The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, by J. R. R. Tolkien

Reviewed by: Kimball, age 15

This is a story about a little man who likes nothing more than to stay at home and live comfortably. Unfortunately the wizard has other plans. This book is good for all ages and can be read by younger audiences prior to introduction to Lord of the Rings, or read after Lord of the Rings and treated as a prequel. Both are classics.

Genre: Fiction

Time Period: Unspecified medieval period

Introduction:

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit. A hobbit is a short creature who looks human except for his height and his wooly feet. They also do not grow beards and their hair is always curly. They live in comfortable houses dug into hills (called hobbit-holes.) Bilbo is no exception; he lives in a rather nice hole and has a great dislike for adventures. One day a wizard called Gandalf arrives at his porch inquiring whether he should like to take part in a quest. Bilbo declines but invites him to tea, forgetting all about it until Wednesday when Gandalf is supposed to come. Being quite unprepared when someone he expects to be Gandalf arrives at his house, he is shocked to find that it is instead a dwarf. Soon more dwarves arrive and Gandalf with them, and Bilbo learns that the dwarves are on a quest, and that Gandalf has quite ignored his declaration that he does not wish to participate, and soon he is off on a journey to slay a dragon with thirteen dwarves, a wizard and a constant desire to be back in his hole and not attacked by goblins and wolves and trolls and a dragon and the like.

Themes: size matters not, don't underestimate yourself, don't invite strangers to dinner just because you've heard all about them

Recommended age: 10 and up, younger as a read aloud

Full Disclosure:

This book is a children's book and can be read to children under ten; however they probably will have trouble reading it themselves.

Rating: 5 stars

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

Reviewed by: Kimball, age 15

The Lord of the Rings is an epic saga about an unlikely hero and a band of questors who seek to destroy an evil ring. The book is imaginative and well written and a modern classic. It follows the adventures of four hobbits (short human-like people with hairy feet,) two men of high birth, a dwarf, an elf and a wizard as they fight orcs, wraiths, evil men and a vengeful degradation of nature intent on retrieving his precious ring at all costs.

Genre: Fiction

Time Period: Unspecified ancient period (Tolkien originally developed Middle-Earth to create a mythology for England)

Introduction:

Once upon a time, a hobbit named Bilbo went on an adventure. During this adventure, he was separated from his fellow adventurers and came across a creature called Gollum. Gollum was once a hobbit but had devolved beyond recognition. He possessed a magic ring, which Bilbo pocketed after finding it, and kept after Gollum found out and tried to murder him.

Years later, where the book begins, old Bilbo leaves his home after his 111th birthday, never to return, bequeathing all his possessions to his nephew Frodo. This includes the ring. Bilbo's wizard friend Gandalf explains to Frodo the origins of the ring: how it was forged by the dark lord Sauron, the war fought over it, and the powers it holds, and its evil nature necessitating its destruction, as well as how it fell into Gollum's hands and then Bilbo's.

Frodo leaves for the elven city Rivendell with three other hobbits (his devoted gardener Samwise and his two kinsmen Merry and Pippin) to hold council with Gandalf and Elrond to organize the quest to destroy the Ring, but along the way he is pursued by black agents of Sauron who cannot die...

Themes: size matters not, seek not for power, beware of lust/addiction/greed

Recommended Age: 12 and up

Full Disclosure:

This book is very long. The first part (about one-sixth of the book) is rather slow, but the action picks up after the council meeting, so don't give up on it before you finish the first volume. There are also many inconsistencies and continuity errors for canon-happy nerds to look for.

Rating: 5 stars

Other books: The Hobbit, The Silmarillion