Here's what I've read thus far:
Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
Medusa's Butterfly by Simon Rae
Medusa's Butterfly by Simon Rae
The Reluctant Assassin: W.A.R.P. by Eion Colfer
The Hangman's Revoloution by Eion Colfer
Secret Star by Emma Carroll
Now, to the big news: we, as a family, have also read The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkin.
I'll be honest, it was arduous. Almost excruciatingly painful, but we made it. Sophie and Rachel have been slowly graduating to longer books for some time now; even sometimes chapter books! We have some Roal Dahl books in rotation at the moment (The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr Fox, Esio Trot, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG (gosh, I didn't realize there were so many until I started listing them!)), Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and they also love the Ottoline Books, by Chris Riddle, which are an excellent halfway between longer illustrated picture books and chapter books.
So somewhere along the line, Steve says casually: "Maybe one day we can read you 'The Hobbit'." At which I protest, because, let's face it, it's The Hobbit, and in a word: Terrible. Much to my dismay, Sophie instantly wants to know why I don't like it. But, because I do love reading, I don't want to spoil it for her. I mean, there is a slim chance that somewhere down the line she will read it and maybe think it's passable. I can't take that away from her by telling her the truth straight up can I?
We explain to Sophie that for this reason, I will tell her why I don't like it, only after she herself has read it. Hearing this, Sophie begs us to read it straight away. Without delay. Despite our warnings that it is very long and could be boring. She would not be put off. We had to read it. Immediately.
And so we read it.
Steve and I took turns reading it aloud to the girls, and despite thinking that Steve would do most of the legwork here, I did end up reading a large chunk, because we were on holidays, and the girls think the best way to spend their time is by sitting and reading for hours on end. (Steve and I often come upon then in their room sitting together and leafing through well read books.) They are not wrong, though I do question their choice of book in this case.
Steve had a copy on the shelf, but we also managed to pick up a semi-illustrated version from the library which helped immensely (especially where Rachel was concerned). They loved the characters; elves, dwarves, hobbit and wizard. They thought that Gollum was hilarious for some reason, and spent a lot of the first half asking if the Dragon would show up soon. When Smaug did show up, they were pretty happy about him too, even though he is not a nice dragon.
At the end of it, I did get to tell Sophie why I think it's terrible, and I think she sees my reasoning. That said, she did love listening to the tale, even when the author got a bit waffle-y about things and distracted with scenery, rather than actually telling the story.
If you've never read The Hobbit, I'd advise you to skip it, but I do hope that this post about reading inspires you to pick up a book tonight.
The Hangman's Revoloution by Eion Colfer
Secret Star by Emma Carroll
Now, to the big news: we, as a family, have also read The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkin.
I'll be honest, it was arduous. Almost excruciatingly painful, but we made it. Sophie and Rachel have been slowly graduating to longer books for some time now; even sometimes chapter books! We have some Roal Dahl books in rotation at the moment (The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr Fox, Esio Trot, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG (gosh, I didn't realize there were so many until I started listing them!)), Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and they also love the Ottoline Books, by Chris Riddle, which are an excellent halfway between longer illustrated picture books and chapter books.
So somewhere along the line, Steve says casually: "Maybe one day we can read you 'The Hobbit'." At which I protest, because, let's face it, it's The Hobbit, and in a word: Terrible. Much to my dismay, Sophie instantly wants to know why I don't like it. But, because I do love reading, I don't want to spoil it for her. I mean, there is a slim chance that somewhere down the line she will read it and maybe think it's passable. I can't take that away from her by telling her the truth straight up can I?
We explain to Sophie that for this reason, I will tell her why I don't like it, only after she herself has read it. Hearing this, Sophie begs us to read it straight away. Without delay. Despite our warnings that it is very long and could be boring. She would not be put off. We had to read it. Immediately.
And so we read it.
Steve and I took turns reading it aloud to the girls, and despite thinking that Steve would do most of the legwork here, I did end up reading a large chunk, because we were on holidays, and the girls think the best way to spend their time is by sitting and reading for hours on end. (Steve and I often come upon then in their room sitting together and leafing through well read books.) They are not wrong, though I do question their choice of book in this case.
Steve had a copy on the shelf, but we also managed to pick up a semi-illustrated version from the library which helped immensely (especially where Rachel was concerned). They loved the characters; elves, dwarves, hobbit and wizard. They thought that Gollum was hilarious for some reason, and spent a lot of the first half asking if the Dragon would show up soon. When Smaug did show up, they were pretty happy about him too, even though he is not a nice dragon.
At the end of it, I did get to tell Sophie why I think it's terrible, and I think she sees my reasoning. That said, she did love listening to the tale, even when the author got a bit waffle-y about things and distracted with scenery, rather than actually telling the story.
If you've never read The Hobbit, I'd advise you to skip it, but I do hope that this post about reading inspires you to pick up a book tonight.
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