When/What "Classics" to Read to Children??

I was a reading teacher, and my daughter reads in the top 1% of the nation on the Star test, and loves dark books. Poe was over her head, though, so you would have to be ready to explain a lot of figurative language. Frankenstein is also very difficult language. Step-Up books are a good choice, like the one you mentioned, but are hard to find. It is not a classic, but the Twilight series is a good scary read that is easy. We have read Tom Sawyer, Anne of Green Gables, Secret Garden, Pride and Prejudice,

Sounds like some fun, really!
There is the Black Cauldron series, which is aimed for children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicles_of_Prydain
I barely remember them, but I was about your daughter's age.
Nancy Drew is another take on the darker angle.
Have some fun!

Have you heard of the Thomas Jefferson Education version of home schooling? It's based on reading classics in every category (math, science, literature) and learning from them.

I'm not doing it, but I have gotten some wonderful insights from the book and it has a great list of classics for different ages. If you are interested, I believe I have a copy on my computer.

Good luck!

I haven't read either of those, but I've been thinking my son, who is the same age and has the same taste in dark and gothic tales, might like Edgar Allen Poe short stories, or some of the classic old scary stuff that they used to print in Alfred Hitchcock Magazine.

I think it's great that you are willing to follow her interest! She sounds like a fun kid.

Some sort of scary books (not necessarily classics) that you could start reading at that age are "A Series of Unfortunate Events" or "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". I read "The Hobbit" out loud to my grade 3/4 (combined) class. Some of my students could have handled the whole book. As a read aloud I actually skipped a few of the more "boring" parts and kind of self edited as I read aloud. Other books that I used with that age are "Black Beauty" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Fin"