LITERATURE AND FILM

One of the resources par excellence that unites enjoyment, development of creativity and learning... has always been the reading habit.

If this habit is also added to the afternoon of watching movies at home, you will get, in addition to an afternoon of movies and popcorn, a moment of conversation and fun criticism about: the topic the story deals with, the scenarios, did you imagine them like that?, the character development in literature and cinema, what is better, the book or the “movie”?, what genres each member of the family likes the most and even looking for the next book and movie tandem for the following week.

These days can be an opportunity to reserve some family reading time, turning off all screens at home during a time agreed upon by all. We are an example, if they see us adults reading (book – not Tablet) disconnected from the screens, our sons and daughters will also discover this small reading pleasure and a good habit for life.

For this reason, we offer you some small recommendations for book-movie tandems, to help you create and develop a taste for reading in a fun way as a family:

With children under 3 years old it is easy, since a good illustrated book will delight the whole family, so that it develops attention, memory and evolves in vocabulary, here we do not recommend movies... the best actors and actresses for the little ones are their fathers and mothers.       

If you want to do a book-movie tandem with children from 3 – 4 years, you can do it with illustrated books related to some of the children's series or films of the moment, or with children's nature documentaries. Our recommendation is that they do not last more than 20 minutes and that you take the opportunity to ask questions about what you see.

For the apprentices readers 5 – 6 years, look for easy-to-read books adapted to their reading-writing level. It is very important that in this process the boys and girls do not get frustrated because they do not understand words or link them well, for this the illustrations always serve as support. Now that we change the phase, go to a bookstore, a selection with a movie could be the following:

· The Tales of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

· The Gruffalo, although you have probably already read it when you were younger, has its chapters in an animated version.

·   Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak's classic.

·   Children's adaptations of the classics: The Jungle Book, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland...

7 years: They are now more autonomous in reading, although they may have doubts and some errors, but reading is now something serious, they like to choose and identify with the characters. We suggest the following because they have a film adaptation:

·   Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta Dami. 

·   Roald Dahl's Super Fox, with its film version Fantastic Mr. Fox.

·   KIKA Knister's Superwitch.

· The Adventures of Asterix by René Goscinny

From 8 to 10 years: They are already skilled readers and challenge themselves with large volumes. We recommend that they be easy to read, that they include adventures and characters of similar ages to captivate readers. Our recommendation for having a film adaptation is the following:

·   The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (a classic that never fails)

· Matilda by Roald Dahl

·   Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

· The Good-natured Giant by Roald Dahl (its film adaptation: My Friend the Giant)

·   Greg's Diary by Jeff Kinney

·   Great football by Roberto Santiago

From 11 years, are experienced readers, who will want to test themselves with books and collections:

· Manolito Gafotas by Elvira Lindo

· The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

· Ink Heart by Cornelia Funke

· Harry Potter by JK Rowling

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

· Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief written by Rick Riordan, opens the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This first title has its film adaptation.

We hope you fill your homes with a good library and movie listings!