Ben started reading the books the next year. At 9, he was a strong reader, but as he got to the later (and larger) books he asked me to read to him. And so I began reading the series starting in the middle of book 5. A slightly awkward place to pick up the storyline, but we began watching the movies again around that time so I had the basic framework of the history. After he and I finished the series together, I looped back around to the beginning and read the first books.