Sometime last year:
"Hey, do you have any interest in those Percy Jackson books, 'cause I found a set of the first 3 online for $10."
"Nope."
"Are you sure? You know there's a movie coming out and the rule is that you have to read the book before you see the movie."
"No, it looks boring."
"I heard they're really good books, are you sure you don't want me to order them? This is a great price."
"No, Mom. Geez."
Fast forward to two weeks ago:
"Mom, can I watch the Percy Jackson movie with BFF?"
"I thought you had no interest in that movie?"
"I know, but I've heard it's good."
"But you haven't read the book--you know the rule."
"Pleeeaaassseee Mom???"
"OK, I'll let you break the rule, just this once, since you always read the books." (PS is a great reader and devours books.)
The next day:
"So, how was the movie?"
"It was great. I have to get the books!"
A couple of days later I ordered the first 3 Percy Jackson books and the Hunger Games. They came in last Saturday. I plowed through the Hunger Games by Sunday night. This afternoon, I left work early and PS and I snuggled in my bed, she reading the third of the Percy Jackson books, and me reading the first.
"Mom, can you order the last two books?"
"You mean the books you had no interest in?
"Yeah, I really like them! Please, please, please get the last two!"
I picked up the 4th at Target tonight to put in her Easter basket. I'm sure she'll finish the third by the end of the day tomorrow.
BTW, The Hunger Games was excellent, but very disturbing. My brother (a middle school English teacher) has been bugging me for months to read it, but I was turned off by the description. But it is also on the recommend summer reading list for PS, because they will be studying Utopian societies, so I went ahead and picked it up. I couldn't put it down--my eyes were burning from reading for so long. However, it is not for young elementary students. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger than PS, who is a mature 11.
I'm only about a quarter of the way through the The Lightening Thief (the Percy Jackson book). It is not nearly well written as The Hunger Games. I've heard this series compared to Harry Potter. There seem to be some rather blatant take-offs from from HP, and I don't think the writing style is nearly as good. But I'll reserve further judgment until I've actually finished one of the books. So far, this series seems ok for my 8 year olds. When I left for work this morning they were taking turns reading it to each other, so they could both read it at the same time.
2 comments:
I've been wanting to read the Percy Jackson books but reading the book first ruins the movie for me. I read the 3rd HP book right before the movie came out, and the whole movie I'm just grumbling about what they left out since all the details were fresh in my mind.
See, my view is that I'd rather have the movie ruined than the book, because the book is nearly always better than the movie.
Also, PS was very young when she started HP. I never would have let her see the movies if she hadn't already read the books and was familiar with the subject matter.
But we do all grumble together about how much movies change books.
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