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So, like 2 years ago I built my kid a stool with a drawer, and stuck a copy of The Hobbit inside it, since she was developing more of an affinity for fantasy through these "Julia's House for Lost Creatures" stories I bought her. But she was only 3 and not very interested in it. Too many words, too much description, not enough things happening, or pictures. She's 5 now, and we were doing pretty OK getting through it. She had more interest in the story, but the lack of pictures really were hard on her. A friend of mine had tried reading her 4 year old an illustrated and unabridged copy of The Hobbit (I've since learned he lost interest in it), which gave me the idea to order a companion art book for my daughter to look at while I read. So I ordered Alan Lee's Hobbit Sketchbook.
It's been night and fucking day. I think it took me 6-9 months to read The Hobbit to my daughter. I got the art book when we were almost finished, right after Smaug had been killed. My daughter went from having enough interest to sit down and see what happens next once a week, to begging me to read it to her virtually every spare moment. Then as soon as we finished, she wanted to start again right from the beginning. We get through about 20 pages or so a day, and after 2 weeks I expect we'll finish in another week or so. It's all she talks about too, it's adorable as can be.
I'd like to believe this could be a core memory for her spending time with her dad. In much the same way I remember what must have been the 1991 Washington Redkins' season, and how much it became a family event watching football with my dad.
Somewhat related: I loved the Redwall series as a kid. I remember my 1st grade teacher being skeptical and incredulous that my book report was on Mossflower given its length. This link is an image on purpose - I think that the cover art for that book is unbelievably good, and helped 6-year-old me power through it.
Contrast that with the new book cover. Holy fuck, is nothing sacred? It probably couldn't be any worse - it even spoils the end of the entire novel!
I suppose I have to drop $150 on an older print boxed set now even though I'm 2 years away from my kids being able to start it.
There's at least competition for worse, though I'll admit the spoilers and overall 'Graphics Art Is My Passion' feeling is worse with the one you link.
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That's amazing. Good job, dad. I would read my to my boys from many books, but my personal favorite was D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. It doesn't get into the weirder parts--Pasiphaë's more socially-backward sexual habits are not explored--but it has illustrations on almost every page. Good stuff.
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That's a great idea, I'm going to try it :)
I started my kids off with Harry Potter. After watching the movies, it's much easier for them to visualize what's going on when I read. I read books 1 and 2 to my 6 year old that way.
I thought about doing the same with the Hobbit or Narnia, but the movies aren't quite as friendly to young kids. (I've also got a 1, 2, and 3 yo right now that even Narnia would be too much for. Harry Potter is full of funny scenes in between the scary ones that these other "kids" movies don't have.)
I made sure my kids watched The Hobbit, but only because they'd want to see it eventually anyways and they enjoyed it much more by watching it before the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so it was a source of excitement rather than disappointment.
Beware reading Harry Potter to kids who might still be too young for the later themes. I started reading the first book to my oldest, figuring it would take us half a year to get through each book at a few pages a night, which would give her a few years to mature as the sequels got more serious and frightening. Instead she decided that this was going to be when she started reading chapter books by herself, and then I couldn't bring myself to make her wait on the later books, nor or to forbid her watching the movies after she'd blitzed through the whole series. She at least didn't have any nightmares that she told me about...
Not that I’m biased or anything, but it’ll probably be good for her. The opportunity to plow through multiple volumes of Potter probably has a lot to do with my later taste for chunky slabs of fantasy.
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Yeah, my wife wants to read Narnia to her too. She's been looking for a nicer hardcover edition that doesn't break the bank. There are a bunch of all in one hardcovers of the whole series on Amazon, but they seem suspicious. The page count seems too low (500 pages?) and the photo reviews all show horribly quality issues.
Edit: I almost forgot! We're making an earnest attempt at not being a "TV" house hold. So it's unlikely we will ever proceed from The Hobbit book to The Hobbit movies. Or for Narnia, Harry Potter, etc.
It's actually interesting, trying to raise her as long as we can without the crutch of TV. It's exhausting, for sure. Sometimes life would be a lot easier if we just threw on a DVD and walked away for an hour or two. But I think it's been worth it.
Movies? I'm sorry, I only know of the one.
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We've got an all-in-one Narnia that I got used for $2. It's fantastic for an adult, but for kids I'd go with the smaller size. The font on our all-in-one is a bit too small to be comfortable for a kid to read (or to point with you're finger at what you're reading to show a kid), and the weight is too heavy for them to comfortably carry it around. Mine is ~400 pages but they are very large (bigger than US letter paper size).
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