Fruit from the labor

We have a rule in our house about movies. If the movie is based on a book, the book has to be read before the movie can be seen. Skeeter follows it as he wishes, but Spyder and I are pretty good about following it. It's not a hard-and-fast rule. For example, neither of us have read Mary Poppins, but we sure do love the film. It's mostly for the newer releases, although I'm certainly not opposed to reading older books.

It's been my self-imposed rule for ages, since before college at least. Spyder has only been under it since about six months before Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film) was released. He's grumbled about it, but he's stuck to it. Mostly because I made him though, not because he wanted to.

We all went to see How to Eat Fried Worms today. Great boy movie, but not at all like the book. Spyder recognized that at once, and afterward we had a great discussion on book vs. movie. Ultimately, we decided that the movie was very loosely based on the book, at best, but they were both good for their own reasons. Spyder had some excellent contributions to the discussion too, not just listening to Skeeter and me.

As we were walking out of the theatre, we saw a poster for Eragon. I mentioned that I needed to read it ASAP because I wanted to see the film. (Jeremy Irons and John Malkovich are both in it -- must see!) A little further along the row of movie posters, we saw the one for Stormbreaker. I read that book earlier this year, and I knew right away that Spyder would love it. I've tried to get him to read it a couple of times over the summer, but to no avail.

After dinner, Spyder got the Stormbreaker book and started in. No fussing, no grumbling about how unfair it is, "making" him read the book. He just started reading. And the book itself? He loves it. :o)