So this post is not intended as a "look at how cool we are - we believe in reading big books to small children" type of thing. This is a common example of how I didn't want to do something but The Boy pestered me for long enough and I gave in - happens fairly often around these parts.
I read The Hobbit to The Boy this winter and was amazed by how much he understood. True, the finer points were certainly lost on him and there was a bit of 'splaining to do. My sisters were reading the book at the same time, so they had the funniest book club going on. As I was preparing to read the chapter in which Bard kills Smaug (spoiler! hah!) I asked The Boy if he had any ideas about what would happen now that the dragon had left the Lonely Mountain.
"Oh, he gets killed," he replied, matter-of-fact. Apparently the other book club members were a couple chapters ahead and had shared. They also spent several days building the Lonely Mountain, dwarves, Bilbo, Smaug, and Gandalf from Legos. When we finished The Hobbit, soon the pleading started to read The Lord of the Rings.
I said no. Maybe later. It's too long. You won't enjoy it. Secretly, though, I wanted to read it to him because that would mean I would get to read it again, without having to neglect my family and duties. So, happily, he persisted, and we started The Fellowship of the Ring this spring. Again, I have been surprised by what he picks up and identifies. He remembers enough of The Hobbit to make the connections between the books, e.g. Gimli being Gloin's son, Balin being one of Bilbo's friends, who then goes to Moria, Legolas being a Mirkwood elf, etc.
Had forgotten how much happens in the first book, and although we are close to the end, there is quite a bit going on. Last night we read about Gandalf and the Balrog. He had a hard time following who was on the bridge where, so we drew stick figures on a post-it note. Soon he became frustrated with my efforts and grabbed the paper, drawing his own arrows to show the flight of the Company, downward thrust of Gandalf's staff on the bridge, descent of the Balrog into the abyss, and upward motion of the whip grabbing Gandalf, who then falls into the pit.
Now most days, while I am doing my work about home, he will come up to me and ask a question or tell me something about the characters. "Mom, do you think Gandalf is really down in the pit?"; "Gollum was a hobbit before he got the ring, right?"; "What happened to the cave trolls in Moria?". It's like having our own little book club, and I love it. So glad he pestered me to read to him, and these will be the memories we treasure for a long time to come.
