Personally, I read the entire Redwall series as a kid.
Well, maybe not all of it, I think some books in the series were still being written at the time … not 100% sure.
I found them much more compelling than Harry Potter.
I also read everything Animorphs, most of them as they came out.
… I also read all of LotR, other than the Silmarillion, before I got out of high school, as well as most of the Tom Clancy books, Jurassic Park / Lost World Andromeda Strain, 1984, Brave New World, Farenheit 451…
Man, I even read most of the Boxcar Children before I got out of elementary school.
I read a lot as a kid.
So much so that when I was in 2nd grade, I would routinely finish school work so quickly, that I would be matched up with 4th and 5th graders who were behind their grade in reading ability, and go out into the hallway and help them read aloud books, help them with pronounciation, explain word meanings they didn’t know.
…
But the group of people I am describing?
Best I remember, they only read Harry Potter… and I do remember having to explain to them that the LotR movies (the first 3) diverge from the plot of the books in several key points… Saruman’s plot arc and everything directly connected to him diverge significantly… perhaps most notably by totally removing the Shire being ‘scoured’ near the end of the story.
These people did not believe me when I told them this, which lead me to conclude they either didn’t actually read LotR, or at best, skim-read it or didn’t remember it well at all.
Personally, I read the entire Redwall series as a kid.
Well, maybe not all of it, I think some books in the series were still being written at the time … not 100% sure.
I found them much more compelling than Harry Potter.
I also read everything Animorphs, most of them as they came out.
… I also read all of LotR, other than the Silmarillion, before I got out of high school, as well as most of the Tom Clancy books, Jurassic Park / Lost World Andromeda Strain, 1984, Brave New World, Farenheit 451…
Man, I even read most of the Boxcar Children before I got out of elementary school.
I read a lot as a kid.
So much so that when I was in 2nd grade, I would routinely finish school work so quickly, that I would be matched up with 4th and 5th graders who were behind their grade in reading ability, and go out into the hallway and help them read aloud books, help them with pronounciation, explain word meanings they didn’t know.
…
But the group of people I am describing?
Best I remember, they only read Harry Potter… and I do remember having to explain to them that the LotR movies (the first 3) diverge from the plot of the books in several key points… Saruman’s plot arc and everything directly connected to him diverge significantly… perhaps most notably by totally removing the Shire being ‘scoured’ near the end of the story.
These people did not believe me when I told them this, which lead me to conclude they either didn’t actually read LotR, or at best, skim-read it or didn’t remember it well at all.