(There's a missing close italics tag after "Hobbit")

We just read The Hobbit to Max, and showed him the animated movie (a family favorite, which I can quote at great, great length) but he's not ready for the rest of it yet (we did tell him the bare outlines of the story, because he was drawing some incorrect conclusions about Gollum, etc., and that led to looking some stuff up in Silmarillon [which I've never succeeded in reading through, though I haven't tried in ages and ages]), but he is now fascinated by maps, and reproduced 5-year-old versions of the ones from the book.

Best of luck on the interviews!

If you like "Clean House" you should check out BBCAmerica for "How Clean Is Your House?". It's strangely addictive...

Ouch. I usually check for that, Jonathan. Sorry.

I didn't find The Silmarillion easy reading the first time through it, but at a later time I was able to read and enjoy it. I think it's a mood thing. When I'm in the mood for massive backstory and comprehensive world-building, that's when I read the additional volumes. I sometimes amuse myself by constructing genealogies and maps and timelines. (Yes, I know there are published volumes with such info in them--but that doesn't match the pleasure of doing it myself.)

I'm glad Max is a Hobbit fan. :) Shows he inherited good taste from his parents. (I might have thought he was a bit young for parts of The Hobbit, much less LoTR?) I'm thrilled when my favorite books begin to enchant a new generation.

No, no, no, Dail! No more addictive television!

(Scurries away to look the show up on the BBC's site....)

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about it, particularly the traumatic ending. But when you think about the stuff other 5/6-year-olds watch these days.... it's pretty tame, actually. And, ironically, more realistic than PokeMon or Yu-Gi-Oh or Smurfs.... are there still Smurfs?

There's something so sad about that--the idea that The Hobbit with dragons and trolls and imprisonment and evil goblins and character deaths is "pretty tame" compared to move entertainment for young children.

(Okay, maybe not Smurfs. If there are still Smurfs, which I don't know one way or the other.)

I have nephews a little older than Max who have grown up with professional wrestling on tv....