Tintin Forums

Hello,

I am British and have just moved to Belgium. For Christmas, I am thinking of buying my nephew his first Tintin book. He is aged 6. What is the best book to start with for a relatively young reader? (As a Tintin novice myself, I'm also looking forward to having a look through it!)

Thanks for your help,
Vincent

Hello, it does not really matter which Tintin book you read first, the exceptions being the second parts in two-part adventures (The Blue Lotus, Red Rackham's Treasure, Prisoners of the Sun and Explorers on the Moon) and ones which only the die-hard fans have interest in, such as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo and Tintin and Alph-art. I would say that some which would be excellent to start with would be The Secret of the Unicorn (along with Red Rackham's Treasure, which is its sequel) or The Black Island, The Crab with the Golden Claws or Cigars of the Pharaoh.

I don’t think that is so much the question, so much as “which book would be best for a six year old”?

Starting with the proviso that the Tintin magazine was long given the subtitle of being for children of “7 to 77”, which could suggest that your nephew may be a little young, mtvclay, I’d say try something like Tintin in America, which is a sort of comic larger-than-life cowboys and cops-and -robbers story, and therefore not too different from a playground game.

The Shooting Star has a few scares at the start, but the fun of the giant mushrooms, apples and the spider makes for a good fun adventure, and the sort of thing which would work for bed-time story discussion.

I’d avoid Seven Crystal Balls (and as a result Prisoners), as the dream-sequence of the walking mummy still gives some people pause for thought and cause for nightmares, even years after they first encounter him. Personally I’d also miss out Cigars, as there is also a rather frightening sequence in the tomb.

I agree with Mr. The Beeper that Black Island is a nice self-contained adventure, so that too is a contender, although the counterfeiting activities may not be appealing to someone who is six.

You might also want to look at the Jo, Zette & Jocko books, which were aimed by Hergé at a slightly younger audience, or the Quick & Flupke albums which are now coming out in English, but often just contain sight gags and silliness (a bit like Beano or Dandy strips), and wait a year to get him hooked on Tintin!

Cigars of the Pharaoh.Best one to start with leave America, Congo and Soviets till you have finished the series.

Tintin in Tibet is good and fairly harmless. I read my 4/12 year old Seven Crystal Balls & Prisoners of the Sun and he has no problems with it!

You can always censor bits you feel inappropriate.

Number one i would imagine would be The Black Island and Lots of children enjoy Flight 714.i dont think small children would enjoy Tibet as much kind of a personal book.

What is there realy to censor in the books Good over Evil should not be censored.

Well, if you were reading The Seven Crystal Balls to a young child, would you really want to include Rascar Capac?

I read them at that age i mean still scares me till this day lol.Children love fantasy i could understand if it was Terminator 2 or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

By censor, I mean miss out bits that are excessively violent or scary for small children !