The Book is Better! Getting Kids to Read Before They Watch

When Harry Potter first flew off the page and onto the big screen, Hollywood thankfully got it right. Daniel Radcliffe was the boy wizard; the movie took the hero of a generation of readers and brought him to enchanted life. But movies are the long story short, leaving important details, plot lines, and whole characters on the cutting room floor.
Reading is immersive, imaginative, involving. Most importantly, it relies on your child’s vision, not that of a cinematic sausage factory. Get kids to read the book first with these tips—no arm twisting required.
First and foremost—raise a family of readers. Most parents love telling bedtime stories, but after plowing through 101 Dalmatians for the 101st time, what mom or dad hasn’t skipped a few pages to get to the end? Eventually, many of us put this ritual on a shelf, along with battered copies of Goodnight Moon. But it’s vital to keep reading alive, and not just at bedtime. Read together as a family—after homework, on weekends, or on special occasions like birthdays and holidays. Make reading a go-to activity, as much as sports, video games, or playground time. Later, your child will take pride in reading to younger siblings, friends, and assorted teddy bears. And you’ll have a reader for life, who naturally gravitates to books before they become movies.
Put on a show! When I was young, back in the Paleolithic era, the kids in my neighborhood would flock to the Saturday matinee, then go home and reenact the same monster story or fairytale in the backyard. It works both ways. Now, before setting out for the multiplex, we gather the whole gang for a command mini-performance of the story (which, of course, the kids have already read). For extra fun, we add simple costumes and goofy sound effects. There’s a little Hamlet in the shyest violet, so let ’em ham it up!
Listen, my children, and you shall hear…I’m a purist; give me a real book, complete with pages you can dog-ear, every time. But for road trips, audio editions are awesome. Books-on-tape or CD may seem passive, but unlike a DVD player in the back seat, they require a kid’s imagination to fill in the blanks.
Make them an offer they can’t refuse. I don’t know about you, but I have no problem using some gentle persuasion (or downright bribery) to get reluctant kids to read. My version of the deal is simple: If they finish the book, they get a big night out that includes the movie, plus an allowance for popcorn, licorice and Milk Duds. That little nudge is usually all it takes. Once reading is a habit, it sticks like glue!
In 2016, several beloved kids’ classics will come to a theater near you, so time to get reading. Talk about staying power: only one of these five was published in this century, and two debuted in the 1800s!

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, by J.K. Rowling
The wizardly adventures of Newt Scamander, set in subterranean New York City, stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Jon Voight, and Ron Perlman.

The BFG, by Roald Dahl
Steven Spielberg directed this tale of a Big Friendly Giant out to save the world, starring Bill Hader, Mark Rylance, and Ruby Barnhill.

Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan and Jane, who left Africa to preside over the ancestral Greystoke Estate, are back in the jungle in this adventure with Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, and Djimon Hounsou.

The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling
Our favorite jungle boy, Mowgli, gets the IMAX treatment in the latest version of Kipling’s classic, featuring the voices of Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannsen, Ben Kingsley, and Christopher Walken.

Alice Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
The Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat, and the whole crazy crew are back in this follow-up to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, with Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway.