The Book-Movie Connection

 Thinking of books while writing the other post, I wanted to share this. We just watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox" the other night. The kids loved it. What I think they may have loved even more is that they already knew the story. I wasn't sure if they were old enough for me to read "chapter books" to them with few pictures, but I tried anyway. It took us three nights, but the kids remembered where we left off and were excited each time we got the book out.

We've also done this with a lot of the Disney movies. I have found tons of nice/hardly used books from Disney's "Wonderful World of Reading " book series at thrift stores. Not one of these cost more than $.50.

The kids learn the stories and love them (and then build roads with them) and at some point we watch the movie. While watching "A Bug's Life," my son ran into his room and said, "Mom! Mom! It's just like in the book!" I loved that moment. I think reading is so important and so fun. It makes me feel a little better when my kids are watching a movie (while I need a break) and they think of the book first.