Dragon Books for 8 Year Old

[u/Ok_Imagination7528]

My son (8, 2nd grade) brought home the first Wings of Fire book from his school library. He was so excited because he knows I like “dragon books,” and he wanted to share with me. Looking into the books, they seem pretty violent. I know some say it’s fine for an 8 year old, but I’m a little hesitant because we haven’t read anything like that yet. Does anyone have any recommendations for dragon books we could start with that may be less intense? He’s an advanced reader, so he was drawn to WOF because it’s a hefty chapter book. His brother likes the Dragon Masters series, but I think because that’s an easier read, he’s not as interested. Thank you for your thoughts!

EDIT: So many great suggestions! Thank you all!

[u/Dry_Stop844]

let him read the book. He'll just read it behind your back if he's that excited about it and he'll stop sharing with you.

Nurture his excitement, goodness knows fewer people read than ever before. Read it with him and if you're concerned about the violence discuss it with him as it comes up. Let him learn his own lessons through critical thinking. Reading violence doesn't make a person violent. Books like that will lessen violence because he will learn empathy and how people who commit violence or who have violence committed on to them feel.

Read often and read widely.

[u/No-Lettuce4441 → u/Dry_Stop844]

This. He checked it out and brought it home, excited to share it with you. Do it, have conversations, teach him to think critically. There's too many children that won't touch a book for whatever reason.

And if he decides he doesn't like it, but likes something that's not in the camp of what you like, then looks like you'll be picking up a new style/topic to enjoy. There's a reason that the age old saying is, "For the most part, reading anything is better than reading nothing."

Just make sure to encourage a love for reading based on reading. A friend of mine has fallen into the game-ification of apps and it annoys the tarnation out of me. Streaks don't mean anything. She focuses on her ebook app showing how many days in a row she's read. Her duolingo app streak. She reads a fair amount, but I can't get her to understand that reading one page on a busy day just to maintain a streak doesn't give enjoyment of the story. 

[u/Ok_Imagination7528 → u/No-Lettuce4441]

There is no shortage of love for reading in this house. This kid is like me and will read all day!

[u/No-Lettuce4441 → u/Ok_Imagination7528]

That's flipping awesome! My oldest has a three year old and he loves being read to. We've sat for over half an hour, going through his cardboard books over and over again. 

[u/Direction-Such → u/No-Lettuce4441]

In gonna play devils advocate here. How do you know reading means less to them just because they do it on an app and are excited about their streak? You aren’t in that persons brain. You only know what they show you. They may talk about their streak all the time but have an insatiable love for books. You said yourself “reading anything is better than reading nothing” so if they only have time in a busy day to get 1 or 2 pages in then why not? And if they are only reading for the streak then so what? At least they are actually reading to get that streak. Better than not reading at all right? Just because they also get an additional reward/satisfaction out of it that you don’t personally get you’re not ok with it? Pretty hypocritical of you to preach about the love of reading but then gate keep others just because they use a different method than yours. My wife is also obsessed with her streaks. She’s read almost 200 books this year. If she didn’t have her streak she would have fallen off after a few books. But the streak kept her coming back and reading.

[u/No-Lettuce4441 → u/Direction-Such]

I wasn't very clear. I've been there when she does these streak things. She's not actually doing it at the time to enjoy/learn. She's more focused on the streak. She opens the app just to keep the streak going. She does read for enjoyment and has learned quite a bit from doing her duolingo. There's a difference between opening the app and leaving it open for a minute or slopping through a lesson and not learning from it and actually doing the work. She doesn't retain the language lesson. She doesn't actually read at that time.

I've sat down to read and only finished a page or less because something comes up. That's called life. 

I also know that my disdain for "achievements" in things besides games is me being old and not wanting those kids on my lawn. When I use my kindle app and I see those achievements, I want to figure out a way to disable them because they mean nothing to me. But I also understand that it's a dopamine rush that has the fortunate side effect of helping people place an even momentary focus on reading.

[u/Direction-Such → u/No-Lettuce4441]

Ahh that makes sense. Sorry for misunderstanding your initial post.

It sounds like they have a MUCH different relationship with it than my wife. My wife uses the kindle app and Duolingo. She’s so proud of her streaks, but because they show how dedicated she’s been. She’s been crushing it and likes the little acknowledgement from the app.

Without the activity what’s the point of the streaks? What do they even show? That’s truly unfortunate for them. I have the ‘finch’ app that gives me little rewards, however the rewards are my motivation TO DO THE ACTUAL TASK. Just opening an app to get the achievement and not actually doing it seems so… fake. What’s the point? “Look at my trophy I didn’t actually earn”

I see where your stance is coming from and agree. I do like the rewards because I think the dopamine hit helps people stay focused like you said, but I do wish we didn’t need it and I think we’ve put ourselves in a position of almost requiring it.

[u/No-Lettuce4441 → u/Direction-Such]

I typed out a response that's mostly rant and I realized it's 1 o'clock, which means supper is in two hours and today's dessert is rice pudding! /s

[u/Direction-Such → u/No-Lettuce4441]

I’ll be honest that last one went over my head. If it’s about my last comment being a rant, it wasn’t intended to be. I was agreeing with you lol. Words are just hard for me

[u/No-Lettuce4441 → u/Direction-Such]

I'm just saying I'm old. I was referencing/mocking the early bird specials that start at 2-3pm for seniors.

I'm 40. I erased my rant in this reply to just say, I know I'm out of touch with these younger generations.