Not only does our library have lots of great books, but it also has kid movies, an awesome fish pond, story time for 3-year-olds, and beanbag chairs shaped like animals. We go there almost weekly.
Another reason we love our library: About a month ago, the librarian announced during story time that we could sign up to receive a free copy of The Tale of Despereaux at the Junior Department desk. And if we could read it before February 24, complete an art project depicting some scene from the book, and report to the librarian, we could receive free tickets to see the movie at the cheap theater.
At first I thought, "Really? You're announcing this at the 3-year-old story time? The longest book we've read with Bekah is Yertle the Turtle. I don't think she could handle a chapter book quite yet."
But then I thought, "Well ... if nothing else, we could get a free copy of the book."
So we signed up and received our very own Tale of Despereaux.
Fast forward to last week. We finished the book. Bekah loved it. She chose a picture from the book, I sketched it, and she waterpainted it. Then we went back to the library, presented the picture to the librarian, and Bekah reported on the book. The librarian was sufficiently surprised and pleased with our little 3 1/2-year-old. And so we received our four tickets to see the movie last night.
This was Bekah's second time to the theater. This was Ana's first. We brought sippy cups, diapers (Unfortunately, there is no changing table in the women's bathroom. I had to shield Ana's head from the soap dispenser that was located right above her eyes.), fruit snacks, suckers, Valentine's chocolates, and a contingency plan. Since the movie would end a half-hour past the girls' bedtime, Seth planned on taking Ana to the mall to play on the toys if she got too squirmy (which she did, so he did).
Anyone who has both read the book and seen the movie already knows this:
This does NOT equal
this.Did the people who made the movie even READ the book? Sure, there were some similar characters, but then they chose to add some others, cut some out and change the gender of at least one. What the ... ?!?
And the plot loosely (loosely!) followed that of the book. But as we watched the movie, I was afraid that Bekah would become hopelessly confused and lost. What was up with Boticelli being some kind of rat overlord? And when did Gregory transform into Mig's father? And what was up with that crazy fruit/vegetable apparition that accompanied the chef? That guy was seriously trippin'.
Oh well. At least the book and tickets were free.
Now we're reading Charlotte's Web. When we're finished reading, we'll watch the movie. And this time, I know that the scriptwriters had a copy of E.B. White's classic on hand.
And the plot loosely (loosely!) followed that of the book. But as we watched the movie, I was afraid that Bekah would become hopelessly confused and lost. What was up with Boticelli being some kind of rat overlord? And when did Gregory transform into Mig's father? And what was up with that crazy fruit/vegetable apparition that accompanied the chef? That guy was seriously trippin'.
Oh well. At least the book and tickets were free.
Now we're reading Charlotte's Web. When we're finished reading, we'll watch the movie. And this time, I know that the scriptwriters had a copy of E.B. White's classic on hand.