I just finished reading this with my 9-year-old son (2nd or 3rd time for me, 1st for him). I already love this whole series, but I'm enjoying the chance to see it through his eyes as well. It's an easy opportunity to talk about lots of "big themes" - good and evil, friendship, love, hatred, how you treat your fellow man/giant/witch, trust and lack thereof, and many others. If there's one thing that occasionally keeps me up at night, it's how to gently ease my son into the knowledge that the world has horrid people in it, that not everyone will want him to be happy and safe, that hatred and intolerance run rampant. Reading about these ideas in a story that is so obviously fictional is a way to have them introduced softly, and I've appreciated that he's been able to discuss them with curiosity rather than fear.