I have been meaning to post about this for a couple of weeks now and somehow I’ve only just managed to get here. Things are changing in the world. I’m starting to wonder how permanent some of these changes are going to become. In the past, if I told you a movie was going directly to video release, your thought would be, “wow – how bad is it?” or something similar. Well, Disney is taking one of their big summer blockbuster movies directly to a streaming release in June… and it looks like it’s going to be pretty good. We might be seeing the future playing out right now ~ but that’s a different topic.

The movie in question is Artemis Fowl, based on the book by Eoin Colfer. I’d recommend going and checking out the trailer here.

I haven’t read Artemis Fowl since Watch The Skies read it in 2003. I do remember the meeting when we talked about it. At the time there was a member of the group (short lived membership) that complained bitterly about reading something so specifically aimed at a younger readership. He didn’t see the sense in looking at a book like that along with a couple of other complaints about the actual story content. At the time I argued that it was important for a group like ours to look at what future book club members are reading as they’re “coming up”. I still firmly believe this – and now, 17 years later that book he wasn’t interested in is a big, upcoming movie release with a huge fan base. Love it, hate it or live in ambivalence this book has made an impact.

IF you’ve got younger fans that haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend it. I particularly recommend it right now for an extra factor – it can consume MORE than just the time to read the book. One bit of the book that I enjoyed was that it takes a basic level look at secret codes… and BIG HINT – there’s a secret code in the book! Get your young fan / code breaker working on it as a great way to lead into all sorts of interesting brain food (history, math, puzzles – there’s so many topics!). Seriously – just check out the bottom of the very first page:

I remember this book as a lot of fun. For the older folks setting their kids up for this, it’s not like the disappointment of Ralphie in A Christmas Story either. I’d suggest getting to this before the movie comes out, just in case they spoil something!