I read "The Catcher in the Rye" on my own for the first time when I was 11 YO. I was a voracious reader at that age and my older sister brought it home as an assigned book for her freshman English class. I read it and loved it, in fact I really related to the protagonist and just connected to the book right away. I've probably read it 5-6 more times since then although not since in was in my 20's so probably 25 years ago.