Began reading J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" tonight from the 75th Anniversary hard-cover addition (covered and illustrated as it was when read to me 35 years ago). So far, the idea of a baker's dozen of uninvited dwarves arriving for tea and cake with their personal appetites, instruments, and a smoke-ring blowing wizard has been met with captivation.
In all my years of story reading, from ancient Greek mythology to talking Dr. Seussian creatures, I've never heard such a wonderful, precious, time-travelling "What happens next, daddy?".
"What do you think happens next?" I asked. Someone fell asleep before the answer got too far from "they eat more cake; the dragon is at the end..."