Harry Dresden – For Teenagers?
I’m about a quarter of the way into Storm Front, book one of the Harry Dresden Files, and I wanted to answer a question posed by Maureen, who wants to know about its suitability for junior high/high school readers.
It didn’t take long to get the answer to that question. Keep in mind that I believe in each parent deciding what their kids can read or watch, so don’t take my comments as gospel truth on this. Here we go:
I’m really enjoying the book so far as a light, entertaining read. But I wouldn’t be able to read this book to my eighth grade class because of some pretty graphic crime scene details that occur early in the book. It’s graphic not only in its description of the state of the murder victims, but also in what the victims were doing when they died. In other words, if this book were made into a movie, this crime scene alone would give the movie an “R” rating.
That doesn’t mean teens shouldn’t read it. I think the story is just the kind of thing a teenager would enjoy. But a parent should probably read it first to see if their teen could handle it. I’m not going to give it to my seventh grade boy to read, and I’m not even sure if I would give to my freshman. I have to wait until I get finished with the book to know for sure.
Sometimes a book has a such a great message and is so deep that graphic violence or sexual content can be tolerated, if it’s an integral part of the story. Storm Front doesn’t strike me as that kind of book yet, but as I said earlier, I’m only a fourth of the way through it.
There’s a bit of rough language, but so far nothing you wouldn’t hear in a PG-13 movie, and the plot is engaging. Storm Front has been described as Philip Marlowe meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I think of it more as Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell meets The X-Files. And maybe that’s a good comparison for its suitability for teens: if you let your teens watch The X-Files, you would probably be ok with them reading Storm Front.
I’ll write more about Harry after I’ve finished the book.
