You think you know Disney. You’ve watched—or at least heard, as you worked while your kids watched—every Disney movie at least a dozen times, or, in the case of Frozen, as regularly as you brush your teeth. You can spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I’ll wait while you quiz your kids. If you pick 10 toys at random from any of your kids’ rooms, at least half will be Disney. Remember, Star Wars is Disney now. I know. Worlds collide.
You’ve been on every Disney ride, dressed your kids in every conceivable Disney movie and Disney Channel iteration (this month, Jameson is all about Descendants), and you probably have two dozen Disney books in your home right now.
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You’ve certainly read Alice in Wonderland, and hopefully read Peter and Wendy. The Disney stories are as familiar to you as the bathroom at your local Starbucks. But the real literature is so very different from the Disney movie story.
Have you read Tarzan?
Disney has upped its game with the live action–digital hybrid movie The Jungle Book, and I have my fingers crossed that a faithful movie translation of Tarzan of the Apes is in Disney’s five year plan.
There’s just one problem: your kids would not be allowed to see it.
[Tweet “If #Disney made a faithful movie version of this book, your kids couldn’t see it. @Disney”]
Because the book—the real book, not the Disney novelization of the Disney movie—is breathtakingly violent.
And your kids should read it.
[Tweet “The book is breathtakingly violent. And your kids should read it. #Disney #read”]
And then they should check out every Edgar Rice Burroughs book from the library and read those as well.
The United States is in crisis. Pinterest and Facebook have dulled our duty. We need to stop sharing and start shouting. Our kids need real heroes, and real words, and real thoughts, and real information and real access to parts of life that may be messy but are not grotesque. May be shocking, but never immoral. May be violent, but never gratuitous. We need to push manners and honor and literature on our kids—real, great literature. What’s the last Great Book your kids read? How about you?
I love to read aloud to my big kids! Even though they’re 9 and 11 and have been reading on their own for years, I read to them for hours every day. Tarzan of the Apes is an amazing book to read aloud. Your kids, who you are ashamed to admit are jaded because of their constant exposure to a numbing level of sex and violence every single day of their young lives, will be shocked and awed at the action of the story. And it is shocking—but in a good way, in a natural way.
If you’re looking for a book for your tweens or teens to read, or a book you can read to your kids that will spark their imaginations and drive them outside to climb trees and sharpen sticks with rocks, here it is. You’re welcome.
Find more Great Books to Read to Your BIG Kids!
