Tintin

This summer as we truly crisscrossed Europe, we spent a lot of time on a lot of trains. This meant we had to keep children entertained for many hours at a time. For Myles, fortunately, this mostly meant keeping him supplied with books he'd enjoy reading and re-reading. We brought along a couple of the original Boxcar Children series and Eager's Half-Magic. After he was indicating some boredom with these repeated readings, I was anxious to find him something else, but our travels were not in any English-speaking country.  We found a bookstore in Germany with a few English-language books. In the children's section, there was even  a small selection of Tintin comics in English. He selected Tintin in Tibet. He read it, then read it again, and then again, and then who knows how many times after that. He never stopped laughing, never ceased howling with every successive read. I don't know if he felt this at all, but I could not help but think this was a very appropriate place for Myles to discover Tintin for himself.

Back in Beijing we watched for more Tintin comics on those occasions we were in an English-language bookstore. We bought Prisoners of the Sun, which he probably read to the point of being able to recite it. In December, he checked out that comic's prequel, The Seven Crystal Balls, from the Carnegie Library (or as Brigid likes to call it, the "Book Museum"). His love of Tintin now spans three continents.

More after the jump


Monday on our way to Front Royal we stopped at a Barnes and Noble for sandwiches, coffee and, yes, more Tintin.



He started reading these in the store, continued IN THE CAR, and by bedtime he was already on his second read of both.

The choice of these particular albums was inspired by our seeing The Adventures of Tintin this past Friday. We saw it only in 2D, but we enjoyed it so much we can't tell what we missed not seeing it in 3D. Watching it with Myles certainly helped with the experience. I sat next to him and heard him whisper to himself, "The Thompson Twins!" the first time Thompson and Thompson come into full view. And as we neared the point where it was obvious Tintin going to meet Captain Haddock for the very first time, he held my hand. He squeezed it when the beloved sot appeared.

The movie was fantastic, the first I have seen in a long time that appropriately had the word "adventures" in the title. I was concerned after hearing an episode of Radio Times when the critic interviewed said he found the movie a bit disjointed as the filmmakers knitted together elements from several comics. As unfamiliar as I was with some of the stories that were used, I did not notice this. The albums Myles has been reading this week are together the primary basis for the movie, and he has pointed out how they differ from one another. That has not stopped him from loving his multiple reads, nor his enthusiasm for the movie.

Myles is already making note of the next few Tintin he wants. Without regular access to a "Book Museum" once we get back to China, I am tempted to buy every single one. The potential cost of such of thing is deterring me; instead we're looking at only two or three new ones for now. More will likely come later, perhaps as wonderful surprises in China or wherever else our travels might take us this spring.

For the last eight years I have searched for a book series that would appeal to boys that would inspire the same life-long devotion as those that followed Little House in the Big Woods, or Anne of Green Gables, or Besty-Tacy, have inspired many so many female readers. Women who grew up reading any or all of these books still feel the connections to these characters and their stories, often into adulthood. But I wondered if anything like that existed that Myles would like as well? Sure, he has Encyclopedia Brown and, someday, the Hardy Boys, but these are not books that adult men might crack open from time-to-time as a way to visit old friends. Tintin, though, was there all along, and it only took us a trip from China to Germany to learn this.