View Full Version : Spec me errr...... Lord of the Rings books
I am after getting Lord of the Rings for Alexander for Xmas. The thing is it's not a book (or set of books) that I think a seven year old could easily pick up and appreciate. Nor do I think me reading it to him would do it justice.
So I am after a childrens version of the LoTR Trilogy suitable and readable for a seven year old. He has seen the movies and he really likes the story. An I doing the written work an injustice or is it a little too heavy for a 7 year old ?
It's too heavy for me and I'm significantly older than 7! I find it almost biblical in style and it's one of the few books I've ever struggled with. I can't read it (them).
I read them when I was about 14 and although I didn't fully get it, followed the basics. But 7 year old? Waaaay too heavy.
A triology that's perhaps simpler and yet still enjoyable would be the Dark Materials series... might be a bit easier but I still think it's quite heavy? (It's the ones with The Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass). I dunno, depends what level your kiddy is at reading, would have been the kind of book I had read to me each evening by my Pa :)
Dymetrie
01-11-2009, 21:40
Graphic novel of The Hobbitt as a starter for the lad?
I enjoyed it :D
Graphic novel of The Hobbitt as a starter for the lad?
I enjoyed it :D
Oh linkage please Dym if you have it
Flibster
01-11-2009, 22:11
Linky (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bored-Rings-Parody-Tolkeins-Lord/dp/0575073624)
Close enough?
I'd certainly recommend the Hobbit first and for him to then see how he gets on.
I don't know of a 'simplified version' of the LOTR, if anything would even exist; although I do know that the series is actually 10 books, and to buy the set of 10 would perhaps be easier to 'digest' than the substantially chunkier trilogy versions :)
I would have personally thought LOTR to be too linguistically advanced for the average 7 year old, but that could change entirely if the book was being read to them maybe ?
:)
Treefrog
02-11-2009, 02:09
Another vote for The Hobbit here. I read LoTR when I was 11 or 12 but, as my Dad once said, I'd read the back of the sauce bottle if there was nothing else to read!
Oooh I forgot about The Hobbit! Good plan peoples!!
Matblack
02-11-2009, 10:06
No one has mentioned CS Lewis yet? This is THE set of books for a 7 year old, a good reader will be able to take them up themselves so they are a great transition from being read to to reading, along with The Hobbit they were my first real books not counting stuff prescribed by school
MB
Yeah the Hobbit and His Dark Materials. He might not get all of HDM but that just means he will appreciate it more when he reads it again! Also there is the BBC radio production of LOTR you could get on CD etc. I'm sure you can find it on Amazon or something.
No one has mentioned CS Lewis yet? This is THE set of books for a 7 year old, a good reader will be able to take them up themselves so they are a great transition from being read to to reading, along with The Hobbit they were my first real books not counting stuff prescribed by school
MB
:thumbsup: Read them a ridiculous amount of times when I was about that age :D
Think I was about 9 when I moved onto The Hobbit.
Hmmm I think academically my reading level was behind the majority; I spent most of my childhood reading Asterix, Roald Dahl and Calvin & Hobbes! ;D
Dymetrie
02-11-2009, 20:52
Oh linkage please Dym if you have it
This (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hobbit-Graphic-Novel-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0261102664/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257191454&sr=1-4) looks to be the one that I had (with the second cover).
Linky (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bored-Rings-Parody-Tolkeins-Lord/dp/0575073624)
Close enough?
HA HA
That was actually rubbish and made less sense than Lord of the Rings!
Hmmm I think academically my reading level was behind the majority; I spent most of my childhood reading Asterix, Roald Dahl and Calvin & Hobbes! ;D
Woah there, Calvin and Hobbes covers some surprisingly deep subjects! :D
Hobbit was the first proper book I read all the way through myself (after having it read to me at bedtime). I was 6 and I loved it. LOTR is too heavy though I think.
Generally considered the Hobbit is a childrens book with an adult sequel :)
btw :
http://www.ciao.co.uk/The_Hobbit_Graphic_Novel_J_R_R_Tolkien__30503
Flibster
02-11-2009, 21:49
I can recommend the BBC Radio dramatisation of the Hobbit and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Really can't recommend the books or films...
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