I was super pushy about it. I read them, and I was like, JENNY WOULD LOVE THIS! It is a cumulation of many things Jenny would like! And I told you about it more pushily than is my wont because you had noted that I was completely nonpushy about the Thief, so I was trying to be pushier (and clearly failing if you don’t remember). And I was all “YOU WOULD LIKE THIS BOOK! Plotting! Deception! Unreliable narrator (sort of!)! This is for you! And you hummed it because Tithe. And I told you they were not at all alike and you should really really try white cat! Clearly I’m just not good at being a book advocate. Sad sign for my career….

(She deleted all her fics before becoming a published author, because people were cruel like that in the ’00s :()

I didn’t think about self-censoring (which I also did and still do.) Good thought. I think I’ll let her do that. Better than trying to control the throttle myself. Thanks for helping me process!

Anyway, in answer to your HP question — I don’t have kids, so what the hell do I know, but I would tend to think two things. One, it’s totally okay to make her wait like we did (anticipation is fun!), although it’s possible she may sneak into your bedroom and swipe the books and read them in the dead of night. Two, if she’s the kind of kid who self-censors (which I think a lot of kids are, and certainly I was), she’ll quit reading them herself if they get too upsetting — especially if you say in advance, some scary stuff happens in the later books, it’s okay to put them down and pick them up later.

Aw, no, it’s OK, there are ten million of me. I fixed it for later. Thanks though!