Introducing Children to Tolkien

[Lizra]

Originally posted by Valandil
Oh - one other little thing: Maybe I'm the only one here *looks around* who scooped up as many of the Burger King 'Lord of the Rings' figures when the first movie came out...??? (didn't get Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli or Elrond - but DID get Aragorn, Boromir, Pippin, Merry, Arwen, Galadriel, Saruman, a couple trolls, orcs and a Uruk hai) Anyway, the kids play with them... and one of them - one of the trolls - is a favorite bath toy. We always play, "Where's the troll?" when the tub is full of bubbles!

Ooh! I got them all... twice around (except for one, I can't remember which I only have one of) My first Gimli has worn his batteries down ("Well what are we waiting for?") I like Boromir best, he sounds so perfect. Do you have the ring that they all connect to?

I read the hobbit to my son, and am reading the first Harry Potter to him now, (I have never read HP, so I'm doing it for selfish reasons! ) but I have to really "work it", changing some language to make more sense, leaving out some overly detailed descriptions of stuff he has no clue about, and really hamming up the voices. He's almost eight ,and likes doing things more than imagining things. He views reading as a competitive sport...it's all about one upmanship.
This works fine in sports, but reading is not a race. The acelerated reading program has worked against him I'm afraid. He tries to read higher level books than he should, merely to "score" more points than the next kid. His reading level has suffered (IMO) because he's not comprehending the way he should. I just don't think he's ready yet, he's only in second grade. He enjoyed the Harry Potter when they lived with the Muggles, (because he could relate to it, Dudley beating on Harry was particullarly interesting) but all the wizard stuff can get boring pretty quick. Potions? Transfiguration? Whatever! It's a good way to get him to sleep quickly! Maybe he'll perk up when the Quidditch part kicks in...scoring, now that's something he can relate to!