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Dawn
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| Posted: July 13 2006 at 7:32pm | IP Logged
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My 11 yo ds has recently found (and fell in love with) Redwall.  My middle son (7 next month) wants to hear them read aloud, but I was wondering what age is too young? (I haven't read them myself yet.) And if 7 isn't too young, would you say the audio version would be o.k. for family listening?
And a side question (maybe better for history forum) has anyone used these books within a middle ages study?
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
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margot helene
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| Posted: July 13 2006 at 7:52pm | IP Logged
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Dawn wrote:
My middle son (7 next month) wants to hear them read aloud, but I was wondering what age is too young? (I haven't read them myself yet.) And if 7 isn't too young, would you say the audio version would be o.k. for family listening?
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We began reading them aloud when my youngest was 4. (Dd began reading them at age 7.) All the kids love them AND they really love the audio versions. It's really more like reader's theater than reading aloud. Sometimes, though, I think they add too much, like music that couldn't possibly be in the story, you know when the characters break into song there is background music. I'd much prefer just to hear the song as it would have sounded. But hey I can't complain, when I read it out loud, I don't sing it.  My favorite parts of this series are the wonderful descriptions of the food and drink! It can get a bit gory, but my kids never were affected by it.
Have fun
Margot
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Louise
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| Posted: July 13 2006 at 8:03pm | IP Logged
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Dear Dawn,
We are big Redwall fans here.  Our Matthias  (now 9) was barely four when Augustin (20) started to read them aloud to his little brothers. He had them all enthralled! They would beg him to read more every night.
I bought the first video for Laurence's birthday (4). All but Laurence really like it. Laurence finds it a little too intense. He is very easily scarred by movies. But he is fine with the books read aloud.
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PDyer
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My son was seven or eight when he started reading Redwall. He is a sensitive kid, but he really enjoyed the stories despite the suspense and "meanness" of some of the characters.
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Patty
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stefoodie
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My boys were early Redwall fans -- 4 and 7 -- now 7 and 10. The 7-yo enjoys read-alouds, audiobooks and DVDs, since he still finds the books to be too long to read on his own. The 4-yo (dd) enjoys the audiobooks and read-alouds but turns away when there's "scary stuff" on the DVDs. We're having a Redwall week next week! We were done with MA by the time they got "into" Redwall, but since they became fans it seems we're always in the Middle Ages! Just the past month they've been reading a lot (again) about knights, arms and armor, etc. Which is why I thought of doing a formal Redwall unit next week.
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Jen L.
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My son (almost 11) just started listening to the first book and loves it. I read it last year (it's the only one I read) and enjoyed it but determined that it is just too violent/gory for my 8 and 5 year olds.
I figure that we have all our lives to read that stuff. It definitely depends on the individual kid. Besides the gore, some kids don't like to go back to the "simple" books like Henry and Ribsy after reading the "exciting" stories. This is definitely not true of all kids. I've been blessed with a boy whose interests are truly diverse.
For instance, we ALL enjoy the Little House books (we're on Lissa's Charlotte years series right now ).
Hope this makes some sense,
Jen
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Jen L.
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| Posted: July 13 2006 at 11:02pm | IP Logged
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Oops! I meant to add that you don't have to read far into the book to get a flavor for it. If I remember correctly, 50 pages (maybe less) should tell you what you need to know to make the decision for your own family. You might even try asking your ds what he thinks of it for the youngers and to show you the violent/intense parts.
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: July 14 2006 at 12:27am | IP Logged
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I agree with Jen about getting a good feel for the series within the first 50 or so pages. My ds8 became a huge Redwall fan just a few months ago. He and dd4 act out the stories often. I have NOT let my dd listen to the audiobooks, but have let her watch the movie and the tv cartoon. There are also 2 or 3 illustrated books like this that I have let her read.
I just felt that the books were too intense for her. As an unexpected bonus, it encourages my ds to narrate the stories to his sister, because she hasn't read them
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Noreen
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4Real Forums : Living Literature
Topic: Too young for Redwall?
