The nature of elves and I got what I asked for.

First, I got what I asked for.  I decided that it might be good to up the level of literature in Owen's life.  We read lots of picture books, but frankly I tend not to like the long ones.  When we're at the library looking for books to read before bed, I need books that aren't going to take 20 or more minutes to finish.  So we end up with shorter ones which sometimes aren't as sophisticated as I think Owen could handle at this point.  My thought:  a bigger story that we clearly can't finish in a night...I could read just a few pages each night and we could both stay engaged.  I also thought it was time to get him hooked on quality stories so that he'll *want* to be a reader at some point.  It's hard to miss all the urgings to do lots of reading aloud to your kids, too.  So, without thinking this through, what do I do but pick up The Hobbit off of my bookshelf.  Well.  Like I said, I didn't think this through.  I just remembered how much I loved that book!  IT IS NOT FOR A 4 YEAR OLD!  Aside from a whole lot of semi-violent content about all manner of trolls, goblins, monsters, greedy dwarves and dragons, it is not written so that a young child can begin to understand it.  There's the British English factor, the writing in an antiquated style factor, and the way too big vocabulary factor.  Then there's the complexity of plot and references to a complex fantasy world factor.  I got about 4 pages in, finding myself doing a lot of paraphrasing on the fly just to get it mildly accessible for Owen before I closed it and told him we'd need to find something else.  The next day he wanted to try it again.  So a couple more pages.

HE WAS INSATIABLE.  Every moment that he has sensed that I have finished a required daily task, he is at my side *begging* me to read it to him.  He is just like me...he cannot get enough of the maps in the front.  Every page he is ripping the book out of my hand and going back to the map asking me to show him where the characters are.  He stops me every sentence to figure out exactly what's going on.  If I stop for a breath, he says, "So?  SO???" 

We finished it tonight.  I must have read to him for 2-3 hours today, he pushed me so hard!!  I am exhausted!  I was translating that book for him in real time the entire read.  Whew.  That is actually pretty strenuous brain work.  The amazing thing is that he has really shown himself to have excellent reading comprehension and he grabbed onto plot details and little side facts that I thought would have gone right past him.  He was listening to nearly everything.  The edition was perfect in that there was a page with a large full-page picture about every 10 pages.  When we got done he recited the whole plot to me as we looked back through the pictures.  The only picture he wouldn't look at was Gollum, which is odd to me, because the pages of trolls, goblins, giant spiders and wargs (wolves) were way scarier in my opinion.

Here is the funny I sat down to record.  On the maps in the front of the book (drawn by Tolkien, unlike the pictures I mentioned), there are elvish runes...letters from the elvish language devised by Tolkien and consistent throughout his books.  All along, Owen has been very interested in the runes and wanting to know what they say (just like I used to be!  can this be genetic?) and I tell him that it's a made up language, made up by the man who wrote the book, and we can't really understand what it says, we just know that the elves know how to understand it.  But it's all made up, just like the elves are made up.

Owen:  "But mom, are the runes pretend???  Because I know that the goblins and the trolls and the dragon and Beorn and wizards and hobbits are all made up, but Santa's elves are real.  So those elves are real, and that means THE RUNES ARE REAL.  So what do they mean mom??????  Because Santa's elves are REAL.  Right?  Santa's elves are real right?"

Me:  Hmm, these are hard questions.  What do you think Owen?

Owen:  Yes I think the runes are real because elves are real.

Me:  Well *I* don't know everything, that's for sure.  I guess you can figure this one out.  But I can't figure out what those runes say!

I've expressed my discomfort with Christmas fibbing, and see...one has to continue to dig deeper to keep it up!!!  Well, I can't deny it was super-cute :) 

I told Owen we would read The Boxcar Children next.  I also remember liking that book.  However, I have not looked at it to see if it is age-appropriate.  You'd think I would have learned...!