Since we recently finished the last book left from the Roald Dahl collection, it is now time to return to Middle Earth and into the world of Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Orcs. The Lord of the Rings is a bit different to The Hobbit however, as there is far more detail and lore brought into the story, and references to events that took place in a time far removed, so it is going to be interesting to see how Smallsteps connects with it. As we are reading it together though and I am quite familiar with the stories, it should make for a fun journey for us both.
Smallsteps is still trying to get her head around the writing of the books themselves, not for how long they are, rather that Tolkien created several languages and histories to build an entire world that doesn't exist. Of course, a lot of the races in the book bear resemblance to actual cultures, but still, it impresses me also, especially given the time. I am not that much of a LotR nerd to speak the languages or know all the lore by heart, but if you consider that all this complexity and the multiple layers that stack outside of and weave into the books was built and organised in someone's head and with paper and pen, it is pretty incredible.
The books themselves are relatively simplistic and don't have the level of character development that would be included today, but whenever I read them I keep in mind when they were written and that as far as mainstream literature went, they were ground-breaking. The first epic adventure in the fantasy genre.
Are they timeless?
Only time will tell, but they have held up for nearly a century now and people are still connected to them and new readers are connecting with them each generation. But I wonder, for how long these stories will remain part of culture, since a lot of kids are no longer reading books anymore. Sure, the movies are decent also, but there is an enormous difference in the way we connect with a story through film, than through reading and the self-created world it inspires in the imagination. I don't believe movies are anywhere near as sticky or compelling as when a person connects with a book, because other than time spent, the viewer has no skin in the game. The reader however, has to work for the story to appear, by building the world.
I believe that this is what is meant by the "read them fairy tales" quote by Einstein, because having to build an imaginary world filled with things that don't exist, requires deep problem solving skills and will help build the structure and processes required for finding solutions later in life. It isn't the story that makes a child smarter, it is the problem-solving practice they get while reading or listening - and they don't even know they are learning, training, perfecting.
Our imagination is an incredible tool - perhaps the most important tool we have as species - because it is through our imagination that we can not only problem-solve today, but predict a potential future and start problem solving before the problem even arises. That said, it doesn't mean we use our skills well or apply them to the right problems, but the potential is there.
I don't know if Smallsteps will connect with these books in the same way I did at her age, but I am hoping that at the very least, she gets a lot of practice world building, because we definitely need a new world built. And if we don't have the imagination to do anything other than what we currently have, then we are just going to keep doing the same thing over and over.
There are a lot of influential people in the world today with large platforms and even larger bank accounts, but I don't think we have people with enough imagination to build a better world. We all seem to be stuck in a cycle of wealth creation, even though it is taking us into a world that we do not want live upon. We don't even spend time imagining what a better world might be, let alone imagining and creating the pathways that can lead to it.
We want better, but we keep doing and accepting the same.
Smallsteps is worried that these books will be too scary for her. But while I do not think they will be, perhaps it is a good thing to get comfortable with scary thoughts, because if we don't, we will keep on thinking only what is safe, what is familiar, what doesn't change us.
Change is a constant.
It can be positive or negative change.
Taraz
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I agree with you: I feel like there’s a lack of imagination in this world. A few months ago, I noticed how Netflix was making simple movies that people could easily digest. If we consider that many people prefer to watch the movie before reading the book, we realize that they prefer everything to be handed to them on a silver platter, with nothing left to the imagination. A book helps you interpret, visualize, and create worlds different from your own—and even from the writer’s. As R.R. Martin once said: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. He who never reads lives only one.” Best regards
The more people consume entertainment, the more stupid entertainment can become.
LIBRARIAN DELUGE INCOMING!
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis remains an excellent fantasy series with theological allegories you can explore or not, and has some complex characters for children's literature including Edmond's betrayal and Eustace growing from a brat into a more mature lad.
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques features cute anthropomorphic animals in high-stakes adventures against dastardly villains. Despite morality being tied more to species than character, Outcast of Redwall suggests more depth. There are several female protagonists, especially in The Bellmaker and Mariel of Redwall who might appeal to Smallsteps.
The Dragon King trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead is a classic hero's journey high fantasy adventure, although the second book has a potentially very disturbing scene of peril which might be a bit much for a young reader if memory serves. Just the first book might be fine for now.
I'll leave it there for now. I'll also add that the LOTR is heavily influenced by medieval epic poetry in its themes, but Smallsteps is not ready for Beowulf. XD
We have already done these (I also read them as a kid). We also did the Mary Poppins collection, which was really good also - a definite recommend, though it doesn't date that well with some views of people :D
I don't know the other two, so will check them out :)
Definitely not! Tolkien was also strongly influenced by Finnish literature (the Kalevala) and the language itself. I think Elvish was built on Finnish, but unsure.
You might also want to read the entire Oz series. The movies tend to be based loosely on just the first book. There is a lot more.
I had no idea that this was a series!
Worldbuilding is a lot of fun XD I was just saying to Youngest last night when he was asking about what I was happiest doing that I liked to spend a lot of time in my head universes.
Don't think anyone ever gets comfortable with scary thoughts, the closest you can come is not automatically frantically avoiding dealing with them at literally any and all cost (and then being surprised pikachu face when they cost a lot). We've had some kids "retire" from gymnastics (some came out of retirement but most moved on) because the higher level you go the harder and scarier things get and there were some that couldn't get past that point and got bored and others that couldn't get over their fear.
Sure we do. But the older ones (our age bracket) are being "forced" into participating in things we don't want to because we have to consider retirement (for all the good that is when cash-strapped governments would rather plunder super accounts than "make things more difficult" for businesses and in the same breath pretending that people who want to plunder their own super accounts (to buy/pay off houses) are "greedy" and the younger ones are being told in no uncertain terms by anxious well meaning adults that there is absolutely no possible way that anything could ever be different so just shut up and do as you're told and stick to this "safe" "familiar" (to the older people) course that is not safe and straight up just does not work anymore.
It's probably just our selection biases again but we have encountered quite a few kids (here meaning anyone younger than me not just literal children) that are pretty cluey and know what's going on and might even come up with some brilliant course corrections and I think we'll be fine as long as they're encouraged, and it's basically annoying old people terrified of change who want to keep things the same at any and all cost even while the world is burning literally around their stupid heads that are the problem.
Is it the fear of injury?
Yeah - this is the issue. But as the saying goes "Good idea are easy to have - implementation is difficult."
I don't think most of them will get the opportunity, encouraged or not. I don't think society, culture, behaviours, economy etc are aligned for a better world and the change required needs to happen far sooner than later.
Definitely when they're older and can see further than five seconds ahead but part of the sport is facing fears in a safe and controlled environment. Others just have high anxiety so everything gets disasterised and they are very convinced that they're made of crystal and will shatter irrepairably if they so much as stumble. I do a LOT of safety fall work in the first week or so of each term so that they a) know how to land/fall safely/roll out (VERY IMPORTANT) and b) falling becomes an annoying thing that you try to avoid (because you lose points if you do) but you otherwise just deal with if it happens rather than this terrifying thing the fear of which actively prevents you from even attempting anything at all ever.
Though I've done it so much now that some of my kids are casually throwing themselves (safely into a safety fall) off equipment from height because it's fun.
Not really right now but overnight changes rarely stick. It kinda sucks that we have to nudge things in a direction and may not see the outcome but I prefer that to the alternative.
I have missed the post when told your audience about smallsteps. I would love to know what you have already told your readers. Who is smallsteps? What is she to you? Her age?
At the beginning of the post I was thinking why are you making her read/listen to these books. I haven't read the books, have watched the movies though. Read a little bit about Tolkien and got impressed with the details. Especially, as you said he had build a world, its several languages, and cultures in his mind, must be on paper too.
I am the eldest among my siblings, don't have children of my own, so this types of responsibilities are mostly mine, in a combined family arrangements. I read their children (4-10 years old, discussion on different topics with older than 10) stories, make them read sometimes as well. The purpose is to make their imagination stronger as much as possible by my efforts among other things, not clear in my mind but are their my subconcious. After reading your reasons, now I get a clearer vision in this regard.
I don't think children would have same experience by reading the books we have read, we didn't have mobile phones, this much tv, film, video games, and other activities at the time. We had a lot imagination though. This imagination got better by reading the books. Generation/children of this era have CGI and AI, not much left to imagine. Brains are already trained to pick the easy. Even after your efforts, she won't be getting as much as you did. You are not the only one affecting her, outside world is also there. Nonetheless, these efforts you, I, and people with the same thinking are making will have their impact on them even if not as strong as we had.
There are almost ten years of them :)
Reading is incredibly important for children to develop their brains, and watching just doesn't cut it. Reading is an active process, watching the same story is passive.
My daughter doesn't either. While she has access she doesn't spend time on a phone and very little in front of a screen at all. Good parenting isn't about convenience.
I have to disagree there. Those characters were so well developed I could smell them. Among my favorite books to reread, over and over, and four of them to boot! I wait until I've forgotten a lot so that I get the thrills again. I hope you don't remember them nearly as well as you think you do.
Many do. Hopefully we will build a parallel world that survives whatever is coming.
I did say "relatively" simplistic! I think character development has progressed and story lines more complex, but this is a children's book (that adults love too) so it is complex enough :)
In a parallel universe, we already have :)
Was it written as a children's book? I couldn't really understand it until I was in college. My kids could read and understand Harry Potter, but not Tolkien until they were much older. This is why I say that Rowling, as a story teller, can't hold a candle to Tolkien.
I've been reading a lot of pre-1950 lit. I find that modern lit is far less complex, almost banal, and the characters mostly predictable in thought and deed, compared to characters written earlier. I didn't live then, or think as they did, so perhaps they seem more complex to me because I am unfamiliar with the folks of those times. In some cases many of them are the same as we are now: just as easy to fool, to manipulate, and to turn against their neighbors. I feel there is less of that in LotR. Those characters were stalwart and loyal to their peers, good or bad, if anything.
Our daughter didn't like Lord of the rings books. She likes reading books, just not that one...
Has she liked other fantasy books?
I think a lot of the kids today need more character development and dialogue, at least from what I have seen and heard.
I'm actually kind of happy that I have been reading more lately. I hope it helps me keep my mind sharp. I always love a book series that allows me to get immeresred in a world. It doesn't happen too often though.
I think it does. At least, I reckon it slows the decay.
I wonder if fantasy or the reality type stories are more immersive?
Fantasy for me.
I think so too. Maybe it is because it requires more investment to build it, whereas reality doesn't take as much work as things are already held in the head from experience.
Dahl another favorite of mine. Talk about imagination!
Yep. I don't know if you ever read Boy or Flying Solo, but he has had a pretty incredible young life.
I'll put them both on my reading list. It's been a very long time since I read anything of his. Thanks for the reminder!
You are reminding us that just like authors create fictional universes, we are all building our own real-life worlds through our daily thoughts and choices. By being mindful of what we consume and focus on, we have the power to shape our own perspectives and mindset. Ultimately, your post shows that the quality of our lives depends entirely on the bricks we choose to build our internal world with.
This is the main problem where we need to work to change our mindsets and stop doing this shit with ourselves, if we want something better we should work hard to get in better.
I think I used straw to build my house :)
Haha, with Straw okay, but how did you bind them, and is it okay is thunderstorms ⛈️?
!LOLZ
So cool you're reading that with smallsteps, parenting done right! And yes, they are timeless, period! 😁 The story is still fresh because a cinema here in Lisboa displayed the 3 extended versions of the movies these last weekends, and ofc I joined i!
Nice - Did you enjoy them again? I quite liked the movies also as they were pretty close to what I already had in my head, but the problem I have is that once seeing the movies, the actors replaced my own mental descriptions.
Loved them! It was great to try and spot the scenes that weren't on the regular movies; even not having that much influence on the storyline, some of them are pretty cool.
Imagination is a tool. It's application matters. The world of lotr has universal appeal because it captures the essence if world building and tht is exploration. We escape to another world whilst reading these books. It's pretty complex example of workdbuilding. Hope smallsteps enjoys reafing em all and reaching a thoughtful conclusion greed and might no matter how powrrful always ruin the day. Both sauron and gollum are representative of tht human nature
Ruin the day, but often win the day also. Sad, eh?
Reading is the key to opening the window of the world. Not how to read but reading Will be able to solve problems in the future. Imagination Will penetrate futher clouds, the power of imagination is only an immeasurable fantasy. Building the world Will be possible or easier, what is clear is that destroying the world Will be easier quickly with economic power for example. Rich people, part of their wealth is not for the welfare of their people. But they are busy creating something that Will damage the mentalist of future generation. Developed countries, the generation read a lot of books and it is a necessity. Thank you @tarazkp.
Rich people are just poor people with money.
Yes, that opinion is correct.
And usually there is rich businessman who has a ruler behind him.
I think that reading these classics can be a gateway to not just adventure, but also creative thinking.
Will be nothing scarier than the children's story about "Hansel and Gretel", when the old witch wanted to cook them in a big pot 🙂
I didn't read books, I only watched movies (great, which I watch every 5 years), and I remember how I used to build a world in my imagination by reading GOT (much harsher than LOR)
Thought, word, action = creativity. If we aren't thinking differently, we aren't creating differently.