Carrie, from Mother to Daughter (Long Post, Invitation to Dialog and Debate)

[JellybeanJay]

I am a mother of a 5 1/2 yr old boy and a 2 1/2 yr old boy. I read to them every evening before bed. Our favorites are Where the Wild Things Are and Never Talk to Strangers. My kids see me reading quite often and always ask what my book is about. I love the curiosity! The way I see it is there is so much garbage on TV that I would much rather my kids read a book. Of course I would never read them a SK book at this point but I cannot wait until they are old enough to appreciate these great works! Oh the conversations we will have!

[Breger3]

I'm currently struggling with this very issue. My daughter is 10, but is way beyond her age with reading and comprehension. The one thing holding me back is that she is autistic and VERY sensitive. She reads Jonathan Rand books, and others, but she knows Stephen King is my all time favorite author and has been asking me if she can read any of his books. I want to say yes, but I'm worried about how upset she may get about things. I've heard Eyes of the Dragon is a good one, but that is one I haven't read myself yet, so I'm not sure about letting her read it. We are very open about things, she can watch scary movies if she wants (I LOVE horror movies, she doesn't yet) She has seen bits and pieces of various movies, but usually leaves the room when she gets scared. I wasn't censored in my reading when I was growing up, which I've always appreciated, so I am leaning towards letting her read whatever, but I'd prefer if she reads a book I've read already, so I can be prepared to answer questions.

Thanks for bringing this up!

[Petrollika]

I can't remember when I started reading SK novels, but it was quite a few years ago. I was terrified of everything when I was younger (still am really, but I have enough common sense to know these things don't exist... well, in theory ) but I'd exhausted all my books and most of my parents'. I noticed they kept reading Stephen King books, and whenever they watched the film adaptations I just had to sit in. One would tell me when to hide at the scary bits, but I still had nightmares (one very vivid one involved Del after being electracuted from the Green Mile. Finally Mam gave up and gave me Eyes of the Dragon, which I've still never read - I found it a bit boring and sneaked Carrie into my room. (I'm ashamed to say I first heard of it from reading The Princess Diaries) I was completely hooked from then on. I was probably about nine, maybe younger, when I read Carrie but it didn't scare me - it just upset me, until I watched the film. The Jesus on the cross terrified me. After Carrie it was Christine, then The Dead Zone then... oh I can't remember. I'm sixteen now and all my friends know not to bring up the subject of books otherwise I could, and would, speak for hours about all these books they've never heard of. My friends are more into romance and sparkly vampires, much to my disgust.
After discovering I read Carrie without being scarred for life, no book in the house was barred to me. It was suggested that I shouldn't read Gerald's Game until I was a little older, so of course I immediately read it. I don't regret it, but I don't think I'll read it again in a hurry. My input is - if you want a kid to read a book, tell them not to, and if you don't want them to read it, don't mention it at all and just keep it out of their sight!

[Hedgewitch]

Michelle, I love that expression of yours! From one wordslut to another * Shakes hands*. ( I once read out SK's advice in on writing-''Omit needless words'' to my husband. ''We're in for a quiet night then..'' came the reply).
As my daughter (see above post) says, the best way to get your kids to do something is to suggest that they oughtn't!
I did think long and hard about how old was old enough to be reading horror - I occasionally try to be responsible! I didn't want to restrict reading in any way and on remembering how old I was when I discovered SK (and James Herbert- Rats and Lair *Shudder*)- I must have been about 13, I thought 'Why not?'

I think, as has been stated in another post, it depends on the child. We have some great discussions about books generally and I'm delighted by that.

[JohnDalglish]

I think, as has been stated in another post, it depends on the child. We have some great discussions about books generally and I'm delighted by that.

Hi,

Aye, I quite agree.

Aren't the discussions great?

My children started (with Night Shift) at about 10.

My son (now 29) was round the other day to show me his i-pad and I snuck as look at what books he's reading on it and I discovered Aristotle, Aesop, Descartes and Dante.

Oh, and Winnie the Pooh.

I was quite impressed with his taste (I read the Pooh - LOVE the i-pod, the illustrations lookwed marvellous!)

Long days and plesasant nights

[king family fan]

I feel that when the child is ready you will know by weather or not it is of interest to them. My 6 year old likes the movies Maxium overdrive and Stand by Me. So really I think if they like it. Try it. As a parent I tried to just monitor it and see how it goes. Never to young to be an SK fan. My self truly hooked as a teenager.

[LindainLondon]

My son still changed the channel as soon as xfiles music started on tv when he was 12, and he would not read the Stine series given to him by a friend, too spooky. He liked Harry Potter since 8 and Narnia, Lord of the Rings by 10. He's 22 now, and is a computer geek. He took some time to warm up to horror stories, but I know he has read and enjoyed The Stand. Number one for him, the movie Shawshank Redemption. I didn't stop him from reading something he had any interest in, but he avoided the scary for quite a while.