Are Harry Potter books not rather hard to understand for childen?

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Question:

I am an adult!.!. I enjoy the Harry Potter movies!.!. I also believe that J!.K!. Rowling is a great writer but i can't understand why are 10 and 11 year olds so crazy about reading her books!.!.I must admit when I was aged 10 or 11 her way of writing would have been too complicated for me to enjoy and fully understand them!.!. I would at least have to be 15!.!. and a lot of adults read the books and even they say!.!. they are not easy to read!.!. It's a great film and book series!.!. but also the movies!.!. are rather scary!.!. if I was a child and watched Harry Potter on DVD or in the cinema I would get scared of all those dark shadow phantoms and other terrible demons and monsters!.!.!. If you are under age 15!.!. do you understand the books!.!. are you not at all scared by the scenes of the movie!.!. and if you are an adult!.!. and like the Harry Potter books!.!. do you believe they are literature which is easy to understand for kids or are those books rather witten for teenagers or young adults!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I think alot of younger kids read the books, but they don't really see the bigger picture, they just get the general information!. But it's saying something about how good the series is, if people so young can read them and not fully understand them, but they still love the series just as much as some adults!.

I think the story is very complex and only older people really get the deeper story behind what's just happening on the surface!.

But I read book 3 when I was about 11 or 12 (it's the first one i ever read before i figured out it was a series), and i understood it or atleast I thought I did!. But when I read book 3 again when i was like 14 or 15, there was SOO much i didn't notice before!.

I think JK Rowling writes for every age, not just a certain age!. There are things in the HP books that everyone can identify about and that everyone loves!. So the books are universal there is not target age!.

*There are some really scary things in the HP books though, I lost some sleep after I read the part in book 7 with Nagini bursting out of Bathilda Bagshot's corpse!. And that whole time they're at the Lovegood's house!.!.!.it was soo creepy to me because of the way her father was acting and then the story of the 3 brothers!.!.!.And then that horrific part at the Malfoy Manor--first with the woman hanging upside down and then Voldemort killing her and saying, "Dinner, Nagini" !.!.!.!.that scared the crap out of me!. And then!.!.!.that part where Hermione is being tortured!.!.!.SCARY! So there are definitely alot of scary things that freaked me out now and I'm 20 years old!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I read the first HP book when I was about 7 or 8 years old!.
And, yes!. It was hard to understand at first and, at some points, I found them boring to death! But I still read on and finished up to book 4!.
And then I started to grow up and, when I was about 11 or 12, I decided to pick up book 1 again and I LOOOOVED it, so I became one of the biggest Harry Potter fans in the world!!!! :)
Www@QuestionHome@Com

I always thought that it was hard for children to understand the story too!. There are so many twists and turns and even I, as a 22 year old, had trouble putting all the puzzle pieces together lol!. I started reading the series when I was about 15, and finished last year when the last book came out, when I was 21!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

i started reading harry potter when i was about 9!.
whilst i didnt understand the ins and outs of it fully,the idea that there was a boy,who could be anyone that stopped the most evil man in the world really appealed to me!.
i think its like any story,you dont have to understand everything in order to enjoy it!.

the movies on the other hand,the part in the second movie where harry tries to touch that hand and it grabs him,that makes me jump!.
but alot of children are exposed to far worse things than a few dementors!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were written for kids, but I do think there's a kids' level of understanding and an adults' level!. Kids get the characters, the main action, most of the funny parts!. Adults may grasp some underlying meanings and allusions that are beyond the kids, but I don't think that lessens the books in any way for the kids!.

The reading level shouldn't be too hard for, say ten year olds!. Younger kids with good reading skills should be okay, too!. I remember quite a jump in reading between second and third grade, so I'd say a third grade level is the minimum that a kid would need in order to get through the books, both re reading and re comprehension!.

Regarding scariness, I'm more easily frightened and troubled by things now than I ever was as a kid, when I believed I was ultimately safe and that adults were all-powerful to take care of me!.

If you look at some of the children's classics, they're all more sophisticated than you'd expect in terms of reading level and content!. We've dumbed down things a lot in recent decades, but that's not the way it should be!.

Examples of not-dumbed-down kids' classics:
Treasure Island
Anne of Green Gables
The Secret Garden
The Wind in the Willows
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Jungle BookWww@QuestionHome@Com

I never wanted to read any Harry Potter books, but in doing an assignment for an intro!. English course in college, I decided to try one out to see what about them would cause them to be banned!.
From the first paragraph of 'Sorcerer's Stone,' I felt like I was reading a Roald Dahl book!. I was hooked, and finished the series, even managing to make it to three midnight sales!.
The books get progressively more difficult!. 'Sorcerer's Stone' is much like many other children's lit!. novels!. 'Deathly Hallows,' however, is more like a novel for late teens!.
The reason younger children like them, I propose, is that they aren't reading every little moment!. Whereas older readers can read it for the moments of, 'this is what I'm going through,' or 'this is what I went through at that age,' or even read it for literary merit (there is some, regardless of what others might say), younger readers read it for the story, and wonder what is going to happen next!.!.!.and forget all the other stuff!. There's adventure and action in a fantasy world that children can escape to!. When I was younger, I was Indiana Jones more times than I can count!. It provides a fun comfort place to go and pass the time while parents are off doing grown up things, like paying bills and working and cleaning!.
As for the movies, yes they might be scary!. But children need more credit than is often given to them!. Many understand it is just a movie and, even if they are of the group that doesn't grasp that reality, being scared is a big part of life!. There is a fear of the unknown, and confronting those fears is an important lesson!. Seeing a character overcome large obstacles on screen or in a book provides inspiration!. Movies might be scary sometimes, but so is life!. It would be just as scary--perhaps moreso--for children to watch the news, what with wars and terrorism splashed across the screen!. These are larger, scarier topics to confront, and children should be prepared to face them later in life!. What better way to ready them for such problems than providing a fictional scenario to grow with!?
The books might seem too much for children!. They might seem like they are intended for teens and young adults!. But at the base it is simply a boy wizard fighting off evil with magic!. What ten year old couldn't grasp that concept!? Leave the literature to the English majors!. Leave the life lessons to the adolescents!. But the story--the boy wizard exploring a world of magic--is more than proper for the children!.Www@QuestionHome@Com