Traveller’s Comments (group member since Feb 06, 2012)

Traveller’s comments from the Giving Voice: Interpreting texts for children. group.

Hi guys, since all groups seem to have these introductory threads, where you can choose to wax forth about yourself or not, I decided we need one too, just in case members felt like chatting about themselves.

So have at it!

To break the ice, I'm the mother of 2 children, Lauren aged 7 and Jason, who's still 9 but almost 10.

I used to be good at reading to these two, I really was - once upon a time.

But somewhere along the line I grew lax, and when I saw Brad still reading to his two children of 7 going on 8, I realized with a shock of guilt that... well, my father used to tell stories to us even long after we could read. (Which in my case was age 3)

I thought about it for a bit and realised that the benefits of reading aloud to your child are manyfold.

We automatically form groups here on GR to discuss books and the ideas in books and issues around literature, don't we?

Well, I guess it's a no-brainer that your children will also benefit from being able to discuss commonly read material like that with their parent. After all, that's what parents are for, innit?

So after having met dutiful Brad, who put me to shame, (He's even had a GR account for his kids for years now) I just felt I had to form this group and ask him to be a co-moderator.

And Brad has gracefully accepted.

Thanks, Brad, and welcome in your role as moderator of this group. :)

Feel welcome to PM me anytime that you may have suggestions regarding admin issues.

According to Wikipedia:
"Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy, and there are societies dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life in many parts of the world. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Ca...

His works are fun rather similar in the way that the works of Dr Seuss are, though Carroll's settings seem rather more mature to me, and even more imaginative, if anything.

What makes his text so rich is the playing with context and the subversion of convention that Carroll manages to do with a virtuosity I have not seen matched since.

Hi guys, this is a thread open for everyone in which we can post news, events or anecdotes regarding The Hobbit.

HOBBIT FILM:

As most of you already know, Peter Jackson made a wonderful series of films depicting Tolkien's Lord of The Rings.

Now he's busy with a two-part film featuring the original Hobbit story.

Release dates for the films :
An Unexpected Journey: 14 December 2012
There and Back Again : 13 December 2013

Here is the film's official blog, if you're interested at taking a peek at the latest news and gossip surrounding the film, plus other Hobbitty news. http://www.thehobbitblog.com/

The Hobbit is the prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's famous trilogy, The Lord of The Rings.

Anybody interested in modern high fantasy and its roots, needs to have an idea of the influence of Tolkien that is still seen in the "High Fantasy" genre today.

According to Wikipedia: "High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s.[1] High fantasy has become one of the two genres most commonly associated with the general term fantasy, the other being sword and sorcery, which is typified by the works of Robert E. Howard." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fan...

So, basically, in high fantasy, you're going to find a world that is not quite Earth as we know it. It may be similar, but different rules, usually magical ones, operate, and in Tolkien's world, creatures from (mostly European) mythology and folklore are present. We find wizards, dwarves, dragons, hobbits, elves, orcs, talking (and even walking) trees.

Does all that sound familiar? Well, Tolkien was the first to put them together in that specific familiar mix that we know, but he himself drew from earlier sources.

Dragons being slain by knights in shining armor, as we know, derive from medieval European mythology. (Celtic, Norse, Merovingian). Dragons seem to be prevalent in many mythologies from all over the world, most conspicuously in China and Europe.

Elves a la Tolkien, derive mainly from Germanic and Nordic folklore, although Tolkien seems to have mixed in quite a bit of Celtic lore into his world as well.

Dryads (spirits who dwell in trees), gnomes, goblins and hobgoblins are all of Celtic origin, as of course are druids which might partly have been a model for Gandalf.

Of course, the Celts have elves as well, though they are not quite as noble in stature as the elves depicted by Tolkien.

Although the scholars all point to the Germanic origins of Tolkien's world, I have always felt Middle-earth to have a distinctly English feel to it.

I invite members to form an open discussion on the following questions:

1) To what extent would you say that Gandalf is modeled upon the figure of Merlin from Arthurian legend?

2) Can you spot the Celtic aspects of Middle-earth, or do you disagree with my position on this? Are hobbits perhaps a form of brownie, or rather, based on 'People fo the Hills'; who in British folklore are sub-subterranean Faeries who live under green mounds?
Can equivalents of Tolkienesque dwarves not be seen in gnomes?

In short, do you agree with the position that Middle Earth is mainly a Nordic/Germanic world, or do you feel, like me, that although it may have Germanic roots, it has assimilated a lot of British/Celtic folklore as well?

Please discuss. No time limit to the discussion.

Welcome, J and Morgan. :)

If you're interested in any of the books we have shelved, I'm going to start discussion threads on them, so look out for them here on the discussion boards.

Hi guys! Glad to see you around, Brad and Xeni! Well, you people are welcome to start threads of your own, or just chat generally here, until the group gets more focus.

Thanks for joining, I hope we'll have fun here!

Welcome to Giving Voice, the group for parents who have an active interest in their children's reading schedule.

Although we primarily seek to discuss our "reading with the children" experiences with our 6 - 12 year olds, any recommendations for children's reading experiences in this age group are welcome.

You don't need to be a parent to contribute to the discussions. Reading "children's books" can be fun after all - the Harry Potter phenomenon removed all doubt of that...

..so this group is also about what would be enjoyable or of value for the parent as well as the child.

(and anybody in-between too)

Please feel free to add threads regarding topics that might interest you. Your thread will be subject to "re-arrangement" into its suitable group area by the moderators.