Screentime turned Pagetime

One of my boys recently discovered a show on Netflix called The Last Kids on Earth, and despite it being a children’s outing, I am almost as interested in it as the kids are. The series is based on books written by Max Brallier. My soon-to-be 8-year-old son cannot get enough of Jack Sullivan and his friends turned family and wants to devour as much of the story as he can, and that means for his upcoming birthday he wants all of the books. Granted, my kiddo is a reader already, but it really is a fabulous thing to see a boy get so excited for a story he loves so much he wants to consume everything out there. I have also been in the same boat. It was the film Stardust that sucked me into the worlds of Neil Gaiman. It was also the audiobook of the Sandman that made me want to get the source material.

While most of us readers will seek out a film or television show because it is based on either book or graphic novel, I am looking at you the Walking Dead, sometimes the opposite can occur. Another example for me would be Sherlock. We all know Sherlock Holmes and Watson and their adventures and there have been many, many adaptations and interpretations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. But it was Benedict Cumberbatch’s stint as the deer stalker wearing detective that finally piqued my interesting into going backward into the past and reading about the actual greatest detective who never lived. I am always curious not only how loyal to the source material these things are, but just because once you meet a character like Sherlock, you want more. You become invested. There are loads more examples, ones that I have not partaken in, but know others who have jumped into novel because of a show or film: Game of Thrones, Dexter, and True Blood.

And while it may be the film or show that sucks you into the lives of these characters, and they can be radically different, the book, I promise, is always better. Happy reading my friends.