until he got a little older and then I let him read two books each summer until he finally finished the seventh in 2010.
Is it right to hold back my child from reading books he loves? I think so. He has enjoyed Harry Potter so much more now than he would have when he was seven, he just gets it better and we can talk more about what Harry is going through. Plus, here's my favorite part, Henry read many books he wouldn't have read otherwise, because all he would have wanted to read over and over were the Harry Potter books. We read Spiderwick Chronicles, Magic Tree House, Horrible Harry, all the Bionicle books and others that were more age appropriate.
Having an excellent reader in your home is a blessing and a curse. Some parents don't mind letting there kids read whatever they want and that's fine. Those parents know their child and what will be best for them. But slowing kids down is also OK. One article that helped me was by Rick Riordan, made me like him even more, called Does age appropriateness still have meaning. It was a great look at what we are letting our kids read. Poor Henry still has to wait to read the third book in the Eragon series. One of these years I'll let him.
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