Reading the Hobbit to my 7 year old

[jcayer]

I want to thank the numerous people here who suggested reading the Hobbit to my 7 year old. She loves it.

We only get a couple pages done a night and have to constantly stop to explain exactly what is happening, but she can't get enough of it.

I hadn't read it since the 5th grade, so it's relatively new to me as well. I'll have to get a hold of the animated movie when we finish the book.
I have to admit, I'm amazed how well it reads to a child.

 

[Morkul]

i would recommend The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. also, The Book of Dragons, a book of short stories by E. Nesbit. i am currently reading the latter to my brood and they dig it. both MacDonald and Nesbit write stories that are meant to be read to children. you may also want to check out Lord Dunsany's work...

The Hobbit is great to read to children, but Tolkein gets overly descriptive at times...

 

[Bullgrit]

I read The Hobbit to my then 8-year-old about a year and a half ago. Here are the two parts of my "report":

Total Bullgrit

Total Bullgrit

Reading it aloud was more difficult for me than I expected.

Bullgrit

 

[Raven Crowking]

I've read The Hobbit aloud, more than once, to both of my two oldest children. The youngest, at 3 (almost 4) is still too young. I've read LotR to my eldest.

As strange as it may sound, I am currently reading The Hobbit aloud to my partner. She enjoys the sound of my reading voice. We just finished "On the Doorstep".


RC

 

[IronWolf]

I will have to consider reading The Hobbit to IronPup. He'd probably love it, I already have him playing D&D and Pathfinder, so this would be right up his alley.

 

[TarionzCousin]

i would recommend The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. also, The Book of Dragons, a book of short stories by E. Nesbit. i am currently reading the latter to my brood and they dig it. both MacDonald and Nesbit write stories that are meant to be read to children. you may also want to check out Lord Dunsany's work...

How are the MacDonald and Nesbit books for older kids... say around 37?

 

[Morkul]

How are the MacDonald and Nesbit books for older kids... say around 37?

they're good for olde kids as well, but i prefer Lord Dunsany, E.R. Eddison, Mervyn Peake or A. Merritt if im wanting some classic fantasy. MacDonald wrote a book called Lilith that is written for adults, but the Princess books are better. both he and Nesbit break the narrative to explain things in simple terms. they speak directly to the reader, or, if being read aloud, directly to the audience...

if you are looking for some classic fantasy, i would try:
The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison
The Charwoman's Shadow by Lord Dunsany
or Titus Groan and Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Loved The Hobbit as a kid, as well as The Phantom Tollbooth and A Wrinkle In Time.

You also probably can't go wrong with Aesop's Fables or some of the lighter stories from myth & legend. While I was something of a prodigy and read all kinds of things well outside my age group, I can tell you that certain stories just lend themselves to the younger mind.

For instance, some of the stories of the Argonauts are as good as it gets for kids, and I always loved the story of how Thor and his traveling companions got involved with some contests (involving eating & drinking and other tests of manhood) with some Jotuns...and there are similar tales to be found in almost every culture's stories.

...like the tall tales of the American frontier, like Paul Bunyan, John Henry and so forth.

 

[Relique du Madde]

What no suggesting the Princess Bride?!? For shame!

 

[freyar]

The Princess Bride is pretty good, I'll have to admit.

I think age 7 or 8 is when I was introduced to The Hobbit by my father; I loved it enough that I read LotR myself by the next year.