I think this was the second time in my young life that I got to see Fraggles on TV, but the first time that I got to do repeat viewings of Fraggles on TV until I was able to purchase the DVD set as an adult.

Inspired by the Fraggles’ example (and being short on cash), I decided to give my hard-won (sort of) and long-awaited copy of the Muppets’ Phantom of the Opera to my 12-year-old nephew as a Christmas present.

I like to give my nephews and my niece books as presents because a love of reading is something that we all share, and something that I particularly want to cultivate.  However, in the case of my 12-year-old nephew, it’s getting harder all the time to pick out books for him.  I know that he prefers fiction (unlike my 9-year-old nephew, who prefers nonfiction–particularly biographies), and I know several particular book series that he likes, but I’m always hesitant to get him books from those series because I don’t know which ones he’s already read.  Being that he’s 12 years old now (on the edge of 13–gulp!), he’s probably on the threshold where he can start appreciating more grownup-oriented/classic fare, but I think the original Phantom might still be a little too advanced for him.  So I think Muppet Phantom was a good compromise.  I think he’ll appreciate the humor of it and get a good grounding in the classic story as well.  Maybe he’ll even want to read the original so that the jokes will be funnier–who knows?

So I just want to let the folks at The Muppet Mindset know that it’s not that I didn’t like the book nor that I didn’t appreciate the effort that it took to get it to me.  On the contrary, it’s precisely because I did appreciate it that I decided it would make a good gift for my nephew.  If I didn’t think it was a worthwhile read, I would never have given it to my nephew with an implicit recommendation.  I would have put it on a shelf somewhere and forgotten it, or else I would have donated it to charity.  But because I loved it so much, I wanted to share it with someone that I love.