"Before you see the movie, read the book."
—Anna Chamblis
Read the Book 
Movies bring books to life.
Movies can be based on plays, short stories, novels and even comic books. Some movies tell about real-life events or are biographies like: Others are works of fiction, made up from the author's imagination, like:
The many Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies are also based on works of fiction.
Close Do you like movies? I do. But I think my family and I enjoy preparing to see the movies just as much.
We probably do movies a little differently than most. My family's motto is: "Before you see the movie, read the book."
Lights, camera, READ!
We love reading books together. My family likes to read aloud at bedtime or whenever we have down time—like when we are waiting to see the doctor or on a long car trips. We usually take turns reading aloud.
Reading Aloud
To make reading more fun, we sometimes use silly voices or accents for the different characters.
It makes the books more like a play or our very own movie.CloseWhen my parents read with us, they always choose just the right place to stop to create suspense. We can hardly wait until the next night or the next time we read. "Just one more page!" we plead.
Sharing books
Sharing books over pizza is like having our own book club.
We Have Our Own Book Club 
Keep the pizza sauce off the book!
Sometimes we bring snacks or have pizza when we share. Then it's like having our very own book club.
Our book clu" is pretty smart. After all, most of the top ten money-making movies of all time are based on books.
We also read the books that were made into movies many years ago. My sister is reading books from the original series of "Dr. Doolittle."
She says they are so good! Even though we have seen the latest Dr. Doolittle movies, we are looking forward to the first "Dr. Doolittle" movie made in 1967.
Close When my sister and I share books we've read with our family, we like to do oral reports—which are like retelling the stories. We usually do a few chapters at a time sometimes before bed or over dinner.
My friends and I also share books that we have read together. We talk about them during recess or after school.
Written reports are another great way to share books with friends and family. These reports include a summary of the story and artwork. These reports are fun for me because I like drawing the pictures.
Written Reports 
My drawing of Terabithia.Close
One of the written reports my sister and I did for our family was for "Bridge to Terabithia."
I think my drawings of Terabithia look a little like the scenes from the movie.
Life on the river.
Another written report I shared with my family was on "The Wind in the Willows."
Public television has aired a movie version of this beloved story a few times.
My family enjoyed my written report of the book with my family, so that we all could enjoy the movie version at home (over popcorn, of course!)
Right now we are reading "Eragon" and have plans to begin "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" so that we can see "Meet the Robinsons" very soon...
