So, I have read and seen all the HP books and movies. I have seen all the Hobbit/LOtR movies.. I have never read the books. Hubby and I went last week to see Hobbit in 3D for a date night. I decided I should read the books and started with The Hobbit since that is what I found online suggested to be read first. I'm not very far in but I think the kids might really like hearing it. Which series would you read to your kids first? Or should I just wait on them until they are older and stick with Magic Tree House and Junie B Jones (which they will actually listen to and aren't full fledged picture books)?
I think the Hobbit is not an easy read or something easy to listen to IMHO. Personally I read it in 7th grade - but I was reading at a college level. I read the rest of the series when the movies started coming out and my mother gave me the books. For younger kids - listening to HP might be easier and more interesting. The first 3-4 books are my favorite and I think use a lot more imagination than the later ones.
We started listening to HP on CD when dd was about 8. They were good for long car rides. Once we hit Goblet of Fire she started reading them on her own. She is now working on Half Blood Prince. It will take her a while but that is fine. She is supposed to read The Hobbit next year if we do Sonlight again, so that would be 5th grade (10/11yrs old). I would not try LotR until at least middle school even for reading out loud.
I agree that HP would be much easier at their ages. We are about to start book 5 and they haven't lost a bit of interest yet. I plan on having them read The Hobbit and LOTRs on their on in middle or high school.
I'm still confused about seeing Dr. Watson as Bilbo Baggins!? (The actor plays opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in the amazingly good series 'Sherlock'.) The confusion will be even greater in the next movie because Cumberbatch 'plays' the dragon. I would agree about not reading The Hobbit to younger children. The episode with the attercops (spiders), for example, might be too creepy for them at a young age. The thing to note about Tolkien's writing is that he was trying to create a mythology for Britain. Unlike other ancient civilizations, Britain doesn't really have a tradition of mythology. So, the stories were really meant for adults and not children.
Thanks. I'm trying to break the whole hating to listen to read alouds for Reagan more than anything. He likes things that are action-y. I think we will try HP, it's been years since I read them, and I have been wanting to reread them again for a while.
We LOVE Harry Potter here. But we have not introduced the kids to them yet and we probably won't for a few more years. I think they would all enjoy the first one and maybe even the second one but IMO each book gets a bit darker and I want my kids to be mature enough to handle the last few books. I'm really bad at read alouds - chapter book style. I read a few chapters one day and then I forget about it. I've been better about reading picture books to the younger crew and I've gotten Kayden trying other book series' than Magic Tree House on his own and I'm happy with that for now. This week he's enjoying Encyclopedia Brown. Came back to add that I can't speak to Tolkien's books as I've never read a single one of them. Chronicles of Narnia is another that comes to mind and that I would probably let the kids hear/read now. I'm fairly certain that in coming years my husband will read aloud The Chronicles of Narnia and the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series' to the kids. I don't really care for the Narnia stories personally but my husband loves them.
OHMYGOSH I did not realize that until reading this. Now my head is spinning! Can't wait to tell my DH...
You mean more confusing than Cumberpatch as the embodiment of evil? As to the OP... I'd also go with HP. Potter was written with modern children in mind. The Hobbit was written with WW2 era children in mind. LOTR was written for adults.
We are a family that loves the Harry Potter series. I started reading them with my kids when oldest son when he was 8 or 9 years old. I have fond memories of taking the kids to the midnight book release parties. The looked so cute dressed up in costume. My oldest son always went dressed as Harry. My daughter went dressed as Hermoine. One year she was Hermoine transfigured into the cat. When my youngest was 4 1/2 years old he went dressed as Hagrid. He was the cutest "little giant"!!! It was a very special time for my family and I will cherish those memories forever!!!
Save LOTR for later...much later. I read those books as an adult after the movies were released and had a ton of trouble getting through them because they are so boring. Looooong periods of really nothing going on. I loved the movies because of the action, but it turns out they chopped a lot of the boring parts of the books out lol. I have not read or seen any Harry Potter, but understand it to be more kid-friendly.
On the one hand, oh no!! On the other hand, the only two things (other than English soccer) I ever watch on TV strangely combined. Can't wait to watch this in May.
You know, it's really a matter of preference. I'd NEVER read Harry Potter aloud to my kids. Yes, they've read all the books and seen all the movies, but.... We read The Hobbit when the kids were younger, and it went very well. We're right now about half-way through with The Return of the King. I guess I'd be OK to read the Hobbit to younger kids (though probably not LOTR, unless you were reading it to older kids, and the younger ones were listening in), but I wouldn't be OK reading them Harry Potter.
Where are these boring parts in LOTR? I am reading the book with one kid right now and wonder if we have encountered the boring bits yet. I've never read them before and I'm finding the book to be much better than the movie so far. I won't let my son watch the movie until he reads the book:wink:
Lol, that's kinda what we said, too, Embassy, but he had a friend over and the two of them stayed up all night watching the movies! (What else do two 12yo boys do at a sleep-over, lol!) But we're also watching them as we read them. We finished The Two Towers right before Christmas, and watched the movie, then started reading The Return of the King just after New Year's. Yeah, it did get boring a bit when Gandalf and Pippin were riding Shadowfax to Minas Tirith, but the kids didn't mind. We made it through! And the kids have a VERY GOOD UNDERSTANDING at how their mom believes the movies absolutely assinated Faramir's character! The other difference I'll point out when we see the movie is that Aragorn didn't unfurl the standard Arwyn made for him in the movie. That REALLY bugged me!
You are way ahead of me. I haven't met most of those characters yet. We are still towards the beginning of the first book. I'm a meany, I guess. I won't let my younger son in the room while my older son is playing a LOTR Wii game either. Not until he has read the book.
You ARE a meanie!!! Lol! Then I better shut up, because I don't want to give anything away. I take it you haven't seen the movie yet...? You might show the movies one at a time, after each book, rather than showing them all at the end.
Yes, I saw them but it was a loooong time ago. I don't remember much more than the basic storyline. Yes, I was planning on letting my son watch a movie after each book. That is what I did with my oldest. It was a special time with dad. Dh likes the movies. They weren't my cup of tea I have been pleasantly surprised by the book though.
Then you should watch the movies again. Like I say there are some very big "errors". The biggest one dealt with Faramir (Boromir's brother). In the book, Frodo and Sam are seperated from the rest, and they run into Faramir. Frodo actually offers the Ring to him, but he refuses and sends Frodo on his way. This showed Faramir's strength of character. In the movie, he forced Frodo to go with him because he wanted the ring to protect Gondor. Eventually he realizes this isn't a good choice, and sent him on, but it changed his character drastically.
