The series is far too dark for small kids. In the last book, I can't even think of a part that's FOR children. I won't even consider letting my kids see these until they're ten or so, and even then, with serious parental supervision.
Suprisingly enough, as I understand it, that's the age group they are written for
I have a friend who teaches 4-5 year olds, she was absolutely livid that some of her kids' parents had taken them to see the films. They had come back, understandably, very scared. They're childrens' books because they are written for under-18s, not because they are suitable for all children.
I also have a feeling, that part of the plan was to write a series that would 'grow up' with the readers. Certainly, the ten year olds I knew who read the first book are now in their late teens...
Of course that falls down when you get ten year olds picking up the first book now, they're not going to wait a year or two before they read the next one in the series.
But I was reading some very grown up and dark books at 10, and it didn't do me any harm. Well, not much... :p
And if you want to see how dark childrens' books can get, I can highly recommend Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. These are definately for the older teens though. They make Harry Potter look like a, well, a pretty bog-standard series about wizards and boarding schools, two popular subject matters in the long tradition of British children's writing....
Sorry. :rolleyes: Don't get me wrong, I do like Harry really. Honest.
Helga
