I have an almost three year old son.  He is very good at being almost three years old, which means I spend a lot of time telling him to get his finger out of his nose, and to stop hitting. This is the constant background to whatever else I am doing, including reading books.  My latest read featured a guy who liked to wander around on the crenelations of old castles while drunk, and a woman who was known to cut off peoples’ hands when she got angry.  Put those things together, and I start wondering: What would Conan do?

So, dear reafantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsders: What would your favorite fantasy character’s most important parenting advice be?

I’ll start it off: From Bilbo Baggins, “Stay out of my jewelry box!”

In keeping with the topic, we’re going to give away some YA fantasy books today. The commenter with the best advice, as judged by our own Greg Hersom (who has some experience with Barbarian childrearing practices), wins copies of Patrick Carman’s multi-media Ghost in the Machine and Skeleton Creek.  We’ll announce the winner on Monday.

Author

  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.