Books With Bean ~ The Hobbit

Title: The Hobbit or There and Back Again 

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien

Published: 21 September, 1937

Genre: High Fantasy, Children’s, Adventure

Summary: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Bilbo lives a peaceful life in Hobbiton, at least it is peaceful until the wandering Wizard Gandalf shows up. On that day Bilbo finds his life turned upside-down and he is now at the beginning of what will become the greatest adventure of his life. But adventures are not usually had on one's own. Add in 13 wandering dwarves on a quest to fight a dragon and take back their homeland and you have the perfect recipe for adventure and fun with lots of action along the way. So out Bilbo goes with the dwarves away from his happy little home. Across the wilderness, through a pleasant stop at the Last Homely House east of the sea, into some very nasty goblin infested mountains, and through the dark forest of Mirkwood. Yes, Bilbo finds life a lot more interesting then it was back home, he find friends in unexpected places and learns that not all that looks good is good. But there is one thing for certain if he makes it back he won’t be the same Hobbit he was before!

What I liked about it: What didn’t I like about it? I can remember watching the Lord of the Rings movies when I was really little, always hiding when the Orcs came and loving the Elves. I remember knowing they were based off of books and waiting for the day mom said I was finally old enough to be aloud to read them. I don’t remember if I actually read the Hobbit before the Lord of the Rings but now I have read them all dozens of times. I love Bilbo he is so much like us, theoretically if you were asked if you wanted to go on a grand daring adventure you would probably say yes that sounds like fun but if it was sprung on you out of the blue would you really be so keen to go? I know I probably wouldn’t, this fact makes Bilbo very relatable. He gets the chance of a lifetime but is uncertain if he wants to leave home, but in the end he does and has the time of his life. It makes me wonder as I read it now that I’m a bit older what opportunities I might be offered and of the ones I turned down. What might happen if I just said yes and let the road take me along? Friendships are made when you meet new people and try new things. Experiencing new things is important and helps you to learn and grow. There and Back Again is a long way and the only thing known is when we do get back we (like Bilbo) will never be the same again.

Language: None

Romance: None

Violence: There are battles and fighting but it is not graphic.

Magic: Hobbits have no magic except the everyday sort that helps them hide when people like us come by. Dwarves of course were made from the earth and have magic in their hands and minds allowing them to craft amazing armor, jewelry, cities and more, Elves of course are beings of magic. Gandalf is of course a Wizard who’s specialty is fire. Magic is everywhere in Middle Earth it is neither nor good or evil, it is there and used in different ways by the different peoples. Elves use it for good and so do the five wizards. Dragons and Sauron use it for evil but that is for another book. 

Recommended Age: The Hobbit was written as a children's book, but it was written as a children’s book for children of a different time. This is not to say don’t let you child read it, but for the first time through if the child is young I would recommend reading it out loud or at least reading it together. Tolkien was a scholar and a professor in mid 1900s England and his work was on the Anglo-Saxons and as such his stories are not written like fantasy today but written as if they were from that long ago age. Because if this it may be hard for some younger children to understand the way his books are written, make sure to tell them if they say this that it is not because they are stupid or silly, many adults have a hard time following along with the writing style of the book and most of Tolkien’s later works like the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. 

So for a recommended age I would say 9 or 10 if you read it with them or 12 or 13 if they want to read it themselves.