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Wee Free Men, for sure. I think the worst is a joke about the tobacco pouch looking like a naked woman turned upside down, which seems to go over Tiffany's head--and isn't played out like some Nanny Ogg moment or anything like the non YA books.
There's a bit about 'leaving a cross where you left off the previous day' when the Feegles are discussing Rob and Tiffany's prospective marriage, due to the size difference. Doubt an 8yo would get it though - I only remember so clearly because I was just about old enough to be mildly scandalised, at 10 š
Sure, the Feegles love their alcohol. It's not going to trouble a kid to read about it, though. It's nothing that would convince a kid that it's a good idea to drink when you're eight. Or eighteen really. It's just something the Feegles do.
Yup. And Tiffany knows better. When there's alcohol in a book, it has to be depicted realistically if it's to be read by kids, because otherwise they get the idea that it's a good idea to get hella drunk, which... well, it's not, even if you're an adult, but growing brains are particularly vulnerable. Pretending alcohol is a huge taboo can backfire and turn it into forbidden fruit, but if you tell kids the truth about what it does to you, they'll generally listen when you say it's not a good idea until you're older.
Ahhh exactly!!! If you hide a thing away it becomes all the more interesting. If you over exaggerate the dangers then your kid will lose trust in you when they inevitably learn the truth. But if you explain it plainly, going over the positives as well as the negatives, the kid will understand!
I just read Guards Guards to my 8 yo as his first pratchett. A lot of jokes went over his head (or required lengthy explanation), and I had to pray he didn't obsess over the couple of 'shit's and one 'bitch' in the book (he didn't). But it wasnt too scary or advanced for him, and that's not even one of the YA ones.
Granted, in some ways the Tiffany novels are *more* mature than that one, in that they're all about mastering fear as you grow and doing things for yourself and the (often very mortal) nature of consequences, but the language and the narrative are both very straightforward and should be fine for him. My only concern with reading them is constantly having to do a feegle accent!
Also FYI theres an excellent animated Amazing Maurice movie thats on, I wanna say Amazon Prime? Very good intro to Pratchett and the DW to start.
I don't think you should underestimate an eight year old who likes to read.
I would, however, recommend you read the book and have a conversation with her parents if there are any questions.
I have mixed feelings about this recommendation, but my sister used to check Common Sense Media for descriptions to decide if she wanted her kids reading something or not. The downside is that whoever does the reviewing tends to jump to the assumption that, say, the noises in the next room that the heroine hears (in Sabriel, by Garth Nix) are people having sex when it wasn't necessarily. It said way more about the reviewer than the book.
If you want to wait a bit before you let her read pre-teen YA subjects, there's also stuff for younger readers listed at the bottom of this linked page.
https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/book-series/younger-readers/
>She might like The Amazing Maurice too.
Are you fucking kidding me? I was a grown adult when I read that and I am still traumatized many years later. I don't have any other issues with rodents irl or other media, but that book has scarred me.
Funny enough there is stuff that scares adults more than children. A lot of children eg love scary fairy tales as long as they get an satisfying ending.
āFairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.ā G.K. Chesterton
Yes, it has some rather sad bits in it, doesn't it? I wouldn't think the average kid would be actually traumatized, but I can see how it would make a person reach for the tissues, at least. Or turn the stomach of anyone who doesn't like to read about rats eating each other.
It was not the sadness that got me. Definitely the way Pterry got right into my brain with the rat king. It's been many years and I still feel like I can hear/smell/see/touch it.
Ah. Yes. That was... a little disturbing. I'll give it that. Genocidal maniac rat kings are pretty darn creepy. I don't remember being particularly creeped out by him, but he is certainly a memorable villain.
What I loved most about the bromeliad series is how much I didnāt get when I was younger - I had the Tony Robinson audiobooks when I was quite small (younger than 8). And didnāt know what a haberdashery was. Or Critical Path Analysis (Iām now a project manager, and enjoy sewing š¤ )
I didnāt read them at all for about 15 years, then when I read them a couple of years ago I was just like OH MY GOD ALL THE PUNNS
I clearly need to give them a reread, because I don't think I have since I was about 10! I am fairly sure that the holey sock was probably my first real introduction to the world of puns outside of dad jokes
The wee free men are perfect for an 8yo. I just finished it with my recently 8 and 11 year olds.
Now my 8yo runs through our garden yelling "YOU TAKE THE HIGH ROAD AND I'LL TAKE YER WALLET!!!"
He also enjoys being able to use _crivens_ as a 'swear'.
He didn't get much out of the themes of the story or anything, but he enjoyed the hell out of it.
Tiffany is a great place to start, for someone that age. Plenty of characters to bond to and with whom to empathise, it's smaller bites, and it's extremely important identity unfoldimg stuff that comes up around then.
Now, story time:
So, when I was a kid, I was allowed to read anything I could reach. Mum didn't keep much very sexually explicit in the house, it's just not her jam, apparently (we've talked about it as adults, what she was putting out of my reach was deeply sad or violent material, p.s. children are great climbers) and I have gone on to re-read a lot of that over several periods of life. What you get out of a book as an eight year old is VERY different from the things, with more life experience, that you get out of it as a teenager and different again in your 30s. Things hit differently at different ages, and I honestly can't think of anything STP writes that I would not share with a child. If they get the joke, they get it, and we can talk about appropriate audiences and stuff; it's an opportunity to talk. To educate and bond, as people at different places in life. I had A LOT of those what-does-this-mean conversations and appreciate them deeply as I age.
P. P. S. I have unpopular opinions about Harry Potter and have done the whole time. I'm so glad the wee one likes fantasy. There are.... so many other things to explore. I wish you luck in doing so.
When I asked my mate his opinion on which I should start reading to the boys, he said to me "we both read everything at whatever age we got hold of the book. Children tend to rise to the book"
They're generally considered YA books, like the later Harry Potter books. If she regularly reads from the YA section, they might be fine for her. She would have to be a relatively advanced reader, but then, I was reading from the adult section by age nine; it's not that unusual among book people.
They do have some relatively mature topics in them, particularly the later ones. I'm thinking of one in particular where Tiffany has to deal with domestic abuse and a stillborn baby, which might be a bit much for an eight-year-old to think about. "The Wee Free Men" is probably okay--it does have real danger, but TIffany herself is quite young in that one, and not yet dealing with the (often sad) daily work of being a witch.
I am going to point out that the Tiffany books get into some really heavy stuff. Suicide attempt by a man who abused his daughter being an issue in one of them. To my mind that's way to heavy for an 8 year old.
I'd say, yeah, it is. But on the other hand, I read stuff like that when I was a kid, so it's not unusual... precocious readers being what they are. I also learned about how babies were made from my mom's medical textbooks, which looking back on it, is a very Tiffanyish thing to do. Of course she learned from the sheep; but she's got that dictionary of hers and learned rather interesting things from that, however much the writers tried to be polite about it.
That said... there are better things for an eight-year-old to read that offer the same level of challenge and depth without having to think about tragedies like that. I do feel like it's better not to pretend to children that the world is safe and wholesome at all times, because it isn't and they know it isn't, and they know when you're patronizing them. But one can give them stories that focus on the parts of the real world that are challenging without giving them nightmares.
You never know what will traumatize a child. For me, it was a book about the Civil War, with photography of the era... there were battlefield photos, corpses rotting in the sun, that sort of thing. I've hated war ever since I realized that that was what war was. I think I was about eight or so. The book was supposed to be educational. It was, but boy oh boy, my young self did not need to be slapped in the face with pictures of dead boys on a Civil War battlefield.
Is it better to learn to hate war at 8, from a book?
Or to not find out about it till you are 18 in the army?
Or to not find out at all, and support a war as an adult? In a position of power, maybe?
I'm sure you can learn to hate war without seeing it directly. Granted, the book was meant for teens, or maybe adults--I'm not sure, it wasn't a kids' book--but still. It's always a risk you take when you read beyond your age group.
The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky should be fine for a kid her age. Theyāre fun but thoughtful and the way they deal with adult themes is on par with Harry Potter if not better.
Wintersmith toes the line. It deals with more middle school and up themes (itās a kissing book). If sheās invested in the stories of the first two, it might be worth a shot.
I Shall Wear Midnight is where the series really digs deep into the uncomfortable realities of adulthood, including domestic abuse. Iād wait on this one for a couple of years.
The Shepherds Crown is thematically calmer than I Shall Wear Midnight, but Iād still recommend waiting just because of itās significance to the series as a whole.
I read all of these in middle school and have come back to them repeatedly since. The writing style always felt comparable to other middle grade and younger books, so the reading level should be fine š.
I agree with "I shall wear midnight" and "The Shepherds Crown" but while Wintersmith has some romance in it it is very innocent. Some 8-10 year old would hate it, some love it, some be neutral about it/ ignore it. But definitely not disturbing in my opinion.
Iām currently reading Wee Free Men to my kids (11 and 8). And ye cannae do it wāout the voicesā¦
That said, I wouldnāt let her read Wee Free Men unsupervised at 8. Itās not the normal things, like sex or violence or fantasy themes, itās the all too non-fantasy themes of exclusion, othering, bullying and death you need to watch.
For example, thereās no direct drinking (so far- there is special sheep linament though ). But the townsfolk hounding Mrs Snapperly out of her home and letting her freeze to death in the winter for being a woman and being a bit odd is something you might not want to shrug off. Or Miss Tick taking all too reasonable precautions to make sure sheās not identified as a witch.
There are some really huge social themes lurking just below the surface of WFM. Which is why I love it. But itās also why you need to be a touch careful about giving it to an 8 year old. Or at least check in on your niece to see if sheās noticed them and is scared.
I don't know. I was 8 when my grandmother started complaining about about stomach pains in the middle of a road trip. Ended up spending the evening in the ER waiting room with my dad, while my grandmother died in the ER.
My niece found her cousin dead on the bathroom from an OD when she was 7. (She just got her Masters in psychology, with a focus on addiction counseling.)
I get wanting to shield your kids from trauma, but at the same time, trauma still happens. So maybe teaching them about some of the stuff flung at you in life through fiction might help you better process that.
I read Watership Down for the first time when I couldn't have been more than 10.
It was intense, but it remains one of my favorite books that I have ever read.
Like someone else commented, I think the child rises to the level of the book (within reason obviously, no one should be giving American Psycho to an 8 year old)
I think youāre probably right. I wouldnāt give it to a child and then disappear, is what Iām trying to say.
Give it to the child and talk about it after is probably the best course.
How shockingly reasonable!
I haven't read WFM yet, just finishing up Carpe Juggulum, so I don't know the specifics.
I think that, like you said, readingĀ *with*Ā the kid, or at least discussing it after, are really valuable to a child's intellectual development
Agreed! And I was about the same age, I think. Watership Down is not a children's book, but I was reading books from all over the age spectrum by then. I loved it, too, despite the horror of parts of it. It didn't talk down to me. I hated books that talked down to me, pretended the world was all perfect and safe and nice, because I knew perfectly well it wasn't. I wanted stories about people who knew the world wasn't safe and nice, and who lived successfully in it despite that.
I think the Bromeliad Trilogy is a better place to start. Also The Unadultered Cat and the Children's Circle Stories collection. The younger Discworld books (like Maurice and the Tiffany books) I think are better enjoyed 13+ to get the full experience.
First one, at least. See how she does with it before offering the second one, and you may wanna wait a couple years for the last 3-- the third gets pre-teen heavy, and the last two get young adult heavy. But with the first one, your biggest issues are likely to be her adopting crivens as a swear word and carrying around a frying pan in case of monsters (which is sensible, if you think about it).
I say go for it! There's some pretty awful stuff in the Potter books, if she can take that I think she can take the Tiffany books. Of course, I myself was reading Stephen King books unsupervised at 9 and lived to tell the story so I'm probably not the best judge of what kids should be reading!!
**The fourth one- I Shall Wear Midnight- is *absolutely not* appropriate for most 8 year olds.** It opens with (TW: DV, child abuse)
The first three I would say are fine.Ā
It of course depends on the person (kid and you) but I don't think there's anything to worry about for your average 8 year old. If you're still hesitant, get the Nomes books instead, more clearly for a younger audience.
Reading the Feeglesā dialect is difficult for kids. Even high school kids. I have taught _The Wee Free Men_ to sophomores before, and about 1/3 needed a lot of assistance. This is a book she can probably handle, but having it read to her would be helpful. That way she also has the opportunity to ask about things she doesnāt understand.
It is an important book. There is much to be learned from (and with) Tiffany.
If she canāt handle it now, donāt forget it! Try it with her again when she is older!
Personally I read them at around that age and I was fine, and am really glad I did (those books were absolutely fundamental for me). Children understand more than some people think. And the nice thing about books especially is that anything they don't really have the capacity to understand will just go over their head.
I tried to get my daughter to read them when she was 8, but she didn't vibe with them (I think they were too advanced).
I wish I'd waited a couple more years.
pterry's "young adult" stories are more serious than his other books.
Like Harry Potter, Tiffany Aching deals with more mature issues with each successive book.
And has a non-transphobic author too. I swear, I used to like Harry Potter, but ever since the author's been behaving like an absolute asshat, I can't enjoy it anymore.
speaking as a formerly hyperlexic child, yes if she can read HP on her own at 8 then Tiffany is absolutely fine.
give her parents a heads up she may have questions about some of the later themes (and obviously get their permission to give her the books!) but honestly I'm glad my parents didn't stop me from reading what I wanted to read at that age as I sucked down books like they were oxygen.
there are much, much worse things she could read than Pterry.
You too, huh? Yeah. The joy of text... I know I was reading past my comprehension ability, especially when I was young. But sheer practice fixed that. I could read adult-level text by six, without understanding much of it; but by high school, my comprehension was college-level. Hyperlexic kids should not be stopped from reading! Our comprehension lags our ability to decode text, and the only way we'll catch up is to practice. Give them plenty of books, teach them how to ask questions and read between the lines, and in the end, you will have an adult bookworm who is capable of reading just about anything written.
Unequivocally, yes.
The only thing better than giving the Tiffany books to your kid is reading them out loud to your kid.
The only thing better than reading them out loud to your kid is reading them out loud and doing the voices.
Source: I'm a parent. I read them to my kid at that age. It was a blast.
It depends on what you mean by ok. I think my kids were around 8-9 when we read the Wee Free Men. But this is a dark bookā¦the Hiver is scary AF. The Tiffany Aching books are the scariest and darkest books in the whole series. And I love them the most. My daughter dressed as Tiffany Aching for Literary Character day in middle school. So if your kid can handle scary, the yeah. I would read them to her rather than handing her the book, imo.
I had read a few of his books by 8 - mort, The bromeliad trillage and the johnny maxwell series. Tiffany books may also be ok (They came out after I was 8, but I see them asā¦ more than the others)
Mort was my fave, I think they say ābuggerā a few times, its where I learnt it was a swearword
Didn't Susan Sto Helit have some sound advice on this topic in *Hogfather*?
Either way, I was only a couple of years older than your niece when I first read *The Colour of Magic* so I wouldn't worry too much.
Yep, that's where books are different than films. Stuff they don't understand yet will just go over their heads because they lack the knowledge to draw the pictures in their heads (or they draw very innocent ones). Seeing things they can't understand in films can be far more disturbing.
The first three absolutely. They really feel like told from the view of a young girl. And an intelligent and independent one, Tiffany is such a great character. So if you are looking for girl-lead children novels the Tiffany books are magnificent. There is some darkness in them but in a way children can deal with in my opinion. They all have good satisfying ends.
Yes, there's stuff and jokes she might not get now - so what? That's why Terry Pratchett books are fantastic for rereads and speak to so many different people or differently to people during their life. Wintersmith has some slight romance but really innocent. I think the worst that can happen is she doesn't like it (yet).
Please trust children about their reading choices at least with every book written for children and young adults. I read books from 7years on that were recommended for 12+. Read the hobbit age 10 and LotR age 12. Don't hold them back.
I read the series to my 8 year old daughter. If I could go back, I would have read the first two and then gifted the rest to her to read when she turns twelve. All of the books are marvelous but start to mature with the big wee hag at Wintersmith. Having to explain the circumstances around The Rough Music to an 8 year old was a challenge, and I had to do a little light editing from there forward through the remainder of the series.
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Wee Free Men, for sure. I think the worst is a joke about the tobacco pouch looking like a naked woman turned upside down, which seems to go over Tiffany's head--and isn't played out like some Nanny Ogg moment or anything like the non YA books.
There's a bit about 'leaving a cross where you left off the previous day' when the Feegles are discussing Rob and Tiffany's prospective marriage, due to the size difference. Doubt an 8yo would get it though - I only remember so clearly because I was just about old enough to be mildly scandalised, at 10 š
Forgot about that!
Is there no boozin' at all in WFM? It's been so long since I read it.
There's a little bit, nothing bad. Tiffany's dad drinks and the Wee lads obviously.
Sure, the Feegles love their alcohol. It's not going to trouble a kid to read about it, though. It's nothing that would convince a kid that it's a good idea to drink when you're eight. Or eighteen really. It's just something the Feegles do.
I think the important bit is that the boozing is depicted as a dumb thing to do, not something to be emulated.
Yup. And Tiffany knows better. When there's alcohol in a book, it has to be depicted realistically if it's to be read by kids, because otherwise they get the idea that it's a good idea to get hella drunk, which... well, it's not, even if you're an adult, but growing brains are particularly vulnerable. Pretending alcohol is a huge taboo can backfire and turn it into forbidden fruit, but if you tell kids the truth about what it does to you, they'll generally listen when you say it's not a good idea until you're older.
Ahhh exactly!!! If you hide a thing away it becomes all the more interesting. If you over exaggerate the dangers then your kid will lose trust in you when they inevitably learn the truth. But if you explain it plainly, going over the positives as well as the negatives, the kid will understand!
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong. I don't really have an issue with it, I just couldn't remember if there was any of it in that book.
I just read Guards Guards to my 8 yo as his first pratchett. A lot of jokes went over his head (or required lengthy explanation), and I had to pray he didn't obsess over the couple of 'shit's and one 'bitch' in the book (he didn't). But it wasnt too scary or advanced for him, and that's not even one of the YA ones. Granted, in some ways the Tiffany novels are *more* mature than that one, in that they're all about mastering fear as you grow and doing things for yourself and the (often very mortal) nature of consequences, but the language and the narrative are both very straightforward and should be fine for him. My only concern with reading them is constantly having to do a feegle accent! Also FYI theres an excellent animated Amazing Maurice movie thats on, I wanna say Amazon Prime? Very good intro to Pratchett and the DW to start.
I'm tempted to start with this one for my nephew because he really loves dragons.
What does ya stand for?
Young Adult
Oh cheers
It's on Hulu and Disney Plus for sure! I just showed it to my two. It's adorable.
Wait, it's on Hulu???? Since when? Ahhh thank you, I know what I'm doing tonight! Haven't seen it since theaters since I can't find it stateside
We watched it on Disney plus and it said "available through your Hulu subscription" so I hope I didn't lie to you lol
I'll find out! It's worth a look, at least :) Edit: just checked, it is. Thank you!
I don't think you should underestimate an eight year old who likes to read. I would, however, recommend you read the book and have a conversation with her parents if there are any questions. I have mixed feelings about this recommendation, but my sister used to check Common Sense Media for descriptions to decide if she wanted her kids reading something or not. The downside is that whoever does the reviewing tends to jump to the assumption that, say, the noises in the next room that the heroine hears (in Sabriel, by Garth Nix) are people having sex when it wasn't necessarily. It said way more about the reviewer than the book.
If you want to wait a bit before you let her read pre-teen YA subjects, there's also stuff for younger readers listed at the bottom of this linked page. https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/book-series/younger-readers/
One book I didn't see on that list but any 8 year old would love - World of Poo.
I loved that one and I was fully adult when I read it. It's just plain funny.
The first and second Tiffany books are fine, I think I was that age when I first read them. She might like The Amazing Maurice too.
I dressed as Dangerous Beans for Halloween when I was 8 :)
>She might like The Amazing Maurice too. Are you fucking kidding me? I was a grown adult when I read that and I am still traumatized many years later. I don't have any other issues with rodents irl or other media, but that book has scarred me.
It was my introduction to Pterry! I think I was probably seven years old... mom read it to me and my brother in chapters at bedtime.
Wooooow. And how are you guys doing now?
Our various challenges and troubles have nothing to do with Maurice or the Rodents, thankfully!
Keep telling yourselves that....
Funny enough there is stuff that scares adults more than children. A lot of children eg love scary fairy tales as long as they get an satisfying ending. āFairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.ā G.K. Chesterton
Yes, it has some rather sad bits in it, doesn't it? I wouldn't think the average kid would be actually traumatized, but I can see how it would make a person reach for the tissues, at least. Or turn the stomach of anyone who doesn't like to read about rats eating each other.
It was not the sadness that got me. Definitely the way Pterry got right into my brain with the rat king. It's been many years and I still feel like I can hear/smell/see/touch it.
Ah. Yes. That was... a little disturbing. I'll give it that. Genocidal maniac rat kings are pretty darn creepy. I don't remember being particularly creeped out by him, but he is certainly a memorable villain.
Start with Truckers Diggers and Wings. Much more age appropriate
Was just coming to recommend this! I think my brother read them/I listened to the audio books when he was about 8 or 9 and I was 7 or 8
What I loved most about the bromeliad series is how much I didnāt get when I was younger - I had the Tony Robinson audiobooks when I was quite small (younger than 8). And didnāt know what a haberdashery was. Or Critical Path Analysis (Iām now a project manager, and enjoy sewing š¤ ) I didnāt read them at all for about 15 years, then when I read them a couple of years ago I was just like OH MY GOD ALL THE PUNNS
I clearly need to give them a reread, because I don't think I have since I was about 10! I am fairly sure that the holey sock was probably my first real introduction to the world of puns outside of dad jokes
So many puns!!
Bromeliad cycle is great. As are the johnny books.
Absolutely, Bromeliad is perfect for that age
The wee free men are perfect for an 8yo. I just finished it with my recently 8 and 11 year olds. Now my 8yo runs through our garden yelling "YOU TAKE THE HIGH ROAD AND I'LL TAKE YER WALLET!!!" He also enjoys being able to use _crivens_ as a 'swear'. He didn't get much out of the themes of the story or anything, but he enjoyed the hell out of it.
Tiffany is a great place to start, for someone that age. Plenty of characters to bond to and with whom to empathise, it's smaller bites, and it's extremely important identity unfoldimg stuff that comes up around then. Now, story time: So, when I was a kid, I was allowed to read anything I could reach. Mum didn't keep much very sexually explicit in the house, it's just not her jam, apparently (we've talked about it as adults, what she was putting out of my reach was deeply sad or violent material, p.s. children are great climbers) and I have gone on to re-read a lot of that over several periods of life. What you get out of a book as an eight year old is VERY different from the things, with more life experience, that you get out of it as a teenager and different again in your 30s. Things hit differently at different ages, and I honestly can't think of anything STP writes that I would not share with a child. If they get the joke, they get it, and we can talk about appropriate audiences and stuff; it's an opportunity to talk. To educate and bond, as people at different places in life. I had A LOT of those what-does-this-mean conversations and appreciate them deeply as I age. P. P. S. I have unpopular opinions about Harry Potter and have done the whole time. I'm so glad the wee one likes fantasy. There are.... so many other things to explore. I wish you luck in doing so.
When I asked my mate his opinion on which I should start reading to the boys, he said to me "we both read everything at whatever age we got hold of the book. Children tend to rise to the book"
Yes, exactly! Well put, Mate!
Gorgeously put
They're generally considered YA books, like the later Harry Potter books. If she regularly reads from the YA section, they might be fine for her. She would have to be a relatively advanced reader, but then, I was reading from the adult section by age nine; it's not that unusual among book people. They do have some relatively mature topics in them, particularly the later ones. I'm thinking of one in particular where Tiffany has to deal with domestic abuse and a stillborn baby, which might be a bit much for an eight-year-old to think about. "The Wee Free Men" is probably okay--it does have real danger, but TIffany herself is quite young in that one, and not yet dealing with the (often sad) daily work of being a witch.
I am going to point out that the Tiffany books get into some really heavy stuff. Suicide attempt by a man who abused his daughter being an issue in one of them. To my mind that's way to heavy for an 8 year old.
I'd say, yeah, it is. But on the other hand, I read stuff like that when I was a kid, so it's not unusual... precocious readers being what they are. I also learned about how babies were made from my mom's medical textbooks, which looking back on it, is a very Tiffanyish thing to do. Of course she learned from the sheep; but she's got that dictionary of hers and learned rather interesting things from that, however much the writers tried to be polite about it. That said... there are better things for an eight-year-old to read that offer the same level of challenge and depth without having to think about tragedies like that. I do feel like it's better not to pretend to children that the world is safe and wholesome at all times, because it isn't and they know it isn't, and they know when you're patronizing them. But one can give them stories that focus on the parts of the real world that are challenging without giving them nightmares. You never know what will traumatize a child. For me, it was a book about the Civil War, with photography of the era... there were battlefield photos, corpses rotting in the sun, that sort of thing. I've hated war ever since I realized that that was what war was. I think I was about eight or so. The book was supposed to be educational. It was, but boy oh boy, my young self did not need to be slapped in the face with pictures of dead boys on a Civil War battlefield.
Is it better to learn to hate war at 8, from a book? Or to not find out about it till you are 18 in the army? Or to not find out at all, and support a war as an adult? In a position of power, maybe?
I'm sure you can learn to hate war without seeing it directly. Granted, the book was meant for teens, or maybe adults--I'm not sure, it wasn't a kids' book--but still. It's always a risk you take when you read beyond your age group.
The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky should be fine for a kid her age. Theyāre fun but thoughtful and the way they deal with adult themes is on par with Harry Potter if not better. Wintersmith toes the line. It deals with more middle school and up themes (itās a kissing book). If sheās invested in the stories of the first two, it might be worth a shot. I Shall Wear Midnight is where the series really digs deep into the uncomfortable realities of adulthood, including domestic abuse. Iād wait on this one for a couple of years. The Shepherds Crown is thematically calmer than I Shall Wear Midnight, but Iād still recommend waiting just because of itās significance to the series as a whole. I read all of these in middle school and have come back to them repeatedly since. The writing style always felt comparable to other middle grade and younger books, so the reading level should be fine š.
I agree with "I shall wear midnight" and "The Shepherds Crown" but while Wintersmith has some romance in it it is very innocent. Some 8-10 year old would hate it, some love it, some be neutral about it/ ignore it. But definitely not disturbing in my opinion.
Iām currently reading Wee Free Men to my kids (11 and 8). And ye cannae do it wāout the voicesā¦ That said, I wouldnāt let her read Wee Free Men unsupervised at 8. Itās not the normal things, like sex or violence or fantasy themes, itās the all too non-fantasy themes of exclusion, othering, bullying and death you need to watch. For example, thereās no direct drinking (so far- there is special sheep linament though ). But the townsfolk hounding Mrs Snapperly out of her home and letting her freeze to death in the winter for being a woman and being a bit odd is something you might not want to shrug off. Or Miss Tick taking all too reasonable precautions to make sure sheās not identified as a witch. There are some really huge social themes lurking just below the surface of WFM. Which is why I love it. But itās also why you need to be a touch careful about giving it to an 8 year old. Or at least check in on your niece to see if sheās noticed them and is scared.
I don't know. I was 8 when my grandmother started complaining about about stomach pains in the middle of a road trip. Ended up spending the evening in the ER waiting room with my dad, while my grandmother died in the ER. My niece found her cousin dead on the bathroom from an OD when she was 7. (She just got her Masters in psychology, with a focus on addiction counseling.) I get wanting to shield your kids from trauma, but at the same time, trauma still happens. So maybe teaching them about some of the stuff flung at you in life through fiction might help you better process that.
I read Watership Down for the first time when I couldn't have been more than 10. It was intense, but it remains one of my favorite books that I have ever read. Like someone else commented, I think the child rises to the level of the book (within reason obviously, no one should be giving American Psycho to an 8 year old)
I think youāre probably right. I wouldnāt give it to a child and then disappear, is what Iām trying to say. Give it to the child and talk about it after is probably the best course.
How shockingly reasonable! I haven't read WFM yet, just finishing up Carpe Juggulum, so I don't know the specifics. I think that, like you said, readingĀ *with*Ā the kid, or at least discussing it after, are really valuable to a child's intellectual development
Agreed! And I was about the same age, I think. Watership Down is not a children's book, but I was reading books from all over the age spectrum by then. I loved it, too, despite the horror of parts of it. It didn't talk down to me. I hated books that talked down to me, pretended the world was all perfect and safe and nice, because I knew perfectly well it wasn't. I wanted stories about people who knew the world wasn't safe and nice, and who lived successfully in it despite that.
I think the Bromeliad Trilogy is a better place to start. Also The Unadultered Cat and the Children's Circle Stories collection. The younger Discworld books (like Maurice and the Tiffany books) I think are better enjoyed 13+ to get the full experience.
First one, at least. See how she does with it before offering the second one, and you may wanna wait a couple years for the last 3-- the third gets pre-teen heavy, and the last two get young adult heavy. But with the first one, your biggest issues are likely to be her adopting crivens as a swear word and carrying around a frying pan in case of monsters (which is sensible, if you think about it).
I say go for it! There's some pretty awful stuff in the Potter books, if she can take that I think she can take the Tiffany books. Of course, I myself was reading Stephen King books unsupervised at 9 and lived to tell the story so I'm probably not the best judge of what kids should be reading!!
**The fourth one- I Shall Wear Midnight- is *absolutely not* appropriate for most 8 year olds.** It opens with (TW: DV, child abuse) The first three I would say are fine.Ā
It of course depends on the person (kid and you) but I don't think there's anything to worry about for your average 8 year old. If you're still hesitant, get the Nomes books instead, more clearly for a younger audience.
I read the colour of magic when I was about that age, it was fine.
Yeah, she'll be fine with them.
If she is an advanced or avid reader, definitely. Nothing inappropriate. May be a little difficult, though.
Yes. She wouldnāt get all the jokes, but sheāll understand enough and enjoy the heck out of it.
Reading the Feeglesā dialect is difficult for kids. Even high school kids. I have taught _The Wee Free Men_ to sophomores before, and about 1/3 needed a lot of assistance. This is a book she can probably handle, but having it read to her would be helpful. That way she also has the opportunity to ask about things she doesnāt understand. It is an important book. There is much to be learned from (and with) Tiffany. If she canāt handle it now, donāt forget it! Try it with her again when she is older!
I read the bromeliad trilogy for the first time at that age! I loved it š
Definitely, but outside of discworld I would also recommend the Johnny series, and the Bromeliad as some great Pterry books for younger readers.
I was read the wee free men as a bedtime story at like 5-6 and I turned out ok, the later books Iād probably wait a year or two to give her though
Personally I read them at around that age and I was fine, and am really glad I did (those books were absolutely fundamental for me). Children understand more than some people think. And the nice thing about books especially is that anything they don't really have the capacity to understand will just go over their head.
I tried to get my daughter to read them when she was 8, but she didn't vibe with them (I think they were too advanced). I wish I'd waited a couple more years.
pterry's "young adult" stories are more serious than his other books. Like Harry Potter, Tiffany Aching deals with more mature issues with each successive book.
I was reading Wee Free Men at eight, so at least that one is probably alright.
Definitely
Tiffany books are meant for younger than the other disc books
Yes, you need to start her on discworld *immediately*. It is vastly superior to Harry Potter in every way.
And has a non-transphobic author too. I swear, I used to like Harry Potter, but ever since the author's been behaving like an absolute asshat, I can't enjoy it anymore.
Just give them to her and see if she gets into them.
speaking as a formerly hyperlexic child, yes if she can read HP on her own at 8 then Tiffany is absolutely fine. give her parents a heads up she may have questions about some of the later themes (and obviously get their permission to give her the books!) but honestly I'm glad my parents didn't stop me from reading what I wanted to read at that age as I sucked down books like they were oxygen. there are much, much worse things she could read than Pterry.
You too, huh? Yeah. The joy of text... I know I was reading past my comprehension ability, especially when I was young. But sheer practice fixed that. I could read adult-level text by six, without understanding much of it; but by high school, my comprehension was college-level. Hyperlexic kids should not be stopped from reading! Our comprehension lags our ability to decode text, and the only way we'll catch up is to practice. Give them plenty of books, teach them how to ask questions and read between the lines, and in the end, you will have an adult bookworm who is capable of reading just about anything written.
Unequivocally, yes. The only thing better than giving the Tiffany books to your kid is reading them out loud to your kid. The only thing better than reading them out loud to your kid is reading them out loud and doing the voices. Source: I'm a parent. I read them to my kid at that age. It was a blast.
Absolutely yes, 8 is about the same age I was when I stsrted reading discworld though I stsrted with Mort and Amazing Maurice because Tiff wasn't out.
It depends on what you mean by ok. I think my kids were around 8-9 when we read the Wee Free Men. But this is a dark bookā¦the Hiver is scary AF. The Tiffany Aching books are the scariest and darkest books in the whole series. And I love them the most. My daughter dressed as Tiffany Aching for Literary Character day in middle school. So if your kid can handle scary, the yeah. I would read them to her rather than handing her the book, imo.
The Bromeliad Trilogy would be a good starting point. Grimma is awesome.
Or Equal Rites. Eskerina Smith, yay.
If she's read all of Harry Potter she'll be absolutely fine with the Tiffany books. I'd say they'd be a perfect next step tbh.
I had read a few of his books by 8 - mort, The bromeliad trillage and the johnny maxwell series. Tiffany books may also be ok (They came out after I was 8, but I see them asā¦ more than the others) Mort was my fave, I think they say ābuggerā a few times, its where I learnt it was a swearword
When I was 8 I secretly read Bukowski finding it in my parents book collection. I turned out fi... oh.
My 8yo has enjoyed the first two. I'm leaving it a while for the later books.
Monstrous regiment would be OK for a 8yo. As any pratchett. As any books, except fascist manifestii and 50shades-like
Didn't Susan Sto Helit have some sound advice on this topic in *Hogfather*? Either way, I was only a couple of years older than your niece when I first read *The Colour of Magic* so I wouldn't worry too much.
I read it to my sons when they were 6 and 2, all the slightly saucy bits just went over their heads
Yep, that's where books are different than films. Stuff they don't understand yet will just go over their heads because they lack the knowledge to draw the pictures in their heads (or they draw very innocent ones). Seeing things they can't understand in films can be far more disturbing.
My sons loved them, even though they mostly listened to them on audiobook. I think they were 8 when they did, but Iām not sure.
Yes! I was read Wee Free Men when I was around eight. In fact I read most of them in elementary school.
# THAT WILL BE AN IMPORTANT LESSON. she'll love them.
The first three absolutely. They really feel like told from the view of a young girl. And an intelligent and independent one, Tiffany is such a great character. So if you are looking for girl-lead children novels the Tiffany books are magnificent. There is some darkness in them but in a way children can deal with in my opinion. They all have good satisfying ends. Yes, there's stuff and jokes she might not get now - so what? That's why Terry Pratchett books are fantastic for rereads and speak to so many different people or differently to people during their life. Wintersmith has some slight romance but really innocent. I think the worst that can happen is she doesn't like it (yet). Please trust children about their reading choices at least with every book written for children and young adults. I read books from 7years on that were recommended for 12+. Read the hobbit age 10 and LotR age 12. Don't hold them back.
get her started on the non discworld books. Johnny and the bomb series, Truckers etc.
Definitely.
I read the series to my 8 year old daughter. If I could go back, I would have read the first two and then gifted the rest to her to read when she turns twelve. All of the books are marvelous but start to mature with the big wee hag at Wintersmith. Having to explain the circumstances around The Rough Music to an 8 year old was a challenge, and I had to do a little light editing from there forward through the remainder of the series.
Iād say so. If she can read the later HP books she can do Tiffany