# Reading the Hobbit to your kids



## Elbereth (Jan 28, 2021)

At long last, I am finally able to share The Hobbit with my own little ones. I can't tell you how relieved and happy I was when they told me how much they liked it. But I never anticipated how many questions I would have to answer each and every time I read a chapter to them. Some nights I can barely get through one page because of all of the questions. 

I have discovered it is a completely different experience to be able to open up the world of Middle Earth to the next generation. Perhaps it is a generational difference...or because they are much younger than I was when I first read the book, but their perception of the story and the characters are so very different than my own. 

Has anyone else introduced the Hobbit to your children?
What were your experiences?


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## 1stvermont (Jan 28, 2021)

Elbereth said:


> At long last, I am finally able to share The Hobbit with my own little ones. I can't tell you how relieved and happy I was when they told me how much they liked it. But I never anticipated how many questions I would have to answer each and every time I read a chapter to them. Some nights I can barely get through one page because of all of the questions.
> 
> I have discovered it is a completely different experience to be able to open up the world of Middle Earth to the next generation. Perhaps it is a generational difference...or because they are much younger than I was when I first read the book, but their perception of the story and the characters are so very different than my own.
> 
> ...



That's great they asked questions, mine were not that interested. I has to wait for them to get older and read it themselves. My boy loved it. I think the movies however have too strong a hold on their perceptions. But I love when boy boy askes a question about some odd thing in the hobbit movies and I just say, that did not happen in the books.


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## Erestor Arcamen (Jan 29, 2021)

My daughter's only 9 months old but I'm so excited to start reading The Hobbit to her when she gets older and then moving on to LOTR.


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## Elbereth (Jan 29, 2021)

Erestor Arcamen said:


> My daughter's only 9 months old but I'm so excited to start reading The Hobbit to her when she gets older and then moving on to LOTR.


I felt the same for so many years. 

We had just finished with the Harry Potter books...and then I gave them a choice...The Hobbit or The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. 

I was thrilled when they said the Hobbit. And now my husband has the whole family watching LOTR (he was so excited to share his new 4K extended versions to them).

I was so happy that they embraced it the way they have.


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## 1stvermont (Jan 29, 2021)

My daughter is an aspiring artist and made of her favorite Tolkien character today, Shadowfax.


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## Alcuin (Jan 30, 2021)

I first read _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ to my children when they were four. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the books, though my daughter found the Watcher in the Water too much to bear, and refused to hear that part. (When we saw that scene in the movie theater when she was about eleven, she levitated from her seat, screamed – which set the entire theater screaming –, and landed in my lap.)


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## Culaeron (Jan 30, 2021)

My own kids weren’t that interested in reading, but my granddaughter is 10 now, and an avid reader. I read her the Hobbit when she was about 3, and last year we listened to the Andy Serkis narrated audiobook. This year for Christmas I bought her a nice little “leatherbound” edition of the book.


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## Rilien (Feb 7, 2021)

When my son was about four years old we were playing in the front yard, and on a whim I "told" him the Hobbit story. It took me about maybe 45 minutes, and he sat there enthralled and listening the whole time. My wife (who saw us through the window) later wanted to know what on earth I was saying to him to keep him still for such a long period of time. He read it for himself a few years later (and gave an oral report to his class at school, complete with a homemade map).


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## rockmenwang (Mar 4, 2021)

My kids also like to hear me tell this story,


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## Aramarien (Mar 4, 2021)

I read The Hobbit to my older sons after they watched the animated version on TV. I bought them the illustrated version that went with the animated version that had a cassette tape to go with it. I read The Hobbit to my younger sons and they loved it. Not too long after I read LOTR to them. There weren't too many questions at the time I read it, though. They just appreciated the story. Of course, this was all before the movies came out.


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## 1stvermont (Mar 5, 2021)

Aramarien said:


> I read The Hobbit to my older sons after they watched the animated version on TV. I bought them the illustrated version that went with the animated version that had a cassette tape to go with it. I read The Hobbit to my younger sons and they loved it. Not too long after I read LOTR to them. There weren't too many questions at the time I read it, though. They just appreciated the story. Of course, this was all before the movies came out.



what age do you think LOTR is good to have my kids read on their own?


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## Aramarien (Mar 5, 2021)

1stvermont said:


> what age do you think LOTR is good to have my kids read on their own?


That could depend on many things, like the reading level of the child. A younger child might appreciate many aspects of the story, but I feel a child around 12-13 _*in general *_might appreciate the book more if they were reading it on their own.


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## IGnormann (Mar 8, 2021)

Adore reading The Hobbit to my lil sister
She likes it a lot


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## Oromedur (Mar 11, 2021)

My son was 6 approaching 7 when I read it to him. He was spellbound and it was a thoroughly enriching experience for me. He then attended international book day at his school dressed as a hobbit.


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## Shadow (Mar 26, 2021)

I finished it again yesterday. It’s a good little story, very easy to read and does all it needs to. It establishes the general world and the equipment Frodo would come to use, such as the ring, Sting and the Mithril jacket.


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## Desert Loon (Apr 4, 2021)

I first read it to my oldest when she was maybe five or six. I remember on a winter night we were out playing in the snow and she was standing on top of a mound the plows left, shouting into the night: "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole!"

My wife has a little picture book with accompanying cassette tape from the Rankin-Bass production, and we started both our girls on that when they were little to get them acquainted with the story. I read it to my youngest when she was about four, I think - she didn't always listen closely, but since then they've both watched all the movies. I would not be as keen on letting them watch the Hobbit movies if I didn't have my secret weapon:

A few years ago, my siblings and I recorded ourselves reading_, _taking turns on the chapters - I got to do "Riddles in the Dark." We did it as a birthday present for our mother but I've also put the recordings on my oldest daughter's music player. She's 12 now. The two of them have listened to the recordings fairly often over the past year.

It is one of the most wonderful things I've been able to pass on to the next generation, and I'm grateful to be able to do it.


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## Thorin (Oct 7, 2021)

I don't have kids, but I have students. For the last 4 years, I have been doing it as a novel study in grade 7 English Language Arts. It is hit and miss but most of my students seem to like it. The nice thing is that I am able to give them a lot of back story and we actually delve into the history of Middle Earth quite a bit. The librarian of my school (who always busts my balls and complains about everything) and the occasional EA I have had in my classroom over the years, keeps telling me, 'Why do you do The Hobbit? Nobody likes it!' but I just ignore them. Ha. I do the first six chapters and show the first movie, then the next six chapters, and the second movie, and the remaining chapters and finish with the last movie. (As a Tolkien purist, it pains me to have to show that dreck but I know the kids will like it and I show them the Extended Editions, not the horrible theater versions). We will be getting into it maybe tomorrow or next week. I just introduced it by showing a 20 min video on the life of JRR Tolkien.


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## Aramarien (Oct 7, 2021)

Thorin said:


> I don't have kids, but I have students. For the last 4 years, I have been doing it as a novel study in grade 7 English Language Arts. It is hit and miss but most of my students seem to like it. The nice thing is that I am able to give them a lot of back story and we actually delve into the history of Middle Earth quite a bit. The librarian of my school (who always busts my balls and complains about everything) and the occasional EA I have had in my classroom over the years, keeps telling me, 'Why do you do The Hobbit? Nobody likes it!' but I just ignore them. Ha. I do the first six chapters and show the first movie, then the next six chapters, and the second movie, and the remaining chapters and finish with the last movie. (As a Tolkien purist, it pains me to have to show that dreck but I know the kids will like it and I show them the Extended Editions, not the horrible theater versions). We will be getting into it maybe tomorrow or next week. I just introduced it by showing a 20 min video on the life of JRR Tolkien.


Thorin, I also have taught 7th and 8th grade Language Arts and encouraged the students to read The Hobbit. As you say, some love the book and others can take or leave it.
Many, many decades ago, when I was in the 8th grade, everyone in my class read The Hobbit. It was not assigned, but for some reason it became the "in" thing to do. Everyone would make references to the book and even one student was given the nickname, "The Hobbit" which stayed with him. I fell in love with the book. 
Then my friend told me that there was another book by the same author about Hobbits. I asked, "Is Bilbo in it?" 
She said, "Yes, a little bit. But it's more about his nephew Frodo." Seeing the disappointed look on my face, she reassured me that I would love Frodo too. 
Little did she know


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## 1stvermont (Oct 7, 2021)

Thorin said:


> I don't have kids, but I have students. For the last 4 years, I have been doing it as a novel study in grade 7 English Language Arts. It is hit and miss but most of my students seem to like it. The nice thing is that I am able to give them a lot of back story and we actually delve into the history of Middle Earth quite a bit. The librarian of my school (who always busts my balls and complains about everything) and the occasional EA I have had in my classroom over the years, keeps telling me, 'Why do you do The Hobbit? Nobody likes it!' but I just ignore them. Ha. I do the first six chapters and show the first movie, then the next six chapters, and the second movie, and the remaining chapters and finish with the last movie. (As a Tolkien purist, it pains me to have to show that dreck but I know the kids will like it and I show them the Extended Editions, not the horrible theater versions). We will be getting into it maybe tomorrow or next week. I just introduced it by showing a 20 min video on the life of JRR Tolkien.



I am jealous. Great stuff.


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## Culaeron (Nov 24, 2021)

Aramarien said:


> Many, many decades ago, when I was in the 8th grade, everyone in my class read The Hobbit. It was not assigned, but for some reason it became the "in" thing to do. Everyone would make references to the book and even one student was given the nickname, "The Hobbit" which stayed with him. I fell in love with the book.


I also had a similar experience. Mine was a few grades later, but every one of my classmates seemed to have read and reread the Hobbit. I was one of the few that went further, and delved into Tolkien's other works...which gained me the nickname "Bilbo"....a name that followed me until graduation.


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## Ithilethiel (Nov 25, 2021)

I think it's great that you are reading the Hobbit to your children and they are so intrigued and interested in the story. I love reading to my twin boys but haven't got into reading them Tolkien yet, they aren't quite a year old yet. I do plan on introducing the Professor to them when they are older just as my father, a prof of English Lit introduced him (and many other great authors) to me. I can remember being enthralled by the stories and also asking lots of questions but it was a bit overpowering for me. When I was able to read I headed straight for LOTR but my Dad recommended the Hobbit, a true children's story. I'm glad he did bc now that I was a bit older with greater reading and comprehension abilities it started to make more sense to me. I know reading to our children stimulates their young minds in many different ways and produces a lifelong love of books. Reading is magical and inspirational. Great job everyone!

Another great read is Madeleine L'Engle's, _Time Quintet _stories. Her first, _A Wrinkle in Time_ is a real gem. It's touted as a young adult book but it's about three children of varying ages and I believe a good fit for younger children. I read it when I was about 8.


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## Thorin (Feb 16, 2022)

This year, I believe my students have particularly enjoyed The Hobbit due to the amazing reading of it by Andy Serkis that was on YouTube. I didn't even bother to read it to my kids anymore. I let Andy do it and I think it made a huge difference in how the kids perceived and looked at the contents. I thoroughly enjoyed it!


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## Olorgando (Feb 17, 2022)

When I entered school, LoTR the book had been around for about seven years. But though I preserved a couple of books by George Allen & Unwin with copyright dates 1959 and 1961 from my parents' "library" after my mother had passed away, these were by Kenneth Anderson, a writer of British descent whose family had settled in India for several generations. We lived there for about six years late '59 to early '66. And I did my own reading from before I entered school. It was long decades before audio-books started to appear, and they never caught on with me. I can imagine, though, that a competent reader could provide atmosphere for listeners that one has to provide for oneself while (silently) reading. I say silently, because I have a vague memory of a statement that this is a somewhat recent (a few centuries - I take European perspectives on terms like "recent" and "a long time ago", not US (or Australian) ones  ) development, and that before that, people seem to have read aloud to *themselves* ...


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## Bellerophon (Mar 29, 2022)

When I was around 7 or 8 my father read The Hobbit to me and my younger siblings while we were on holiday in North Wales. We had a chapter after lunch and another after dinner each day. As we walked in the woods and hills we imagined ourselves in Middle Earth. 

Many years later I read it to my own kids but I don't think it has quite the same effect on them.


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## Olorgando (Mar 29, 2022)

Bellerophon said:


> When I was around 7 or 8 my father read The Hobbit to me and my younger siblings while we were on holiday in North Wales. We had a chapter after lunch and another after dinner each day. As we walked in the woods and hills we imagined ourselves in Middle Earth.
> 
> Many years later I read it to my own kids but I don't think it has quite the same effect on them.


That holiday in Wales would have been in the early 1970's. What other forms of entertainment were there? Maybe a handful of TV channels, radio (both wireless analog terrestrial technology), film theaters, vinyl records, compact cassettes (HiFi freaks might have a reel-to-reel monster), comic books, the funnies in the newspapers ...

That had changed quite a bit about 30 years later, at the turn of the century, and has changed even more drastically in the about 20 years since then ...


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## Melkor (Mar 29, 2022)

Olorgando said:


> That holiday in Wales would have been in the early 1970's. What other forms of entertainment were there? Maybe a handful of TV channels, radio (both wireless analog terrestrial technology), film theaters, vinyl records, compact cassettes (HiFi freaks might have a reel-to-reel monster), comic books, the funnies in the newspapers ...
> 
> That had changed quite a bit about 30 years later, at the turn of the century, and has changed even more drastically in the about 20 years since then ...


I don't know how today's childern, but I grew up in the first decade of 2000's and I often played outside, make bunkers (especially in winter) etc. So many hours on amazing adventures. Yeah I also spent hours at PC games, but not all the time.


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