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puppetmakerDragons have been in my life for a long time. I have always liked them ever since I was a child. I remember my father reading me the Hobbit and the low gravely voice he used for Smaug. I loved the Anne McCaffrey DragonRiders books but I think my favorite was Dragonsong and the two books that followed. Then there is DragonCon which has been such a part of my life for so many years.
But this is not my dragon tale but my daughter Caroline’s. And how she fell in love with dragons.
It all started with a poster that we saw when we left the movie theater that we frequent. She tugged on my hand and pointed asking, “Mother, what does that say?” (Yes, she does call me Mother most of the time especially in public. I have no idea why but it makes sense to her.) I looked at the poster and read “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Caroline said, “Cool. But why is his hat on fire?”
I replied, “I don’t know dear but your grandmother has a saying that she saw once that goes, It is unwise to make plans that do not include the dragon when the dragon lives close by.”
She processed the new information and then said, “I want to see that movie.”
The Teaser Poster for How to Train Your Dragon
(For the Visually Impaired: at the bottom of the poster there is someone wearing a Viking Helmet with horns. The top of the hat is on fire. At the Top of the poster it says “From the creators of Shrek and Madagascar Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon” then there is a long red scaly dragon tail under the title. Then it says “ 3-D Coming Soon”)
About a week later we were in our local bookstore in the children’s section and there was a display of books for the “How to Train Your Dragon” series by Cressida Cowell. Caroline looked at the book and said, “Look it’s the book of the movie!”
Peter picked it up and said, “Actually the book was before the movie. Do you want me to read it to you?”
Caroline jumped up and down excited, “Oh yes please!”
So we bought the first two books and took them home. We spent the next couple of weeks listening to Peter reading the books to Caroline. I thought they were very well written and a lot of fun. Caroline enjoyed them but wanted to know why there were no girls in them really.
Book Cover for How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
(For the Visually Impaired. This is the cover of the first book for the series. It says at the top “How to Train Your Dragon Book 1”. There is a blue circle with the words “The original book now a major motion picture” then there is a picture of a young Viking lad (Hiccup) wearing a helmet with horns and a black furry vest. He is helping a green dragon with a yellow belly out of its egg. At the bottom it says “Cressida Cowell” on top of a Viking sword.)
Fast forward to March, I picked Caroline up from school to go see the movie. Caroline insisted on seeing it in 2-D just in case it was too scary. Peter was off on a business trip so I thought this might distract her. She was enchanted as was I. I loved the story and visuals. Caroline followed the story very carefully. There were gasps when characters were in danger and squeaks of glee along with low exclamations of “wow” and “awesome”. She came bouncing out of the theater talking a mile a minute. She talked about the changes from the book and how much she loved that they put girls in it. Her favorite character after Toothless the Dragon was Astrid the Viking girl that Hiccup had a crush on.
One slightly annoying thing was that if you wanted any merchandize you had to go to Walmart. To add to it, they had these really cool pillow pals that were the dragons but the deal was for only one production run of the pillow pals. We managed to get Caroline Toothless the Nightfury and the Deadly Nadder. I added a Gronkle to the mix along with the toys. Caroline played with them constantly.
Peter then took Caroline to see the film in 3-D. She loved it. She convinced me to take her again so I could see it in 3-D. Then during spring break, she took Ariel to see it. The ultimate viewing for her was in New York City at the Lincoln Center. It was in IMAX 3-D. According to Peter, parts were like riding the back of a Dragon.
Caroline saw it 7 times in the theater which is her current record for seeing a film and if we had let her, she would have gone every day to see it. She loves that film with a passion.
This past summer we went to a convention down in Baltimore called “Shoreleave” and Caroline decided that she wanted to be Astrid for the Costume Call. So I made her the costume along with an axe and a shield. It was a lot of work but the look of delight on her face made it all worth it.
Halloween rolls around. Caroline decides that she is going to be Astrid again. She proudly went trick or treating and showing off her costume to the neighborhood. She came home and grabbed her dragons, went upstairs to her sister’s room and watched the DVD of “How to Train Your Dragon” for the….well I have lost count…time.
Caroline dressed up as Astrid the Viking from the movie How to Train Your Dragon.
(For the Visually Impaired: This is a picture of Caroline dressed up as the Viking Astrid. She is holding a large axe, a shield with a dragon on it and a Disney Store Trick or Treat Bag. She is standing amongst Halloween decorations. Around her head is a brown band with gold studs. Her shirt is blue and she has grey armored shoulder guards on both shoulders. Her skirt is covered with large spikes. Her boots are brown with furry tops)
I look forward to introducing Caroline to all the other dragons I have encountered over my life. But right now I love watching her creating her own adventures with her dragons. She loves dragons now almost as much as big cats and unicorns but those are tales for another day.
But this is not my dragon tale but my daughter Caroline’s. And how she fell in love with dragons.
It all started with a poster that we saw when we left the movie theater that we frequent. She tugged on my hand and pointed asking, “Mother, what does that say?” (Yes, she does call me Mother most of the time especially in public. I have no idea why but it makes sense to her.) I looked at the poster and read “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Caroline said, “Cool. But why is his hat on fire?”
I replied, “I don’t know dear but your grandmother has a saying that she saw once that goes, It is unwise to make plans that do not include the dragon when the dragon lives close by.”
She processed the new information and then said, “I want to see that movie.”
The Teaser Poster for How to Train Your Dragon
(For the Visually Impaired: at the bottom of the poster there is someone wearing a Viking Helmet with horns. The top of the hat is on fire. At the Top of the poster it says “From the creators of Shrek and Madagascar Dreamworks How to Train Your Dragon” then there is a long red scaly dragon tail under the title. Then it says “ 3-D Coming Soon”)
About a week later we were in our local bookstore in the children’s section and there was a display of books for the “How to Train Your Dragon” series by Cressida Cowell. Caroline looked at the book and said, “Look it’s the book of the movie!”
Peter picked it up and said, “Actually the book was before the movie. Do you want me to read it to you?”
Caroline jumped up and down excited, “Oh yes please!”
So we bought the first two books and took them home. We spent the next couple of weeks listening to Peter reading the books to Caroline. I thought they were very well written and a lot of fun. Caroline enjoyed them but wanted to know why there were no girls in them really.
Book Cover for How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
(For the Visually Impaired. This is the cover of the first book for the series. It says at the top “How to Train Your Dragon Book 1”. There is a blue circle with the words “The original book now a major motion picture” then there is a picture of a young Viking lad (Hiccup) wearing a helmet with horns and a black furry vest. He is helping a green dragon with a yellow belly out of its egg. At the bottom it says “Cressida Cowell” on top of a Viking sword.)
Fast forward to March, I picked Caroline up from school to go see the movie. Caroline insisted on seeing it in 2-D just in case it was too scary. Peter was off on a business trip so I thought this might distract her. She was enchanted as was I. I loved the story and visuals. Caroline followed the story very carefully. There were gasps when characters were in danger and squeaks of glee along with low exclamations of “wow” and “awesome”. She came bouncing out of the theater talking a mile a minute. She talked about the changes from the book and how much she loved that they put girls in it. Her favorite character after Toothless the Dragon was Astrid the Viking girl that Hiccup had a crush on.
One slightly annoying thing was that if you wanted any merchandize you had to go to Walmart. To add to it, they had these really cool pillow pals that were the dragons but the deal was for only one production run of the pillow pals. We managed to get Caroline Toothless the Nightfury and the Deadly Nadder. I added a Gronkle to the mix along with the toys. Caroline played with them constantly.
Peter then took Caroline to see the film in 3-D. She loved it. She convinced me to take her again so I could see it in 3-D. Then during spring break, she took Ariel to see it. The ultimate viewing for her was in New York City at the Lincoln Center. It was in IMAX 3-D. According to Peter, parts were like riding the back of a Dragon.
Caroline saw it 7 times in the theater which is her current record for seeing a film and if we had let her, she would have gone every day to see it. She loves that film with a passion.
This past summer we went to a convention down in Baltimore called “Shoreleave” and Caroline decided that she wanted to be Astrid for the Costume Call. So I made her the costume along with an axe and a shield. It was a lot of work but the look of delight on her face made it all worth it.
Halloween rolls around. Caroline decides that she is going to be Astrid again. She proudly went trick or treating and showing off her costume to the neighborhood. She came home and grabbed her dragons, went upstairs to her sister’s room and watched the DVD of “How to Train Your Dragon” for the….well I have lost count…time.
Caroline dressed up as Astrid the Viking from the movie How to Train Your Dragon.
(For the Visually Impaired: This is a picture of Caroline dressed up as the Viking Astrid. She is holding a large axe, a shield with a dragon on it and a Disney Store Trick or Treat Bag. She is standing amongst Halloween decorations. Around her head is a brown band with gold studs. Her shirt is blue and she has grey armored shoulder guards on both shoulders. Her skirt is covered with large spikes. Her boots are brown with furry tops)
I look forward to introducing Caroline to all the other dragons I have encountered over my life. But right now I love watching her creating her own adventures with her dragons. She loves dragons now almost as much as big cats and unicorns but those are tales for another day.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-04 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-04 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 12:45 am (UTC)Can't wait to see what she'd think of a series like Pern (but that won't be for awhile yet!)
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Date: 2010-11-05 11:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 11:53 am (UTC)I have a feeling that dragons are going to be part of the rest of her life.
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Date: 2010-11-05 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 11:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 11:54 am (UTC)Thanks for reading.Have you seen the film?
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Date: 2010-11-05 06:51 pm (UTC)It's one of my all time favorite movies now. Now to find the books and read them. Found the books in audio format, but that's never the same.
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Date: 2010-11-05 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-11-07 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 05:41 am (UTC)I think my most-often seen movie in the first-run theater was the original Pirates of the Caribbean - I must have seen it at least seven or eight times!
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Date: 2010-11-07 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 05:59 pm (UTC)And you and Peter are teaching Caroline well. She knows to ask worthwhile questions.
I'm glad I saw Train Your Dragon, too, especially since I was dubious about it when it was part of Olympics coverage. Took a lot of people (including you) saying it's worthy work for me to check it out.
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Date: 2010-11-07 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 10:15 pm (UTC)My siblings and daughter also loved that movie. I haven't seen it yet!
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Date: 2010-11-07 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 02:42 am (UTC)-Allie.
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Date: 2010-11-09 09:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-09 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-11-09 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-11-10 11:06 am (UTC)