I think most people.
I grew up around heavy readers, and that meant that there were stacks of hardcovers around that I was fascinated by.
I ended up reading Night Shift, then It, and then The Stand the summer I was 12.
I’m sure my mom thought I was up in my treehouse doing something very different, but I’d snuck those books in there and was just hamming them.
Same, but they were my dad’s books. We had a deal, I could read whatever I wanted but if I got scared or worried, we had to talk about it. Books are such a gift.
Same! Never forget I fell asleep reading & when I woke my mum had gone to run an errand and I was alone. I had to run outside into the daylight because I couldn’t sit in my house by self!!! 🤣
The stand mini came out in 94 when I was 14/15 I was already reading him for a few years so I was probably about 12 when I read either Tommyknockers or Pet Semetary. It's been a long time so I can't remember my first one.
I read my mom’s copy of Carrie when I was 11 and I was hooked! It touched off a lifelong love of horror including Robert McCammon, Ramsey Campbell and more. Say, is there a thread around here discussing the connection between love of horror and being raised in an extremely dysfunctional home?
Read Green Mile at 12 and Needful Things at 13......
But then again I grew up reading and had graduated to "adult" books by 3rd or 4th grade though so I'm not sure if it was appropriate or not. Funny fact I can remember reading Jurassic Park in 3rd grade before the movie came out and my teacher insisting there was no way I was actually reading and comprehending it
Summer of 5th grade, so I was 10 going on 11. Skeleton Crew was my first introduction. Probably should not have been reading most of those stories at that age. Granted. I didn't know what some stuff was until I was older.
Good question, I can’t remember the grade I got.
If I recall correctly, I was allowed to do the report on the first half of the book because it was so long and I still had a ways to go to finish it.
My mom read Talisman to my brother and I when I was 7/8 and then gave me a copy of The Eyes of the Dragon when I was 10. I hit the road running after that.
I recently realised that I read my first Stephen King short story collection when I was _maybe_ 11. I remember because I'd recently gotten a radio alarm clock, and the only way I could avoid the nightmares I got from the short story Deathflash was to put the radio on at its lowest volume setting and wait until I could see daylight around the curtains. I was a very prolific and very fast reader, and I loved that I never ran out of Stephen King books the way I did with almost every other author. His books were a world I could live in, and I still pre-order every single one that Google tells me about on my phone and devour them as soon as I can, but I don't need the clock radio to keep the dreams away any more.
I was born in 1989, and due to the rising popularity of Stephen King miniseries adaptations, I was heavily into his works in video format by 1995. By 97 I was reading the books. My first favorite miniseries was The Stand, which as an adult now I realize how much nuance was going over my head, but I loved it enough to rent it once a week despite having to go to both Hollywood Video and Blockbuster to acquire all the tapes.
I've been a Constant Reader since the age of 8, though I can't remember if my first novel was Carrie, IT, Misery or The Talisman, though it feels more like The Talisman.
The first time I was introduced to Stephen King was the film. Carrie when I was about seven at us sleepover. The next week I went out, with my mom, and picked up the book. Finished Carrie and I just kept reading more of his books.
Understandably, my parents were a bit worried about me reading such content at a young age, but the teachers said “well at least she’s reading.” Nearly 25 years later, I remain a constant reader.
Cujo was my first, I was 12. My son is about to be 12 and is obsessed with Pennywise, he hasn't seen the movie but he has seen images and he knows that there's a book (It) that tells "the origin" of Pennywise, I think he is a little to young for that one.
Idk I started a few years ago when I was 12 I think? I wanted to read the shining and got it from the school library, I had to get permission forms signed and everything lol huge hassle
Yup. My sister gave me my first king book when I was 10. My parents didn't want me playing violent video games or watching violent movies, but they didn't care at all what I read, they were just glad I was reading books.
Yup. It was my dads book collection (mom didn’t read- was a gamer) and from a very very young age I had to read to fall asleep. I ran out of books quickly and was bored with the age appropriate ones.
He died Christmas Day 2003 and the only thing I got from that was his entire book collection. I read ALL of his books. When I was 19 a roommate stole the entire collection while I was moving out. Sucked. Have never been able to replace but still my favorite author ❤️
It was a lesbian duo and I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole but it was a learning experience for sure . I rented the basement of their house for a ridiculous amount of money and at some point they just decided to take all my shit. At the time I was a young girl who did not fight back. They also have my moms wedding dress but that’s ok it’s hideous. I spent several years tracking them down begging for it back and they refused and would send me pics of all my stuff giving me
Hope to keep trying. Eventually I just stopped
Not sure when I started exactly, but I was reading King a lot in 7th grade, when I would have been 11-12 years old. I missed a month of school with pneumonia and took the opportunity to read The Stand - having a dangerous respiratory disease made it more intense. I remember that I was so into The Long Walk that I associated each of my school friends with one of the characters. I still remember (almost 40 years later) who was McVries, who was Stebbins, and who was Baker.
I think that one of the best things about King is that he really remembers what it was like to be every age. His kids really feel like kids, his teenagers like teenagers, and his adults have perspectives true to their ages.
My moms is a lovely woman, but she's an absolute dick. We went on vacation somewhere weird when I was in 4th or 5th grade, ended up staying in a creepy hotel, so of course she gave me a copy of *The Shining* to read.
Anyway, hate creepy hotels, hate clowns, love Stephen King. Simple as.
I think I first read some SK around age 12/13. Didn't quite love the books -- I was a little young to really understand and appreciate. But I appreciated him more when I was around age 15.
My parents really didn't impede in my search for more mature content and I'm really grateful for that. I started reading him around grade 2 (7) and that was really an opening for me getting really into horror and reading in general without that I'm not sure I'm into either nearly as much as I am now
My grandma always had a shelf full, and didn't much care if I read them.
My favorite anecdote was of a teacher (6th-grade, circa '85) reading us "The Boogeyman" from Night Shift. She edited as she went to tone a few things down, but then *left the book on the classroom bookshelf!*
I liked her. She was only at the school for a year, can't imagine why...
My dad introduced me to King when I was 11 or so. He was a huge fan and saw me reading Point Horror books from the age of 9 or 10 (you weren’t supposed to take them out of the library until you were 13+, but the librarian knew I had my shit together… mostly).
I also watched Halloween and Candyman for the first time when I was 10, which admittedly was a mistake as I had nightmares for ages, but boy did it desensitise me early. Still can’t stomach overly gory films though even now, and the psychological and supernatural ones stay with me as much as they ever did, but I’m glad I got introduced to horror early. It weirdly helped me process a lot of crappy stuff going on in my life and afforded me the escapism I was in need of from time to time.
Took me a while before I read any but I was fascinated as a small kid by my grandmother's collection, I liked looking at the covers and reading the blurbs but they were too complicated for me to read fully.
Definitely me. I read Carrie when I was like, 11 or 12. I saw my first King movie when I was 7 (that one was The Langoliers), unless you count mom taking me as an infant to see Stand By Me in the theater (I don't count this one, just because I was too young to remember).
I read Christine in like grade 5 if I remember correctly. I was done with Harry Potter and the short kids novels in my school library at that point and wanted to read the stuff I saw sitting around my house that my parents were reading. Stopped reading for fun for a while in my teens and now I'm really enjoying all the stuff I didn't read earlier now that I'm in my 20s.
Well, I’ve always been a curious girl (I’m 23 now), and I was always attracted to horror movies and such, my parents let me watch them, of course they explained me that it was all fake and actors were just playing a part etc… . My mother is a heavy reader and my cousin suggested her to read “It” my mother didn’t like it and left the book on a shelf, me being be, and seeing a dark cover, I took it and started to read it, I was 9 or 10. From that moment on, King has been my favorite writer and I’ve almost completed the book collection.
Pretty sure I was about 10/11. I bought The Stand from a car boot sale and I don't think my parents realised what it was because they're not big readers
My first SK book was "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon," which I read when I was 11 and in 6th grade. I wrote a book report about it and promptly found myself sitting in the principal's office, getting in trouble for reading "inappropriate material" at school. Hooray, Catholic school!
Me! I was barely in middle school when I read Pet Cemetery, my first King book. But previously, I was reading VC Andrews so...I had been an avid reader for a while so Making the jump from VCA to King was very eye opening as to a writer's ability to create mood, characters, suspense, etc.
I would literally devour novels over the weekends.
I started reading Stephen King when I was around 14. But I started off with Dean Koontz before that. I remember reading Intensity when I was 12 or 13.
One of the first Stephen King novels I read was It. I was a 14 year old who'd lost all his friends (and a possible girlfriend) about a year earlier when I moved away from my hometown.
I don't remember which part of It it was but I was reading It when suddenly this story about childhood friendship made me fully realize what I'd lost and I felt a moment of pure depression. It was staggering. Just a horrible black sad feeling. I've never felt depression like that since.
I remember reading “The Shining” when I was far too young— probably 8 or 9?
It was late at night and I just got to the part where the dead woman in the bathtub in Room 237 opens her eyes. I definitely slept with the light on that night
Yeeesh!
I didn't start until mid-twenties which I think is age appropriate. found a copy of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, have listened to or read almost all his material in the following decade til now.
that aside, how is The Stand mini-series? worth a watch or stick to the book?
Read salem’s lot when I was 12. My mom didn’t read Stephen king and my dad hadn’t read them in forever. Many years later my mom read Salem’s lot and said…whoops.
I remember seeing that series when I was like 7 years old. My brother, who was 12-13 at the time, was a huge stephen king-fan. ANd he loved the series, and so did I!
I remember when I was 8 or 9, how I wished for a casette tape with the entire series. And I got it!
I read at 10. I definitely identified a lot with Ben Hanscombe. Especially the bit with librarians looking at me sadly as I spent all day in the library
My mom thought showing and reading King to small child was a good idea, and I love her for it. She was pretty straight-laced otherwise, so it always struck me as odd she exposed me to horror at such a young age. When I read King as an adult, sometimes, I feel closer to my mom.
I started reading SK when I was in 6th grade, 1988 or 89. It was The Shining. I did a 9th grade book report on The Stand. SK was important to my formative years.
Stephen King is such a universally prevalent author and his subject matter is just taboo enough that it makes him the perfect entry point into adult material for early tweens and teens. I know tons of people who were personally traumatized by that man haha
I live in the UK and remember watching The Stand on BBC1 back in 1996, I was only 9. I then saw Carrie when I was 10 and to this day it's my favourite horror film due to the effect it had on me at that age. I don't care what anybody says but that age is the best age to watch horror films if you can handle it. I didn't start reading SK until I was older but by that time I had seen most of the film and tv adaptions.
I bought IT upon the UK paperback release date from the school book shop. I was 11 years old....
Up until then it had been various ghost story compilations I'd been reading.
I read Cujo in like fourth or fifth grade and it scared the crap out of me. I watched Pet Semetary when I was 9. Except for the scene with Zelda, I don’t remember being too scared. Zelda freaked me out so bad as a kid though.
I STARTED Pet Sematary in 5th grade. I was a little young for that one. Grew up on his movies, I think the first book I completely read was The Shining in 7th grade and IT in 8th.
My book report in first grade was on Cujo. My brother was my hero, and he had stolen it from the library.
I was scared to death of St. Bernards until I saw the movie.
The papersbacks used to be laying around everywhere in the 80s and 90s. Every used book store, every paperback rack in the grocery store, everywhere. Had a teacher tell me in fourth grade I was too young to be reading them. Oh well.
Lol I was in 7th grade and in advanced reading. So I got to checkout books from the high school. My very first SK book was Gerald's Game. Lol When my dad came across the book he freaked out and took it away. My mom gave it back to me the next day lol
I was 12. My uncle gave me a copy of Gerald's Game for Christmas. He didn't know what the story was just that it was Stephen King and King was spooky and I liked spooky. I'm 43 now.
9 or 10 years old and it all started with Carrie. Tore through that book and that was it. I think I read nothing but Stephen King for many years after.
Me!! Started reading Christine in the 6th grade. My mom was a librarian and found the book stashed under my pillow. She told me I "wasn't old enough yet" to read Stephen King and took it back to the library. I went after school and checked it back out the next day and boom....back under my pillow. After about 2 or 3 cycles of this my mom said "Fine....but don't come crying when you get nightmares." Never got the nightmares and I was lucky to have a mom that would bring home the newest King novel for me as she got advanced copies at the library before they hit the stores until she passed in 2006. Loved that about her...she instilled a love of reading in me from the get go. Miss you Mom. ❤️
I was watching the shining and IT was i was 6 years old. I remember really liking pet semetary (1&2) around that age too. I didnt much like thinner or cujo tho. Oh and carrie, i watched that frequently. I cant remember how old i was when i saw christine, under 11. I dodnt read many king books tho, just a handful in my teens.
My mom was and is a huge King fan so I watched everything when it came out. The IT and Stand miniseries. My only nightmare was when I watched the The Shining when I was 6. When I got older I started to read the books.
Me. Me me me. Story time.
As a little shit growing up within an hour of Disney World, we made 2-3 pilgrimages a year back when the park was less than 10 years old & the prices were much less insane.(Fractional per-person entry & letter classed tickets required for attractions, Small World = 1 E-ticket type thing). But I digress, incidental to story.
It starts after a long full day at Disney World in the summer, got home after 10pm-ish & I'm exhausted to tattered delirium & running a mild fever. We all plopped dead in the living room where my mother & a neighbor couple had the TV on but weren't really watching I guess, because Carrie was on HBO, 1st run, & we got there right in time for [the bucket drop *at* the prom](https://youtu.be/XTMue4Dyvr4).
I don't know WTF my parents were thinking not changing the channel or shutting it off. My mom was probably shitty drunk kibitzing with friends after 10pm on a weekend and Dad was clueless in what we walked on TV-wise, probably as tired & spent as me, drinking the best beer of his life at the moment, catching up with the other grown people with no concerns.
So I'm laying there on the green shag carpet watching the un-edited horrific finale of Carrie on my own, adults miles away across the room. I came into it already in an exhausted sun-baked stupor, and blood soaked Sissy Spacek horrifically killing her classmates at the prom using her mind & **CRAZY EYES** with Brian De Palma's masterful direction was just way, way beyond my ability to process or deal with.
But what psychologically fucked me up was [the grave scene](https://youtu.be/Rr-VODLBOVA) at the end, burning into my synapses that you can't get away from Carrie, she can pop out of the ground, walls, closets, any time you're alone.
So I was immediately fucked. I made my dad sleep in my bed that night, but I didn't sleep at all, I think I had some kind of psychological break from the exhaustion/fever & mental trauma of being so frightened. I was hearing things & seeing things, and at one point I imagined I heard my dad say something weird in his sleep that fit into the delusions I was having at the moment(specifically, it was concerning voting for Carrie at the Prom, & I imagined he mumbled something about getting his vote in, like, "...it''s alright, I gave them my vote"... fuckd me up for ages). I didn't sleep until morning.
In the aftermath, it became a BFD. **I only slept with my room lights on full for a few years**. I'd have screaming nightmares, couldn't do anything requiring being alone in the dark, and I'd call out for my parents at night just to see their faces. Like, "Okay, I'm here at home, tethered to this world, not in some spooky world with nightmares walking"
Now, to answer OPs question. Years after the Carrie incident fucked me up, I'm now in 4th grade, still sleeping with light on, when one day I'm up in our attic, & I find a paperback copy of Carrie stuffed in a box. It actually has an insert in the middle with pics from the film . And immediately I know exactly what I'm going to do, take it outside & burn it.
But while I'm preparing to carry out justice on the evil book I had conflicting thoughts, "I'm so sick of being frightened all the time. I'm so sick of being teased by anyone finding out I sleep with the lights on. I'm so sick of making excuses when offered to stay over night anywhere because I don't want to be in that position..."
So I made another plan. "I am going to read this whole stupid book and that's going to cure my issues" I don't get the logic of that looking back, but it made sense then. So that's exactly what I did. And it did help, psychosomatic or whatever, I had a lot of improvement.
So, TL;DR - Carrie was my 1st King in the 4th grade, and it's where I learned who Stephen King was. And I started seeing more King books on display at stores afterwards, and I ask my parents to buy them. Salem's Lot came on TV the next year, and it was a big deal to talk about at school, so of course I had to read that one. So later by mid Junior High, I had a pretty good SK paperback collection going. Caught up to what he had published by that point.
The Stand was the one I'd gotten but was intimidated by the girth of it for a few years before diving in.
-***Edits***, -correcting S-ton of typos & brainfarts as I see them.
Though I became a constant reader in my late teens and early twenties, my earliest exposure to King was through films. It, Rose Red, The Stand, Misery, Pet Sematary, Creepshow, The Running Man, The Langoliers, Desperation, Dreamcatcher, 1408, The Mist, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, and many others. I crossed into reading his books my Junior year of high school with the uncut version of The Stand.
I read Watchers by Dean Kootz and I liked it around the age of 12 (I've since re-read it and it's not a good book). Then I read Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon, which was his "The Stand". And then somehow I found and read The Gunslinger, followed by IT, and I was hooked. I crushed King's books until I got hooked on Larry McMurtry books when I around 16. Then it was a neck and neck race for me between King and McMurtry until I was about 19 and accidentally read a short story by Bukowski.
I grew up in the 90s in Brazil, with parents that didn't read much cool stuff but never controlled what I read or watched.
So as a child, what I knew about Stephen King was that if his name was in the cover of a movie at the video store, or in the starting credits of a movie on TV, it would probably be good, so I'd watch it.
I mostly remember Carrie, Pet Sematary and Children of The Corn from when I was very young. And I loved Stand By Me.
Later but still young I watched many others, but only got my hands in a book (The Shining) in my teens.
The first movie I can remember watching was The Shining, this was probably around age 5. I don’t think my mother had ever seen it, my aunt just happened to have a copy and she put it on in the living room for me to watch while they chatted away at the kitchen table. At 41, it still scares me to this day.
For me, it was a happy accident. I was 8 years old, snooping around my parents' room, and managed to unearth both my dad's Penthouse stash and his copy of The Shining. The nudity made little impression on me - apart form OMG THAT'S WHAT WOMEN LOOK LIKE DOWN THERE EWWW - but I crushed that book in under a week. Went back for Carrie, The Dead Zone, Pet Sematary...and from there, it was ON.
(For those of you asking, I was reading on a college level in kindergarten. It's the one thing I wasn't completely ass at as a kid.)
Four years later, I discovered that Stephen King is my birthday twin, which I'm still milking to this day, I won't lie.
Everyone one of us I think, all of us read a Stephen King we probably weren't really ready for a little too young, it hooked us completely and probably made us a little screwed up in a way.
I honestly can't remember, my mom's been a SK fan since before I was born but I do remember that I was around 5 when the cover for Creepshow creeped me out. I think that was the first book I read and I was maybe 13 or so? I know I read Carrie, Creepshow, The Shining, Pet Semetary and Christine between middle school and high school.
I didn't read any of his books until a couple of years later, but my parents took me and my older sister to see the Shining in the theater. I was 8 at the time. 70s/80s parenting FTW!
My first book report in second grade was on Firestarter. I made a diorama of a stable on fire using my sisters Barbie horses. Was also at a catholic school, they called a meeting with my parents afterward. Was reading full king novels by 2nd/3rd grade because my grandma would let me sneak them off her bookshelf, and my parents were impressed I was interested in reading so i got the pass somehow.
My first King book was the short story collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes at 11. Family was road tripping to Cali from Vegas. I was on the I-15 while reading Dolan's Cadillac...
Been CR ever since
I think like, everybody? I saw Carrie and Salem’s Lot (which absolutely terrified me) as a little kid, and Salem’s Lot was my first book at around 8 or 9. After that one, I was off and running/reading. King’s great talent is that anyone at practically any age can read his books and enjoy them. Even if censors might argue otherwise.
Not Stephen King, but i started delving into horror when I was around 9 because my step mom was a huge fan and always had us watching horror films. She alone is solely responsible for my love of the genre.
I'd have been 9 or 10, and my first was either *Bag of Bones* or *Rose Madder.* I borrowed both from my Mom's friend, then got *Everything's Eventual* and *The Gunslinger* for my next birthday (I didn't like *The Gunslinger* at all, so it was maybe 15 more years before I read the rest of the Dark Tower). I slowly built up a collection from whatever they happened to be displaying at Wal-Mart (and checked out a lot of library books) until I discovered used bookstores and amazon.
Like, all of Gen X and Xennials, probably. I saw Christine when I was 8 or 9... The Stand when I was 10. Started reading the books and here we are 30 years later....
Definitely - I stayed at my aunt's, a true constant reader, when I was 11 and discovered her collection. King was a name I associated with horror in general and was quite intrigued so I gave "It" a try. Not gonna lie, I was much too young to understand the book properly (not necessarily the sewer escape though, we've had the talk quite early) but it captured the feeling of being a kid with a kid's problems perfectly. It also fascinated and terrified me whenever I read it and it was the first SK book I bought to re-read it as soon as we went back home.
So, I actually got into the movies before the books. Firestarter was my first, I told my dad I loved it and he showed me Cujo, Pet Semetery, Carrie, Misery, and IT. I eventually discovered my love for thr books, but the movies came first.
I got to see Stand By Me young enough that the only thing I remembered about it was some kids got leeches stuck all over themselves. This was way back when I was really young, enough that the only thing I remembered about Star Wars was there was a movie with text going by on the screen.
I had to bring a letter home in 4th grade explaining that Thinner was not appropriate for our independent reading time. My mom called the teacher to explain that school library was unsatisfactory, so I took weekly trips with the teacher to get a book from the highschool library.
I remember being 6/7 when the tommyknockers mini series came out and I thought they were the scariest creatures of all time, looking back now it was my gateway into horror as a whole not just SK
I remember reading some Stephen King novel as an eight year old, watching the It miniseries with Tom Curry, and excitedly checking Pet Sematary the movie out at th library afterward. I am pretty sure these things scarred me for life.
I was 6 when the Salem’s Lot miniseries was on television.
Yes, I was allowed to watch. It was terrifying, I *loved* it, and I’ve been a King addict ever since.
I think most people. I grew up around heavy readers, and that meant that there were stacks of hardcovers around that I was fascinated by. I ended up reading Night Shift, then It, and then The Stand the summer I was 12. I’m sure my mom thought I was up in my treehouse doing something very different, but I’d snuck those books in there and was just hamming them.
I was bringing Cujo, Christine, Carrie, and Night shift to read during school breaks in 6th grade, age 12. It was a Catholic school. Lol.
Ouch. Your knuckles must still smart.
Same for me with the stand. Stole mom's mass market paperback when she was done with it. Same with Salems Lot.
This is the way
I read Night Shift and Pet Semetary when I was 11. It was wild
Same, but they were my dad’s books. We had a deal, I could read whatever I wanted but if I got scared or worried, we had to talk about it. Books are such a gift.
I was 12 when I opened up Gerald's Game 😬
Yep, I was reading SK at 11.
Same! I read IT when I was 11, and then Pet Sematary.
That’s nothing. My mom read Salem’s Lot when I was but a fetus
You win
I was a naive 13 year old when I read Salem’s Lot.
I read Pet Semetary in grade five ☠️
Same! Never forget I fell asleep reading & when I woke my mum had gone to run an errand and I was alone. I had to run outside into the daylight because I couldn’t sit in my house by self!!! 🤣
Read the bachman books at age 10 lol Yeahhh the one with Rage 🤠
The stand mini came out in 94 when I was 14/15 I was already reading him for a few years so I was probably about 12 when I read either Tommyknockers or Pet Semetary. It's been a long time so I can't remember my first one.
This was me as well. Tommyknockers was my first SK book, because I was obsessed with aliens and X-Files at the time.
Ya, my choice was nore limited by what my local ibrary had available
I wish! My mom would NEVER have let me get SK out of the public library. I managed to get a copy from a garage sale down the street.
I sarted to read him at about 12 probably
I was 9 when i bought Night Shift at a Gemco
I read my mom’s copy of Carrie when I was 11 and I was hooked! It touched off a lifelong love of horror including Robert McCammon, Ramsey Campbell and more. Say, is there a thread around here discussing the connection between love of horror and being raised in an extremely dysfunctional home?
Read Green Mile at 12 and Needful Things at 13...... But then again I grew up reading and had graduated to "adult" books by 3rd or 4th grade though so I'm not sure if it was appropriate or not. Funny fact I can remember reading Jurassic Park in 3rd grade before the movie came out and my teacher insisting there was no way I was actually reading and comprehending it
I was 10 when I started. The 80s was a wild time!
Parents made me wait until I was 15. That was two years ago
How are you enjoying the journey?
I’m obsessed
Hell yeah
You’re at the perfect age to really enjoy The Long Walk, give it a go if you haven’t yet!
That was my first one
Enjoy!!
I read it in 5th grade
Summer of 5th grade, so I was 10 going on 11. Skeleton Crew was my first introduction. Probably should not have been reading most of those stories at that age. Granted. I didn't know what some stuff was until I was older.
I read The Stand for a 5th grade book report, I can only imagine what that teacher thought, lol.
That's a hefty read for a 5th grader! What grade did you end up getting on it?
Good question, I can’t remember the grade I got. If I recall correctly, I was allowed to do the report on the first half of the book because it was so long and I still had a ways to go to finish it.
I teach 10 year olds now, and I can't imagine any of them have the wherewithal for even a page of King!
I read the Stand when I was 11 although it took me a long while
My mom read Talisman to my brother and I when I was 7/8 and then gave me a copy of The Eyes of the Dragon when I was 10. I hit the road running after that.
🙋🏻♀️ my cousin who is 10 years older than me introduced me when i was 7 or 8. been hooked ever since!
I recently realised that I read my first Stephen King short story collection when I was _maybe_ 11. I remember because I'd recently gotten a radio alarm clock, and the only way I could avoid the nightmares I got from the short story Deathflash was to put the radio on at its lowest volume setting and wait until I could see daylight around the curtains. I was a very prolific and very fast reader, and I loved that I never ran out of Stephen King books the way I did with almost every other author. His books were a world I could live in, and I still pre-order every single one that Google tells me about on my phone and devour them as soon as I can, but I don't need the clock radio to keep the dreams away any more.
I was born in 1989, and due to the rising popularity of Stephen King miniseries adaptations, I was heavily into his works in video format by 1995. By 97 I was reading the books. My first favorite miniseries was The Stand, which as an adult now I realize how much nuance was going over my head, but I loved it enough to rent it once a week despite having to go to both Hollywood Video and Blockbuster to acquire all the tapes. I've been a Constant Reader since the age of 8, though I can't remember if my first novel was Carrie, IT, Misery or The Talisman, though it feels more like The Talisman.
The first time I was introduced to Stephen King was the film. Carrie when I was about seven at us sleepover. The next week I went out, with my mom, and picked up the book. Finished Carrie and I just kept reading more of his books. Understandably, my parents were a bit worried about me reading such content at a young age, but the teachers said “well at least she’s reading.” Nearly 25 years later, I remain a constant reader.
I read IT when I was 16. Not a great idea. A few weeks later, I read Apt Pupil. Also not a great idea. Now I’m an adult still having not great ideas.
If you didn’t discover King in the 6th grade, are you really a true King fan?
In 8th grade I read The Shining aloud to little kids on the school bus.
I was in 8th grade when I read the uncut version of The Stand. It was my first King book as well.
Salems Lot at 13 Scared the shit out of me - and that first hit got me hooked
Me! 🙋🏾♀️ I was reading SK and Lace by Shirley Conran when I was 12.
Cujo was my first, I was 12. My son is about to be 12 and is obsessed with Pennywise, he hasn't seen the movie but he has seen images and he knows that there's a book (It) that tells "the origin" of Pennywise, I think he is a little to young for that one.
Idk I started a few years ago when I was 12 I think? I wanted to read the shining and got it from the school library, I had to get permission forms signed and everything lol huge hassle
Yup. My sister gave me my first king book when I was 10. My parents didn't want me playing violent video games or watching violent movies, but they didn't care at all what I read, they were just glad I was reading books.
Oh if they only knew 😆
Watched The Stand mini series at 10. Loved it.
I saw Pet Sematary when I was 9 and have beem a fan ever since. The first book of his I was able to read was Carrie when I was 12.
Yup. It was my dads book collection (mom didn’t read- was a gamer) and from a very very young age I had to read to fall asleep. I ran out of books quickly and was bored with the age appropriate ones. He died Christmas Day 2003 and the only thing I got from that was his entire book collection. I read ALL of his books. When I was 19 a roommate stole the entire collection while I was moving out. Sucked. Have never been able to replace but still my favorite author ❤️
I am so sorry that happened >!fuck!< that guy
It was a lesbian duo and I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole but it was a learning experience for sure . I rented the basement of their house for a ridiculous amount of money and at some point they just decided to take all my shit. At the time I was a young girl who did not fight back. They also have my moms wedding dress but that’s ok it’s hideous. I spent several years tracking them down begging for it back and they refused and would send me pics of all my stuff giving me Hope to keep trying. Eventually I just stopped
That's terrible. I'm really sorry that happened to you
Not sure when I started exactly, but I was reading King a lot in 7th grade, when I would have been 11-12 years old. I missed a month of school with pneumonia and took the opportunity to read The Stand - having a dangerous respiratory disease made it more intense. I remember that I was so into The Long Walk that I associated each of my school friends with one of the characters. I still remember (almost 40 years later) who was McVries, who was Stebbins, and who was Baker. I think that one of the best things about King is that he really remembers what it was like to be every age. His kids really feel like kids, his teenagers like teenagers, and his adults have perspectives true to their ages.
You are absolutely right about how he writes people. Also, that's really kinda cool about how you incorporated your friends into the story
I read IT in sixth grade. My teacher let me borrow her copy. She was cool as shit for that.
Absolutely! And Anne Rice!
My dad read them, and it was only a matter of time before I got my grubby little hands on them. My first King novel was “Misery” when I was 13.
My moms is a lovely woman, but she's an absolute dick. We went on vacation somewhere weird when I was in 4th or 5th grade, ended up staying in a creepy hotel, so of course she gave me a copy of *The Shining* to read. Anyway, hate creepy hotels, hate clowns, love Stephen King. Simple as.
I think I first read some SK around age 12/13. Didn't quite love the books -- I was a little young to really understand and appreciate. But I appreciated him more when I was around age 15.
My parents really didn't impede in my search for more mature content and I'm really grateful for that. I started reading him around grade 2 (7) and that was really an opening for me getting really into horror and reading in general without that I'm not sure I'm into either nearly as much as I am now
My grandma always had a shelf full, and didn't much care if I read them. My favorite anecdote was of a teacher (6th-grade, circa '85) reading us "The Boogeyman" from Night Shift. She edited as she went to tone a few things down, but then *left the book on the classroom bookshelf!* I liked her. She was only at the school for a year, can't imagine why...
Dude my sister read me that story when I was 5 or 6, so around 1990. I'm 40 now and still get messed up about closets lol
My dad introduced me to King when I was 11 or so. He was a huge fan and saw me reading Point Horror books from the age of 9 or 10 (you weren’t supposed to take them out of the library until you were 13+, but the librarian knew I had my shit together… mostly). I also watched Halloween and Candyman for the first time when I was 10, which admittedly was a mistake as I had nightmares for ages, but boy did it desensitise me early. Still can’t stomach overly gory films though even now, and the psychological and supernatural ones stay with me as much as they ever did, but I’m glad I got introduced to horror early. It weirdly helped me process a lot of crappy stuff going on in my life and afforded me the escapism I was in need of from time to time.
I feel this last part in my soul. Also, I'm glad you had a cool librarian
Hear, hear. Cool librarians are worth their weight in gold, especially if you encounter one from a young age 🙌🏼
Facts
Read Stephen king when i was 10 started watching horror movies at 9
Took me a while before I read any but I was fascinated as a small kid by my grandmother's collection, I liked looking at the covers and reading the blurbs but they were too complicated for me to read fully.
I've been trying to stream the original series for years and keep getting links for the newer series. Will have to look for that blu-ray!
I read Cujo in 4th grade. I didn't understand at all what Steve Kemp did on Donna's bed.
Read Carrie in 78 when I was 10. I’ve been hooked ever since. Half way through the Cujo follow up in You Like It Darker… it’s great
Started reading SK at 10
Definitely me. I read Carrie when I was like, 11 or 12. I saw my first King movie when I was 7 (that one was The Langoliers), unless you count mom taking me as an infant to see Stand By Me in the theater (I don't count this one, just because I was too young to remember).
I read Christine in like grade 5 if I remember correctly. I was done with Harry Potter and the short kids novels in my school library at that point and wanted to read the stuff I saw sitting around my house that my parents were reading. Stopped reading for fun for a while in my teens and now I'm really enjoying all the stuff I didn't read earlier now that I'm in my 20s.
Me as well- first SK book was Needful Things at age 11. I read it mostly because my mom forbade me to, saying I was too young. She was right.
Yeah, I probably started reading him around 13 or 14??? I graduated from VC Andrew's to SK. This explains a lot about me.
Christine in Kindergarten for me lol.
Well, I’ve always been a curious girl (I’m 23 now), and I was always attracted to horror movies and such, my parents let me watch them, of course they explained me that it was all fake and actors were just playing a part etc… . My mother is a heavy reader and my cousin suggested her to read “It” my mother didn’t like it and left the book on a shelf, me being be, and seeing a dark cover, I took it and started to read it, I was 9 or 10. From that moment on, King has been my favorite writer and I’ve almost completed the book collection.
11 with Eyes, then Salems Lot, The Shining, just finished You Like It Darker (disappointing)
This was my post, and btw, that mini-series aired 30 years ago this month.
That's awesome!
Pretty sure I was about 10/11. I bought The Stand from a car boot sale and I don't think my parents realised what it was because they're not big readers
10 years old and read all of his books that were published at the time. Became a voracious reader that lasted all my life. Thanks Mr King
My first SK book was "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon," which I read when I was 11 and in 6th grade. I wrote a book report about it and promptly found myself sitting in the principal's office, getting in trouble for reading "inappropriate material" at school. Hooray, Catholic school!
Oh no! I take it you didn't get a good grade?
I read and watched It when I was 10.
Me! I was barely in middle school when I read Pet Cemetery, my first King book. But previously, I was reading VC Andrews so...I had been an avid reader for a while so Making the jump from VCA to King was very eye opening as to a writer's ability to create mood, characters, suspense, etc. I would literally devour novels over the weekends.
I started reading Stephen King when I was around 14. But I started off with Dean Koontz before that. I remember reading Intensity when I was 12 or 13. One of the first Stephen King novels I read was It. I was a 14 year old who'd lost all his friends (and a possible girlfriend) about a year earlier when I moved away from my hometown. I don't remember which part of It it was but I was reading It when suddenly this story about childhood friendship made me fully realize what I'd lost and I felt a moment of pure depression. It was staggering. Just a horrible black sad feeling. I've never felt depression like that since.
:::hugs:::
I remember reading “The Shining” when I was far too young— probably 8 or 9? It was late at night and I just got to the part where the dead woman in the bathtub in Room 237 opens her eyes. I definitely slept with the light on that night Yeeesh!
I read It when I was 9 or 10. couldn’t read the last 50 or so pages because it got too scary.
I read Pet Sematary in 4th grade. Been a fan ever since!
My dad was a huge fan so I can't remember *not* being into him.... Was 11 first king book I read, Thinner
I didn't start until mid-twenties which I think is age appropriate. found a copy of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, have listened to or read almost all his material in the following decade til now. that aside, how is The Stand mini-series? worth a watch or stick to the book?
The first movie my parents bought me when DVD players came out.
I read my first book The Outsider, at 12
Dad let me read The Shining at 7. Not saying I understood it all but I got enough to be scared.
Read salem’s lot when I was 12. My mom didn’t read Stephen king and my dad hadn’t read them in forever. Many years later my mom read Salem’s lot and said…whoops.
I remember seeing that series when I was like 7 years old. My brother, who was 12-13 at the time, was a huge stephen king-fan. ANd he loved the series, and so did I! I remember when I was 8 or 9, how I wished for a casette tape with the entire series. And I got it!
Found Salem's Lot in the school library in grade 8, so 13. I never thought it was "too young" until I was much, much older LOL
My mom told me to read Salem's Lot at 12. I still think about Danny coming to the window.
I started at 12. Inherited a big box of paperbacks from my aunt
I read at 10. I definitely identified a lot with Ben Hanscombe. Especially the bit with librarians looking at me sadly as I spent all day in the library
Every Gen X?
My mom thought showing and reading King to small child was a good idea, and I love her for it. She was pretty straight-laced otherwise, so it always struck me as odd she exposed me to horror at such a young age. When I read King as an adult, sometimes, I feel closer to my mom.
The original Salem’s Lot miniseries debuted November 17, 1979, my tenth birthday. I loved every second of it. Too young?
Me. I read Carrie one afternoon at my nans house when nobody was paying attention and that was it. Hooked. I was nine
I am actually reading this book, and ,I give everyone the eye I see sneezing 🤧.. I don't trust people who sneeze and cough around me anymore..haha
I read Carrie the year it was first published, 1974. And I was eight that year.
I read Salem’s Lot in the 4th grade.
I started reading SK when I was in 6th grade, 1988 or 89. It was The Shining. I did a 9th grade book report on The Stand. SK was important to my formative years.
Is there any other way?
Stephen King is such a universally prevalent author and his subject matter is just taboo enough that it makes him the perfect entry point into adult material for early tweens and teens. I know tons of people who were personally traumatized by that man haha
In seventh grade I got in trouble for referencing the shitweasels from Dreamcatcher haha
Me! Stole my mom’s copy of Needful Things at around 11.
I uh…checked IT out from the library. It was my first big chapter book ever and it took me half a summer…I was 8 going on 9. Nobody stopped me.
I live in the UK and remember watching The Stand on BBC1 back in 1996, I was only 9. I then saw Carrie when I was 10 and to this day it's my favourite horror film due to the effect it had on me at that age. I don't care what anybody says but that age is the best age to watch horror films if you can handle it. I didn't start reading SK until I was older but by that time I had seen most of the film and tv adaptions.
I was 10 when I started reading King, my son was 9.
Is 13 too young?
Read IT when I was 14. Now he's one of my favourite authors
I bought IT upon the UK paperback release date from the school book shop. I was 11 years old.... Up until then it had been various ghost story compilations I'd been reading.
I read Cujo in like fourth or fifth grade and it scared the crap out of me. I watched Pet Semetary when I was 9. Except for the scene with Zelda, I don’t remember being too scared. Zelda freaked me out so bad as a kid though.
I STARTED Pet Sematary in 5th grade. I was a little young for that one. Grew up on his movies, I think the first book I completely read was The Shining in 7th grade and IT in 8th.
My first SK was Salem’s Lot, I was 10 years old.
My mom’s first Stephen King book was Cujo, when she was SEVEN.
Damn lol
I was in the original tv movie for The Stand. I was living in Vegas at the time.
My book report in first grade was on Cujo. My brother was my hero, and he had stolen it from the library. I was scared to death of St. Bernards until I saw the movie.
The papersbacks used to be laying around everywhere in the 80s and 90s. Every used book store, every paperback rack in the grocery store, everywhere. Had a teacher tell me in fourth grade I was too young to be reading them. Oh well.
Lol I was in 7th grade and in advanced reading. So I got to checkout books from the high school. My very first SK book was Gerald's Game. Lol When my dad came across the book he freaked out and took it away. My mom gave it back to me the next day lol
I’m currently 13 and read my first King book in the winter. The outsider.
I was 12. My uncle gave me a copy of Gerald's Game for Christmas. He didn't know what the story was just that it was Stephen King and King was spooky and I liked spooky. I'm 43 now.
That's definitely some interesting content for a 12 year old 😆
Definitely lmao
I was. I remember reading It when I was was 11, and The Stand not much later. ...Which probably explains some things.
9 or 10 years old and it all started with Carrie. Tore through that book and that was it. I think I read nothing but Stephen King for many years after.
Me!! Started reading Christine in the 6th grade. My mom was a librarian and found the book stashed under my pillow. She told me I "wasn't old enough yet" to read Stephen King and took it back to the library. I went after school and checked it back out the next day and boom....back under my pillow. After about 2 or 3 cycles of this my mom said "Fine....but don't come crying when you get nightmares." Never got the nightmares and I was lucky to have a mom that would bring home the newest King novel for me as she got advanced copies at the library before they hit the stores until she passed in 2006. Loved that about her...she instilled a love of reading in me from the get go. Miss you Mom. ❤️
I wrote a book report on The Tommyknockers, then his latest release, when I was 8 years old.
I think I was reading King before I was 10
I was watching the shining and IT was i was 6 years old. I remember really liking pet semetary (1&2) around that age too. I didnt much like thinner or cujo tho. Oh and carrie, i watched that frequently. I cant remember how old i was when i saw christine, under 11. I dodnt read many king books tho, just a handful in my teens.
Probably me but I survived so I just bought my 9-year-old granddaughter a boxed set of his first three books.
I read the Dark Half in 5th grade. It was an eye opener and I couldn’t stop
My mom was and is a huge King fan so I watched everything when it came out. The IT and Stand miniseries. My only nightmare was when I watched the The Shining when I was 6. When I got older I started to read the books.
Started either in 6th or 7th grade. Different Seasons, Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, It. Just kept devouring them.
I read The Green Mile in 7th grade, so there's that.
At age 10 (1981) , I read "Salem Lot," followed by "The Shining"
Me. Me me me. Story time. As a little shit growing up within an hour of Disney World, we made 2-3 pilgrimages a year back when the park was less than 10 years old & the prices were much less insane.(Fractional per-person entry & letter classed tickets required for attractions, Small World = 1 E-ticket type thing). But I digress, incidental to story. It starts after a long full day at Disney World in the summer, got home after 10pm-ish & I'm exhausted to tattered delirium & running a mild fever. We all plopped dead in the living room where my mother & a neighbor couple had the TV on but weren't really watching I guess, because Carrie was on HBO, 1st run, & we got there right in time for [the bucket drop *at* the prom](https://youtu.be/XTMue4Dyvr4). I don't know WTF my parents were thinking not changing the channel or shutting it off. My mom was probably shitty drunk kibitzing with friends after 10pm on a weekend and Dad was clueless in what we walked on TV-wise, probably as tired & spent as me, drinking the best beer of his life at the moment, catching up with the other grown people with no concerns. So I'm laying there on the green shag carpet watching the un-edited horrific finale of Carrie on my own, adults miles away across the room. I came into it already in an exhausted sun-baked stupor, and blood soaked Sissy Spacek horrifically killing her classmates at the prom using her mind & **CRAZY EYES** with Brian De Palma's masterful direction was just way, way beyond my ability to process or deal with. But what psychologically fucked me up was [the grave scene](https://youtu.be/Rr-VODLBOVA) at the end, burning into my synapses that you can't get away from Carrie, she can pop out of the ground, walls, closets, any time you're alone. So I was immediately fucked. I made my dad sleep in my bed that night, but I didn't sleep at all, I think I had some kind of psychological break from the exhaustion/fever & mental trauma of being so frightened. I was hearing things & seeing things, and at one point I imagined I heard my dad say something weird in his sleep that fit into the delusions I was having at the moment(specifically, it was concerning voting for Carrie at the Prom, & I imagined he mumbled something about getting his vote in, like, "...it''s alright, I gave them my vote"... fuckd me up for ages). I didn't sleep until morning. In the aftermath, it became a BFD. **I only slept with my room lights on full for a few years**. I'd have screaming nightmares, couldn't do anything requiring being alone in the dark, and I'd call out for my parents at night just to see their faces. Like, "Okay, I'm here at home, tethered to this world, not in some spooky world with nightmares walking" Now, to answer OPs question. Years after the Carrie incident fucked me up, I'm now in 4th grade, still sleeping with light on, when one day I'm up in our attic, & I find a paperback copy of Carrie stuffed in a box. It actually has an insert in the middle with pics from the film . And immediately I know exactly what I'm going to do, take it outside & burn it. But while I'm preparing to carry out justice on the evil book I had conflicting thoughts, "I'm so sick of being frightened all the time. I'm so sick of being teased by anyone finding out I sleep with the lights on. I'm so sick of making excuses when offered to stay over night anywhere because I don't want to be in that position..." So I made another plan. "I am going to read this whole stupid book and that's going to cure my issues" I don't get the logic of that looking back, but it made sense then. So that's exactly what I did. And it did help, psychosomatic or whatever, I had a lot of improvement. So, TL;DR - Carrie was my 1st King in the 4th grade, and it's where I learned who Stephen King was. And I started seeing more King books on display at stores afterwards, and I ask my parents to buy them. Salem's Lot came on TV the next year, and it was a big deal to talk about at school, so of course I had to read that one. So later by mid Junior High, I had a pretty good SK paperback collection going. Caught up to what he had published by that point. The Stand was the one I'd gotten but was intimidated by the girth of it for a few years before diving in. -***Edits***, -correcting S-ton of typos & brainfarts as I see them.
I loved reading this story! Thank you so much for sharing 🎈
Though I became a constant reader in my late teens and early twenties, my earliest exposure to King was through films. It, Rose Red, The Stand, Misery, Pet Sematary, Creepshow, The Running Man, The Langoliers, Desperation, Dreamcatcher, 1408, The Mist, The Green Mile, Stand By Me, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, and many others. I crossed into reading his books my Junior year of high school with the uncut version of The Stand.
I was obsessed with Carrie at 9 and started reading (and obsessing over) IT at 12. I still love SK!
I read Watchers by Dean Kootz and I liked it around the age of 12 (I've since re-read it and it's not a good book). Then I read Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon, which was his "The Stand". And then somehow I found and read The Gunslinger, followed by IT, and I was hooked. I crushed King's books until I got hooked on Larry McMurtry books when I around 16. Then it was a neck and neck race for me between King and McMurtry until I was about 19 and accidentally read a short story by Bukowski.
8th grade spent the fall reading IT. Definitely was reading other Kings books earlier just that one sticks in my head
mom gave me Salems lot at age 8.. been reading ever since
I grew up in the 90s in Brazil, with parents that didn't read much cool stuff but never controlled what I read or watched. So as a child, what I knew about Stephen King was that if his name was in the cover of a movie at the video store, or in the starting credits of a movie on TV, it would probably be good, so I'd watch it. I mostly remember Carrie, Pet Sematary and Children of The Corn from when I was very young. And I loved Stand By Me. Later but still young I watched many others, but only got my hands in a book (The Shining) in my teens.
Skeleton Crew at 8.....
The first movie I can remember watching was The Shining, this was probably around age 5. I don’t think my mother had ever seen it, my aunt just happened to have a copy and she put it on in the living room for me to watch while they chatted away at the kitchen table. At 41, it still scares me to this day.
For me, it was a happy accident. I was 8 years old, snooping around my parents' room, and managed to unearth both my dad's Penthouse stash and his copy of The Shining. The nudity made little impression on me - apart form OMG THAT'S WHAT WOMEN LOOK LIKE DOWN THERE EWWW - but I crushed that book in under a week. Went back for Carrie, The Dead Zone, Pet Sematary...and from there, it was ON. (For those of you asking, I was reading on a college level in kindergarten. It's the one thing I wasn't completely ass at as a kid.) Four years later, I discovered that Stephen King is my birthday twin, which I'm still milking to this day, I won't lie.
Omg I love this! 🎈💙
I was 11 when I read The Stand
I was 10 or 11 when I started king. I read pet semetary, then the shining, and I think It was right around then also. I am in my late 40s now.
I remember reading through The Stand when I was in 8th grade. Had to look up a lot of new words I hadn't known before.
Everyone one of us I think, all of us read a Stephen King we probably weren't really ready for a little too young, it hooked us completely and probably made us a little screwed up in a way.
I honestly can't remember, my mom's been a SK fan since before I was born but I do remember that I was around 5 when the cover for Creepshow creeped me out. I think that was the first book I read and I was maybe 13 or so? I know I read Carrie, Creepshow, The Shining, Pet Semetary and Christine between middle school and high school.
I didn't read any of his books until a couple of years later, but my parents took me and my older sister to see the Shining in the theater. I was 8 at the time. 70s/80s parenting FTW!
My first book report in second grade was on Firestarter. I made a diorama of a stable on fire using my sisters Barbie horses. Was also at a catholic school, they called a meeting with my parents afterward. Was reading full king novels by 2nd/3rd grade because my grandma would let me sneak them off her bookshelf, and my parents were impressed I was interested in reading so i got the pass somehow.
I want to say I read Dolores Claiborne around age 9, then jumped right into The Stand
My first King book was the short story collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes at 11. Family was road tripping to Cali from Vegas. I was on the I-15 while reading Dolan's Cadillac... Been CR ever since
Misery was my first read and I was in the second grade.
I read the stand quite.recently.I wasn't going to watch the shows, but actually, maybe I will now that some time has passed. Recommend either of them?
Around 7th grade
I think like, everybody? I saw Carrie and Salem’s Lot (which absolutely terrified me) as a little kid, and Salem’s Lot was my first book at around 8 or 9. After that one, I was off and running/reading. King’s great talent is that anyone at practically any age can read his books and enjoy them. Even if censors might argue otherwise.
Which version of the Stand are they watching and also is it good?
I'm not sure which version; I haven't seen any of them yet
Not Stephen King, but i started delving into horror when I was around 9 because my step mom was a huge fan and always had us watching horror films. She alone is solely responsible for my love of the genre.
I had to talk my friends into not letting their 10 year old who "likes scary things" to read It.
I was given a copy of IT during elementary school. 2nd grade I believe
I'd have been 9 or 10, and my first was either *Bag of Bones* or *Rose Madder.* I borrowed both from my Mom's friend, then got *Everything's Eventual* and *The Gunslinger* for my next birthday (I didn't like *The Gunslinger* at all, so it was maybe 15 more years before I read the rest of the Dark Tower). I slowly built up a collection from whatever they happened to be displaying at Wal-Mart (and checked out a lot of library books) until I discovered used bookstores and amazon.
My buddy and I read Cujo and Dreamcatcher in 6th grade. Cujo in particular had us talking about "fancy cunts" endlessly.
Like, all of Gen X and Xennials, probably. I saw Christine when I was 8 or 9... The Stand when I was 10. Started reading the books and here we are 30 years later....
I read Firestarter when I was 9. My parents had no clue what kinda stuff I found at our library
Definitely - I stayed at my aunt's, a true constant reader, when I was 11 and discovered her collection. King was a name I associated with horror in general and was quite intrigued so I gave "It" a try. Not gonna lie, I was much too young to understand the book properly (not necessarily the sewer escape though, we've had the talk quite early) but it captured the feeling of being a kid with a kid's problems perfectly. It also fascinated and terrified me whenever I read it and it was the first SK book I bought to re-read it as soon as we went back home.
Not me. 29 and I'm reading my first book ever The Stand.
So, I actually got into the movies before the books. Firestarter was my first, I told my dad I loved it and he showed me Cujo, Pet Semetery, Carrie, Misery, and IT. I eventually discovered my love for thr books, but the movies came first.
I got to see Stand By Me young enough that the only thing I remembered about it was some kids got leeches stuck all over themselves. This was way back when I was really young, enough that the only thing I remembered about Star Wars was there was a movie with text going by on the screen.
I started reading at 32, so yeah pretty early 😏
I had to bring a letter home in 4th grade explaining that Thinner was not appropriate for our independent reading time. My mom called the teacher to explain that school library was unsatisfactory, so I took weekly trips with the teacher to get a book from the highschool library.
17 or 18. Senior Year of High School. The Shining.
I remember being 6/7 when the tommyknockers mini series came out and I thought they were the scariest creatures of all time, looking back now it was my gateway into horror as a whole not just SK
I remember reading some Stephen King novel as an eight year old, watching the It miniseries with Tom Curry, and excitedly checking Pet Sematary the movie out at th library afterward. I am pretty sure these things scarred me for life.
I was 6 when the Salem’s Lot miniseries was on television. Yes, I was allowed to watch. It was terrifying, I *loved* it, and I’ve been a King addict ever since.