Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
T
I mean, IIRC, I started LOTR when I was 12, but I was fairly precocious; I'd read GWTW by then. I was thinking (no screaming, folks!) that giving him the Shannara series, as a warm-up, might also be age-appropriate. I mean, let's face it, Brooks is far easier reading than the much-denser Tolkien. And it would give him a good comparison, as he matures (Brooks versus the more complexly written and layered Tolkien).
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Eh, you'll not hear screaming from me- short of something on the level of American Psycho, I don't censor my kid's reading. He's welcome to plunder our shelves, the library, etc, to his heart's content.
But personally, and just from experience here as well as what I've heard from YA librarians, I'd be more inclined to recommend/gift more recent books. The Dark is Rising was very much an anomaly in terms of my kid enjoying older books - most SF "classics" and beloved books of my childhood leave him cold. Which I don't mind, really, since there is far more diversity of characters (and writers) and less entrenched sexism in more recent books, I find. Even the Pern series, much as I love it, has its issues. (I don't avoid exposing him to media with issues - but we do discuss and dissect the problems therein.)