Moe_Syzlak said:
I meant that they aren’t ready to dive headlong into the LotR books. To be honest, I had never read the Hobbit and thought it was more of a kids book than it turned out to be. I was surprised my five year olds liked it.
Haha. My kid watched the Jackson LotR movies at the age of 5 and loved them. A little story there:
Up until that point, the scariest movie she had seen was Labyrinth, and that freaked her out. But I'm a very casual Lord of the Rings Online player, and one day she saw me shooting down crebain with my Hunter. She insisted on playing.
I warned her that this game was far more complex than any game she'd played. It was really for adults. She wouldn't let it go. Finally, I told her that she could only play if she watched all three movies so she could understand what the game was about. She agreed.
I figured she would be scared off quickly. Instead, we had a fascinating conversation about how adventure movies aren't about characters going into life-threatening situations and dying. They're usually about how characters *survive* life-threatening danger. She asked me if anyone died. I told her about Boromir. She was good to go. She watched straight through and then started back at the beginning. She loves them.
Moreover, she's actually quite a good LOTRO player.... And now at the age of 7, she can even read the quests on her own.
At any rate, you kids might (or might not) be ready for LotR
. But probably not the books yet.
ssj said:
my 12-year-old, who loves fantasy, modestly enjoyed reading the hobbit and fellowship. the two towers put her to sleep; and i remember my own struggles getting through that book.
much as i love tolkien, i have to admit the dude had pacing issues.
Word. My mother was part of the Frodo Lives movement. She gave me the LotR books in the third grade (Hobbit in second). I tried to read several times over the years and kept getting bogged down in TTT. Eventually I go all the way through.
I reread them much later and loved them, even TTT.
FWIW, I also have a Hobbit edit submitted. It's almost certainly not as faithful JXEditor, but closer to the book to than the source material, and fast-paced. My kid likes it. (Of course, she also would want to please me, so YMMV.) Available by PM.
Also recommended, though not listed on this site: FekketCantenel's 2-Hour Hobbit Edit. You can Google it. Rather than being a book cut, it's a cut to match the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit. I think it's quite good, and I believe it's the shortest 3-in-1 Hobbit edit out there, but for all that speed still doesn't have whiplash pacing. (Not sure if that one's been recommended. I read the beginning and end of the thread, but not all the posts in between.)