Films ruining the pleasure of reading for DD

[OlympicGoldPennies]

DD loves reading and devours books, but she also has a lazy streak! Recently my MIL bought the film of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I had recently bought the book for DD so I asked her not to show her the film until DD1 had read the book.

I asked DD this week if she had started the book and she said she had but then my MIL had shown her the film and now she won't read the rest of the book.

I'm really fed up about this and feel that DD has lost the chance to enjoy such a fabulous story using her own imagination. Also it means that the same thing is likely to happen with Harry Potter, isn't it. I'm taking matters into my own hands now on that front and I'm reading her HP and the Philosopher's Stone at the moment. She's capable of reading it but isn't old enough for it yet IYSWIM (she's recently turned 7).

AIBU to be annoyed? How can I stop this happening again?

Happens the other way round in this house - sees film and wants book which he's come to realise is generally way better

you can read and watch at the same time i can remember watching a bbc lion the witch and the wardrobe and reading it at the same time , are you always so competative with granny ? i think you are being a bit dramatic you dont have to let her watch the dvd . my children have read and watched Harry potter and loved both dd1 preferred the books its no biggie really ,

Astonished how many people think the HP films are better than the books.

Or maybe I should qualify that. I don't think the last four HP books are all that good really but I would imagine it is almost impossibe to follow the plot from the film alone.

I have some sympathy for the OP's POV as when the first HP film was coming out I didn't want DD to see the film before reading the book but she was way too young to read it herself (5 or 6). In the end we read it to her as a bedtime story and she loved it so then we went to see the film.

But I also agree that seeing a film/ TV programme/ musical can make you want to read the book too.

BTW, with the exception of TLTWATW and Voyage of the Dawn Treader I think the rest of the Narnia books are pants and The Last Battle is particularly dire. Dons hard hat and runsaway

Buy her The Magician's Nephew which is the prequel to LWW and hasnt been made into a film.There are lots of wonderful books for children which either are not films at all or where your m-i-l might not be able to get hold of the film easily [lots of E.Nesbit for example or what about Ballet Shoes or other Noel Strearfield books].

Streatfield

I didn't let my DCs see the Harry Potter films until they had read the books - partly to avoid ruining the books for them, but also because they were relatively young (aged 6-8 when they read all the books), and I think knowing what was coming made the films less scary.

I have very rarely seen a film and wanted to go and read the book it was based on; I have often read a book and later seen the film of it and been a bit disappointed.

I think you just need to be firmer with your MiL. And if your DD won't read the rest of the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, just give her the next in the series if she hasn't seen any of the other films yet.

I loved Noel Streatfield. DSs not interested

i don't see why there has to be so much control over the issue of reading.

when you mention "lazy reader" I cringe a bit to be honest - if she's good reader and you have plenty books around she'll read in her time and to her own interests which is as it should be. Nothing worse than being made read soemthing you've no interest in

'read the back of the cornflakes packet during breakfast just so I could be reading something'

So used I! Brings back memories, as now I don't even get the chance to EAT the cornflakes, not mind read the back of the box. ha ha.

I understand why you are miffed! I think books are so much better. I would say that, I work in a library :o

Thing is though, I think it's not very healthy (apart from violent/inappropriate things obviously) to try and 'control' what your DD watches and reads. I completely understand your wish to guide her towards particular things though! I will be devastated if DD rejects Enid Blyton for example :o

Honestly though the most important thing at this tender age is to just let them read. Anything. I shudder inwardly when I see those awful rainbow fairy books (and various other rubbish) but hey, they get kids reading and that's fab.

Besides, with the big films like HP, the chances are she will have seen/heard so much due to merchandising/school etc, it is very unlikely she will be coming to it with a 'blank slate'. It is a shame but I think you just have to accept it.

Maybe it is just me, but 7 seems a little young to be reading and understanding Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia? Fair enough if you are reading to her, and explaining,as you go along. I think some people are in a tearing hurry to get their children reading classic books that they are not necessarily ready for.

I do agree jamdonut. OP - I do understand the urge, but try not to push. She is still young, and she isn't you

seeker that you think the HP films are better than the books!

I walked out of the Goblet of Fire film 'cos it was SOOOO dire. I was almost sick with disbelief at the Half Blood Prince.

It would seem we disagree on everything in life.

UANBU DD2 refuses to read HP because she's seem the films.
All she reads is bloody Jackie Willson and other depressing rubbish.
Refuses to read Percy Jackson either.

I tried reading the first Percy Jackson to my boys and frankly we all got bored. Everyone is different.

Startail, I think it's a matter of getting her to read just one of the books. There's so much more in them than in the films, and they're so much more engrossing.

I did an MA in Creative Writing and we were told that children like to read a book where the character is about two years older than them. That ties in with my children reading HP when they were 9 (the first book.)

DD (now 11) often gets involved in the film then reads the books, eg Coraline, Stardust (both Gaiman), Inkheart trilogy, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (oh actually she might have read the books first, then watched the movies!). It's not necessarily the case that one excludes the other.

I personally couldn't read the Lord of the Rings til I'd watched the movies. I loved the Hobbit, but hated LOTR. Managed to read the books easily once I'd seen the movie and enjoyed them all the more.

Have to say, though, that Potter books were spoiled for me once the movies came out, not cos I thought they were too good for a movie...I think they're beyond mediocre...but because I couldn't read them after the first movie without seeing Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, etc....

YAB a bit U

But HP isn't the be-all and end all...

I have enjoyed many many films that were based on books, sometimes not knowing they were based on books.

There are so many great books

flapper - I agree about LOTR. I tried reading it about 3 times when I was about 11, because my brother was really in to them I told me I "should" read them. Always got stuck. The film gave me impetus to persevere

Just read 'the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' to her.

Personally I would always choose to see the film first because the book is generally better.

There are lots of lovely books that have not been filmed. I can't see that it matters if your read Harry Potter, see the films or both.

OOh lots of responses, thanks.

Of course I know that HP isn't the be all and end all and I do get a wide range of books (including the Rainbow ones, Mrs Pepperpot, Pippi Longstocking, Enid Blytons etc) and I also subscribe the the view that any reading, be it comics or the backs of cereal packets is all good stuff. I know it seems like I'm controlling everything she reads, but that isn't the case. I put them in her bookcase, and let her get on with it at her own pace.

The whole HP thing is because she wants to read it having gone through the Oliver Moon books no time at all and she wants to move on. She is quite young for her age though and there's stuff in HP (esp the later books and films) that IMO she's not ready for. I therefore think it's better for me to read it to her and explain any tricky stuff as we go along. I've said she probably needs to be a bit older for the next HP books.

Someone suggested reading TLTWATW to her but she doesn't want me to because she's seen the film. I don't want that to happen with the HP books - even if it spurs her on to read them, which I reckon she will do regardless - because chances are she'll love the books and as flapperghasted said it will be the images from the film that she sees in her head, rather than those of her own imagination. I think that's a shame.

She's 7, OP. She will seek out the books she loves all her life long. Sometimes she'll read a book after watching a film just because she wants to see another side. She won't do that at 7.

Are you competing with your MIL, just a little bit? This is really small potatoes and you cannot and will not be able to micro-manage every part of your daughter's life and interraction with others. To attempt it will do no good but plenty of damage.

I think you have got it bit out of perspective, OP.

Did she enjoy the film? Maybe she got something out of it that she wouldn't have got from the book - a desire to visit New Zealand, a desire to do drama, knowledge about WW2. An interest in being a film director........