Funday Monday

My day started out with 20 minutes of buns 'n thighs pilates followed by this:

 

I am lovin' oats for breakfast these days and made this combo of oats, 1/2 banana, soymilk, & crumbled Oatie this morning for breakfast. I found out about Oaties here and got the recipe here. While eating this lovely mess of yumminess, I downed two glasses of water and as a result had to pee in between every single class I went to this morning! I try to drink a lot of water, but when you are the "real" teacher and you can't be late or leave during class...it is SO hard to drink a lot because you can never pee when you need to! I was glad for once not to be the "real" teacher.

Some of my fifth graders made intriguing comments today that got me thinking. Do you ever formulate blog posts as you go about your day? When I heard these two comments in class, I had this little aha blog post! moment and tucked it away to write about later.

My fifth graders were doing their weekly reading response where they respond to a book of their choice that they are reading independently.  A few of the kids in class are reading books that have been made into movies. A few students started talking about whether they prefer to read the books or see the movies. One of the kiddos that I work with said, "I just like to see the movie instead, it's easier." and another kiddo said, "I like to read the book first or else it gets spoiled by the movie."

 

I completely agree with the second kiddo. I always prefer to read the book first and then see the movie, although sometimes I am okay to read the book and skip the movie entirely (like with My Sister's Keeper). I heard that the movie was entirely different in the end than the book was and I was not at all down with Cameron Diaz playing the mom when I totally pictured her as a Joan Cusack kind of woman. I like to make my own images and create the characters as I see them, not just as they are depicted by the actors and actresses who portray them. I read The Secret Life of Bees after the movie came out and even though I didn't see the movie until after I read the book, I could not get the images of Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys out of my head! When Where the Wild Things Are came out, I was really upset that a very short picture book would be made into a feature film because there is no way to stretch the story to at least 90 minutes of film without sacrificing the integrity original content. My husband said that the book's author was totally up for it and was involved in the project, so I gave up hating on it, yet I still never saw it.

 

To me, a book is a means to use your mind and creativity and create your own personal interpretations of different characters and worlds, so seeing the images someone else has created takes away that opportunity for me to do it myself. For kids/people who don't like to read, like my friend from school who said watching the movies is just easier, I can see why he feels that way--doing all that imagining is a lot of hard work! For someone who struggles to get the basic plot because of difficulties paying attention, decoding, and therefore comprehending, the whole visualization piece is at a whole other level. I certainly hope that he does not continue to try to make his way through school as a  Claire & Leonard watcher instead of a  Shakespeare reader.

Sometimes books and movies compliment each other well like Harry Potter, but I still prefer to read first and then watch. Books and movies can be a great resource for comparing and contrasting because often there are many differences and changes to the original story that should be noted.

 

Where do you weigh in?

Do you prefer the books or the movies or both?

Do you feel seeing the movie first spoils the book?

Any books gone Hollywood that you  really loved (or really hated?!)