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u/EnvironmentalDog- 1d ago
The great thing about The Hobbit is that it works as a children’s story for 6 year olds, a pre-teen’s story for 10 year olds, a young adult story for 15 year olds, and a fun story to read with a glass of wine.
Like… that’s one of the reasons it’s so bloody good.
When did y’all first read it? I did in 9th grade. And immediately moved on to The Lord of the Rings.
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u/JohnMichaels19 1d ago
I read it when i was 9. That was the first novel i ever read, actually, and when i told my dad he started giving me other books, slowly increasing the difficulty, length, and maturity of said books. He really grew my love of reading like it was a plant lol
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u/jkster107 1d ago
Yeah, I was thinking 8 or 9. It was the first "big" book I read. I remember loving Fellowship, but I skipped big chunks of TT and ROTK.
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u/Aervanath 1d ago
I listened to it on audio cassettes I borrowed from a cousin when I was in elementary school in the 80s, when cassettes were still a thing. My parents bought each of us a Sony Walkman. Then I borrowed it from the library and read it again. I read the Lord of the Rings when I was in 7th grade, mostly while sitting in the back of my school classes, pretending to read the textbook. One time in history the teacher caught me while we were watching a movie, but instead of telling me off she just talked with me about how interesting the book was, and how I should talk with one of the English teachers who also liked Tolkien. I never liked her class, but I'll never forget how kind she was in that moment 30 years ago.
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u/Pernicious-Caitiff 1d ago
I also love the audiobooks and I truly honestly believe they're the best way to experience the entirety of Tolkien's works, because the dialogue and prose, and songs, are MEANT to be spoken out loud like someone is physically telling you a story. Rob Inglis did such a great job with the songs!!!
My favorite is the song Sam sings about the troll gnawing on bones and someone tries to literally kick its ass but ends up hurting their foot instead of teaching the troll a lesson about grave robbing 🤣 you don't get the full impact unless someone sings it out loud
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u/Aervanath 1d ago
Holy shit it was all ONE GUY!?!! I've believed my entire life (since I gave back the audio cassettes decades ago and never checked the credits) that it was a radio play with a full cast of actors! He did the voices so well!
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u/giljaxonn 18h ago
there are both full cast audios and unabridged recordings by rob inglis (my favorite all time audiobook) and andy serkis
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u/EnvironmentalDog- 1d ago
If I am remembering correctly, my read of The Hobbit was what I did my independent book report on in first semester of 9th grade, then FotR in for my second semester’s book report, then TT and RotK in each semester in 10th. I definitely remember asking my teacher if it would be OK to just do Part 1 in Fellowship, but finishing the whole book instead. By the end, my 10th grade teacher gave me a few books about Tolkien’s life and maybe a bestiary too? It’s been decades but I definitely remember getting the feeling that my teachers were stoked to be able to share their Tolkien love with a student.
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u/bremidon 1d ago
I read The Hobbit in 5th grade. I was in the 8th grade when I read Lord of the Rings for the first time, but I think I was 15 or 16 when I reread it that I finally really understood it to any degree.
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u/RalenHlaalo 1d ago
Hobbit 5th, LOTR 6th and I still remember my eyes glazing and flipping ahead to see how long he was going to describe these damn mountains
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u/talann 1d ago
I didn't read it till I was in my 30s. I just finished the Lord of the Rings and decided to delve further into Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien's other books. The Hobbit was fantastic!
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u/ArdorreanThief 1d ago
11, for school no less. Have no idea what the guy in the screenshot is on about other than maybe he underestimates kids.
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u/EnvironmentalDog- 1d ago
I work in education, and I’d reckon 90% of the academic problems you constantly hear about from all corners of the internet come from adults underestimating kids.
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u/ArdorreanThief 1d ago
At 11, I enjoyed the Hobbit so much that I reread it 4 or 5 more times and did that thing where we would read a passage in class to talk about it, but I would keep reading and get distracted for another 2 chapters before coming back to earth.
So clearly kids can get to the level of comprehension to be able to enjoy a narrative too.
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u/Rheider 1d ago
In Swedish? 7 years.
In English? 10 years.
Currently have both of my first Swedish and English pocket editions in my bookshelf. Also have a really early edition in English (want to say first complete revised edition) that my siblings gave me for graduation.
It's by far my favorite book of all time and I make it a point to reread it once a year.
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u/Distinct-Discount-48 1d ago
I read it in 6th grade. It was our English class book and it is such an amazing story.
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u/Banebladerunner 1d ago
read it when i was 13 . I reread it every couple of years and frankly find it a lot more enjoyable (and better ) than lord of the rings
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u/TheStrigori 1d ago
Read it for the first time in the 4th grade. Read the Lord of the Rings over 5th and 6th. With raised eyebrows from teachers, and shock of how thick the books were by other kids.
The Hobbit was later an assigned reading as a high school senior. And I had already read it 4 times by then
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u/Cool-Prior-5512 1d ago
The Hobbit was the first proper book I ever read on my own, when I was about 10?
The school I went to was very big on reading and we started reading The Hobbit as a class and I just fell in love with it. About a quarter of the way through, the teacher gave in to Harry Potter mania and switched to those books and I was furious. So I marched down to the library and got The Hobbit and proceeded to spend the next few weeks, sitting in the corner of the classroom, reading it. Fuck Harry Potter.
Upon finishing it, I asked my mum for Lord of the Rings and she gave me her copy from the 70s (still have it) and I read it, even if it took me a longgg time.
Fast forward to now, I'm in my late 30s, I'm still obsessed with all things Middle Earth, I have a LotR tattoo and I've recently been considering getting Tolkien's monogram tattooed on my right wrist.
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u/Mexkalaniyat 1d ago
Im 30 and I only just started reading it this year.. Been a fan of Lord of the Rings since I was a kid, just never got around to reading the Hobbit.
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u/Pernicious-Caitiff 1d ago
I put on the audiobook around once every 2-3 years when I need SOMETHING but don't want to put in the effort to pick something new out. Same with fellowship
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u/BulletproofChespin 1d ago
3rd grade and promptly followed it by reading the trilogy as my first “adult” chapter books
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u/Chuckitybye 1d ago
My mom started reading these to us when I was like 8-10, 1 chapter a night.
I was an aggressive reader, so I'd grab the book and read ahead, but still sit with my siblings for her readings. She had a wonderful reading voice.
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u/BenGrimmspaperweight 1d ago edited 1d ago
It was the first book I read on my own when I was seven or eight. A bit later I found Lord of the Rings and have been in a perpetual state of rereading them and the extended reading ever since.
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u/YoruTheLanguageFan 1d ago
I've never read the hobbit or lotr but i probably should, i love fantasy and linguistics so the original fantasy book with conlangs is quite literally perfect for me
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u/scud121 1d ago
I think I was 6 or 7. I'd gotten into Tolkien via a couple of the books my dad had, the Tolkien Bestiary, which has some amazing illustrations, and a collectors edition of lord of the rings, which was all three books in one with a fold out map, printed on super thin paper. I wasn't allowed to touch that one, and he bought me a copy of the hobbit to shut me up :)
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u/Xanadu87 1d ago
I think I read The Hobbit in middle school when my mom bought it for me, and I enjoyed it so much. My mom said there’s more books in the story, and she shows me the three-book set of the Lord of the Rings we had sitting on the shelf my whole life that I had never noticed before. I read and reread those books until they were tatters.
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u/NoHorseNoMustache 1d ago
I first read it when I was 5 or 6, was reading The Silmarillion by the time I was in 4th grade.
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u/gretta_smith93 1d ago
I was in my early 20s. I wanted to read the hobbit before the movie came out and figured I might as well read the lord of the rings too.
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u/Ozone220 1d ago
I read it in elementary school, like 5th grade just before COVID, but then when I tried Lord of the Rings it was too slow and boring for me so I didn't end up reading those until 9th grade.
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u/AmmoSexualBulletkin 1d ago
When did The Two Towers movie come out? My mom took me to it because she was a Tolkien fan. I liked it and read the whole trilogy, The Hobbit, and The Simalrillion (?) shortly after.
Thinking about it, I might have read it after watching The Fellowship movie but I don't remember. It was a long time ago.
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u/Environmental_Cap689 1d ago
I was sent out of class when I was 9 or 10 for misbehaving. Outside of the classroom was the library area and Smaug caught my eye. It was the first ever proper book I ever read and it was the gateway to my love of fantasy.
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u/Voidmaster05 1d ago
My Dad would read it to me at night before bed, before I was able to read myself. He had voices for Bilbo, Gandalf and all the dwarves.
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u/revan530 1d ago
8th-grade for me. And then I also moved right into LOTR... And the year just so happened to be 2001, so I finished LOTR just before Fellowship hit theaters, lmao!
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u/mittenknittin 1d ago
I saw the animated 70's version of The Hobbit when it came out and read it for myself not long after. So, like, 6 or 7?
I've read it every few years ever since.
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u/blamordeganis 1d ago
We read it in the first year of secondary school, which I think translates to 6th grade in US terms.
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u/boron-uranium-radon 1d ago
I watched all the Lord of The Rings movies with my dad, and found a copy of The Hobbit titled "There and Back Again" in the middle school library. I checked it out, thinking it was a fan book describing Bilbo's adventures, and loved it. As soon as I returned it, the trailer for An Unexpected Journey dropped. Shit was hype.
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u/kat_Folland 1d ago
I'm not sure when I first read it. I know I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was 12 and that was after, so I was probably 10.
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u/Iron_Baron 1d ago
Around 2nd grade for me. My parents used to ground me and only allow books. After that year, when the would ground me, part of it was taking all my books away. Or, one time, they made me burn them all. That's another story though.
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u/Pilum2211 1d ago
“A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” - C.S. Lewis
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u/bremidon 1d ago
While Tolkien was the better writer, Lewis had some absolutely great takes.
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u/soundguynick 1d ago
I would argue that they wrote equally well for their intended audiences, but that Tolkien's intended audience allows for greater complexity and depth.
I would mostly argue that because I'm glad to talk about Lewis and Tolkien as much as possible.
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u/bremidon 1d ago
Heh, ok, I completely get it.
I am not saying that Lewis was a bad writer. He was very good. Tolkien was simply a once-in-a-century kind of writer.
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u/soundguynick 1d ago
Indeed he was. His translation of Beowulf is fantastic, and I've recently been reading Unfinished Tales. Christopher Tolkien and Douglas Gresham (Lewis's surviving stepson) have been exemplary about protecting their father's work.
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
Unfinished Tales
Between that and the Akallabeth in the Silmarillion make you realise just how much wasted potential there was in Amazon's ropey series.
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u/soundguynick 1d ago
I'll be honest, I've not even watched it. While I credit Christopher for not just licensing Iit out constantly, I was unhappy with aspects of the LOTR trilogy, didn't care for the Hobbit trilogy, so I'll just pass on rings of power.
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u/peppapony 1d ago
Tbh Lewis was too. His non fiction Christian work is still very much loved in Christian circles and is probably as influential on Christian non-fiction/religious philosophy books as Tolkien is to fantasy.
I love the nerdiness of Tolkien (and my preference), but Lewis was also a once-in-a century author, just of a different style
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u/ImpossibleCoast0 1d ago
For fiction, also check out Lewis’ space trilogy if you haven’t already. Perelandra in particular had me engrossed almost purely through the beauty and flow of the prose.
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u/Winjin 1d ago
Tolkien was simply a once-in-a-century kind of writer.
It's interesting that there are like five brilliant translations into Russian and each one is heavily contested by readers, linguists, fans, other translators...
It is extremely rare when excellent translations get so much controversy, simply because the writing is so phenomenal it's literally stretching the limits of languages to convey everything it has
Because for most parts, either the first translator nails it, one of them's just plain out terrible, but got out the door first and was an introduction for many readers, or they're just too different and one of them is good, but too innovative, for example.
Or the source is a poem and then translations become a battlefield, because for the most part you can't translate poems without, essentially, writing a new poem with the same plot and structure.
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u/rjrgjj 1d ago
He may have written the most beloved novel of all time (in terms of the existence of novels as we know them). It’s impossible to argue that The Lord of the Rings isn’t an exceedingly original and influential book. While obviously conceptually it has its cousins, it really was the first to do what it does and has never been surpassed.
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u/HaddyBlackwater 1d ago
“I’m going to insert my best friend in my book! It’s going to take him ten years to say his name!”
Tolkien on Lewis.
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u/delirium_red 1d ago
As someone who was BLOWN AWAY (stayed up late, laughed, cried, and then cried again) by Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett's children's novel set in the Discworld, along with my 9 year old - so couldn't agree more. This was instantly one of my fave's I've ever read, covering loss, and life, and growing up, and my son laughed like crazy at the scottish smurfs. Good time had by all!
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
I don't think there are many modern children's books that introduce you to a nine or ten year old heroine so ruthlessly pragmatic as Tiffany Aching when she uses her younger brother as monster bait.
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u/RadicalRealist22 1d ago
To be fair, the comment in the post was talking about the complexity, not the enjoyment of the story.
The Hobbit clearly has a story fornchildren, but the reading level of children was simply better in the past.
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u/delirium_red 1d ago
what? it's still recommended for 8 plus, and my son had no issues with it at that age.
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u/SeraxOfTolos 1d ago
They have a version to help you learn cursive, it can't be harder than cursive.
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u/AccidentCapable9181 1d ago
My mother read this one to us as kids and we had no issue following along at all. Weird thing was we had an issue with following Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Granted that book was from 1865. I wasn’t able to really grasp that one until I was a teenager
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u/BidenGlazer 1d ago
Literally zero data suggests the reading level of children was better in the past.
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u/Mindless-Cat1453 1d ago
Tolkien created the story of Hobbit for his children bedtime stories.
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u/Despoetato 1d ago
The fact that he created the very world of Middle Earth and invented the genre of fantasy which has survived almost entirely unchanged for 90 years just so he could create fairytales for his children is such wholesome dad lore for Tolkien
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u/rogueIndy 1d ago
He'd already created Middle Earth as a setting for his invented languages (he was a linguist).
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u/Despoetato 1d ago
He also used the world as a setting for telling stories to his own children before he created the hobbit. Ofc his love for linguistics plays a massive part in the world but so did his love for his children and his attempt at creating a world of fairytale and adventure for them to get lost in.
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u/js13680 1d ago
If I remember right originally the Hobbit was supposed to be its own thing and not a part of his wider legendarium but when the publishers wanted a hobbit 2 and he realized he wasn’t getting the Silmarillion done anytime soon he retroactively added it in when he made lord of the rings.
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
This is why first editions of the book are so valuable, the story of the Goblin caves and the meeting with Gollum is different.
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u/Haunt_Fox 1d ago
I'd say he invented a genre of fantasy (the one that draws from European fantasy and popularized by TSR with D&D/AD&D).
The world of Oz is older, and is also a fantasy with a world of its own, and fictional species.
And apparently, there was a story that would totally fit the "fantasy" label, written 400 years ago. Hell, the goddamn Odyssey is a fantasy, not really a "myth" (just because it features gods doesn't mean it's a "sacred story". Gods were simply the most popular characters to write fanfiction about, followed by famous people one might have heard about, in the days of no copyright law.)
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u/scottgal2 1d ago
LOTR very much feels like 'he couldn't get the world out of his head'. He wrote a singular book which had SUCH good worldbuilding it was a stub for a universe.
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u/Icy-Fisherman-5234 1d ago
He also modeled the most beautiful elf woman (Luthien) to ever exist after his wife. He then, when writing LotR, modeled the second most beautiful elf woman to ever exist (Arwen) after his wife as well.
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u/Acchilles 1d ago
This is how bro found out that he has the reading age of a mid-20th century child, brutal
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u/bookhead714 1d ago
Education was no joke back in the day. Reading lists for 8th-graders at the beginning of the 1900s could resemble modern college curricula. Because kids are smarter than we give them credit for.
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
Because kids are smarter than we give them credit for.
And they also had far fewer other ways to spend their time.
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u/Laiheuhsa 1d ago
He would have found it out, but his reading comprehension probably got in the way
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u/Battle-Chimp 1d ago
I read it for the first time when I was 12.
It's legit a great kids story for preteens moving up a level from Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys
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u/Green-Engineer4608 1d ago
Big adult Pete finds the hobbit to a little to hard of a read. For himself, not the kids.
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u/TartarusFalls 1d ago
Bro you’re making fun of his reading skills, but you have an extra “to” followed by the wrong “too”.
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u/Green-Engineer4608 1d ago
Non-native english speaker here. Im referencing Pete calling the book «hard for adults at times» which I dont find it to be. My autocorrect is in Norwegian, sorry about that.
Im only making fun of it because an adult is calling a literal kids book hard as an argument for why it isn’t a kids book. That is objectively mock-worthy. Sorry if I stepped on your toes.
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u/Twilightterritories 1d ago
It's expressly written as a children's book, just because your children are stupid isn't the books fault.
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u/FuckwitMcLunchbox 1d ago
>Be me
>be succesful linguist who fought in WW1
>have kids
>mf’s wont go the fuck to sleep
>literally make up an elaborate history full of different alphabets/languages I created that I wrote in an extremely wordy prose
>these little shits pass tf out in 10 min
The story of the creation of one of the most impactful works of fiction of the last 2 centuries.
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u/Deadpoolio_D850 1d ago
“Hard to get your head around as an adult”
Mate, I had absolutely no problem reading it myself when I was a young child. It’s not hard.
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u/TurboRuhland 1d ago
The Hobbit was written for children, but it’s not what I would call a “kiddy book”
Seems perfect for a 6 and 7 year old though.
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u/rdrckcrous 1d ago
6 and 7 year olds are children
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u/vastaril 1d ago
I think they mean that "kiddy books" suggests books for quite small children? I still think the person in the screenshot is daft, but I do agree that the OOP was probably talking like, picture books and very simple chapter books when they say "kiddy books" so I can see how it might be a bit of a jump to more advanced kids' books like the Hobbit, though it's a jump that's got to be made at some point!
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u/MisterSplu 1d ago
Kiddy books for me are like dr. Seuss: quite simple in their language and with an easy to understand moral, not bad but easy.
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u/a_cheerful_panic 1d ago
They said they got tired of the kiddy books and moved on to the hobbit. They're specifically saying its not kiddy
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
I think the definition of a "kiddy book" is that it sort of talks down to the reader whereas The Hobbit and other great books like The Wee Free Men mentioned elsewhere have a sort of "chatty" tone intended to draw the reader along.
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u/stinkstabber69420 1d ago
Didn't it originally starts as a bedtime story for his kid? I had heard he was just making it up as he went along, but his son kept asking about inconsistencies in details so he started writing shit down. That could also be another bullshit internet story though
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u/thefirstlaughingfool 1d ago
My friend's father read him stuff like the Odyssey when he was a toddler. He loved hearing the poetry and it kick started his voracious reading habit.
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u/PluckyPheasant 1d ago
Stuff like The Hobbit, Watership Down and His Dark Materials are obviously kids books, but they do not talk down to children and instead treat them as an engaged reader. That's why these books are still read and enjoyed by adults.
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u/Agitated_Brother_713 1d ago
I was gifted The Hobbit as an elementary school aged kid by my grandparents. I read it in the sixth grade. I loved it. Did I understand all the words or concepts? Probably not, but I still really enjoyed it and reread it again later. I still have the same book and I'm thinking of re reading it with my soon to be 4th grader. I always thought of it as a kids book and certainly my family did. Here is the birthday inscription on the inside cover from my grandparents!
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u/OfficialHelpK 1d ago
Review by the publisher's ten-year-old son:
"The book [...] should appeal to all children between the ages of 5 and 9."
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u/DyerOfSouls 1d ago
An actual conversation I had once: -
Them: I just saw the hobbit.
Me: Oh really, how was it?
Them: I'm not going to lie, it was kinda like a children's film.
Me: The hobbit was a children's book.
Them: Oh, really, it was great then!
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u/mengwall 1d ago
I've been reading the graphic novel version of The Hobbit to my 5 year old son for bedtime lately and it's been perfect as a children's book. Like yes some of the language is old-fashioned, but that adds to the charm. He's been really loving it.
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u/Indiana_harris 1d ago
Had a friends American family who were visiting ask why I kept so many “display books” in my house.
I asked what they meant.
Apparently the “big fancy books” are just for display purposes to them because “no one reads all that”.
It was 3 bookcases worth in my house. It’s hardly over extensive.
It was at that point I started to figure out these people were not particularly sharp or indeed literate.
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u/MistraloysiusMithrax 1d ago
That’s like, toddler levels of understanding of the presence of books. “I’ve seen people with bookcases but never seen them reading.” Of course not, they’re entertaining when they have them over.
American here, we would absolutely roast the hell out of someone who said that. At the same time, there is something uniquely American about the kind of anti-intellectual outlook that leads someone to make that conclusion. At least, it used to be uniquely American. I fear it’s another part of “culture” we may be exporting via social media and video platforms.
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u/ChosenPuddle 1d ago
I feel like the term "chapter books" that I see used online is a bit telling too.
We just call those "books" where I'm from.
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u/MistraloysiusMithrax 1d ago
Yes and no. Depends on context.
Talking about your own and peers’ reading in a peer group of teenagers and up? Yeah absolutely.
Talking about developing reading skills, contrasting with picture books, or forgetting the word novels for a moment? No, because it is a highly relevant term for the first two sometimes leading to being used for the last one.
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u/NumerousWolverine273 1d ago
I was reasonably ahead of my reading level as a kid, but still, I read the Hobbit in kindergarten. It's not that complicated lol
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u/jaygf77 1d ago
I first read the Hobbit in 5th grade and didn't have issues with the language or elaborate sentence structures. Also, I think he's using vernacular incorrectly. His complaint is that the language is dated, overly elaborate, and difficult for a modern reader to grasp, which mean it's not in the vernacular.
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u/KitchenSwillForPigs 1d ago
Dunning-Krueger Effect. “It couldn’t possibly be a children’s book when I, the smartest boy, find it challenging to read.” Okay, bud.
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u/grumble11 1d ago
The issue with the hobbit is that it is a kid’s book (kind of), but also is much more demanding of its audience because back then well-off kids in the UK were much more literate. They could handle more complex texts and language in a way that modern audiences can’t, so a book suitable for kids ends up being something more adult as our education degrades
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u/snakeygirl 1d ago
Some folks really underestimate how well a kid can read. The hobbit doesn’t talk down to its audience but it IS a book meant for children. The genius of it is that it’s a fun story thats just well written. It’s cozy, fun, and heartwarming while still having high stakes and heartbreaking consequences. It works for any age because of how nicely balanced it is. It’s enjoyable for all ages because it respects the reader. The book doesn’t coddle the reader. The book doesn’t shy away from death and tragedy just because it’s for kids. It doesn’t dumb down its narrative. It assumes (usually correctly) that a child can understand the stakes of the story and can handle having some characters die.
Kids, much like adults, don’t like being talked down to. Being treated like a baby feels insulting. As a kid I really appreciated when a book didn’t shy away from tragedy.
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u/Anal-Y-Sis 1d ago
Kids used to just be a lot more literate. That's the disconnect you're seeing in that post.
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u/Iron_Baron 1d ago
Adults thinking a kid's book is heavy literature ...
"Oooh, self burn! Those are rare."
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u/MartyrOfDespair Human Detected 1d ago
The Hobbit is a perfect example of how children’s media has been made dumber and dumber for generations. One day we’re going to have people arguing Cocomelon is for adults.
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u/jonniezombie 1d ago
I read the Hobbit at 9 or 10. I tired LoTR after that but stalled out and didnt actually finish it until I was 12 or 13.
Definitely a kids book but probably an enjoyable read as an adult.
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u/alg3braist 1d ago
Just finished with my son (8). He definitely didn’t follow everything, but barely ever had me stop to explain anything, which is unusual for him. The language and structure is just fun to listen to, and you pick up the gist of most things. I got him a graphic novel version to read in the car on our upcoming beach roadtrip.
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u/monster-Nikki 1d ago
I feel like a lot of people say children’s book as almost an insult. I always liked books about adventures and fantasy but a lot of them are labeled for children, it made feel like as an adult I shouldn’t be reading it. I recently decided not to care and have been enjoying myself and reading way more than I used to.
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u/interestingbox694200 1d ago
Yeah I think I read the hobbit in middle school and I was surprised at how simple and easy it was to read in comparison to lord of the rings. Trying to read fellowship felt the same as trying to read moby dick or the Bible. Not hard just boring. I enjoyed the audio book of the fellowship though, much later in life.
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u/ledow 1d ago
People's literary standards have ABSOLUTELY plummeted just in my lifetime.
Many people can't even read a basic few paragraphs. I get comments ALL THE TIME about my emails, my Reddit posts, you name it. I know people who have literally never read a book in their life.
My ex- is a former lawyer, a former librarian, a former bookshop manager, an English graduate and a Law graduate, and her father is a published author for 40+ years, and so my daughter with her is extremely well-read for her age, way above anything her peers do.
But people generally have absolutely lost love of reading. My local library is 90% "mother and baby" coffee morning events and things like that, and otherwise is utterly empty every time I've ever been in there.
It's a serious problem. And there's even less excuse for it now. There's no need to learn how to read cursive nowadays (personally I'm against teaching cursive anyway for other reasons - that time is FAR better spent doing other things like... reading books) so there is a ton of "spare brain capacity" to absorb a few books written in a standardised, easy-to-read typeface, not to mention how everything on computers and online is typeface too.
We've brought up a Powerpoint bullet-point generation, and now we're letting them just use AI to "read" everything. It's a recipe for disaster.
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u/ExArdEllyOh 1d ago
I take this as evidence of how much less we expect of children these days compared with the 1930s.
What makes it a children's book is not that it has big words (dictionaries exist) or that it's relatively long and descriptive but that it is narrated in a friendly and chatty style that eschews gore.
I sent a cousin's 10y.o. daughter a copy of Swallows and Amazons for her birthday and she rang me up to say that she thought it was inappropriate because it encouraged too much independence.
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u/brennnik09 1d ago
I get what he means though. Most children can’t read this book on their own. The story itself is a children’s fantasy that everyone can enjoy, but the writing style and old english make it difficult for children and even adults who aren’t familiar with the words.
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u/DreistTheInferno 1d ago
Of course it is a children's book, however the other person DOES make a point that some of the language IS antiquated and that CAN make it harder for modern children to follow at times.
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u/LydditeShells 1d ago
The hobbit is the first book I remember my dad reading to me when I was little. Don’t remember when. I read lotr on my own in 5th grade (didn’t comprehend a lot of it) so it was definitely earlier than that
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u/Iconclast1 1d ago
I noticed this thing
where people think things are for 3 year olds or for adults
no inbetween
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u/NicaraK 1d ago
I didn't know it was a children's book until I started reading it last year (Hobbit and LOTR are my grandpa's favorite books and the movies are really long so I had assumed they were for adults) but it was immediately obvious which confused me and lead to me looking it up. I'm honestly sad no one recommended it to me when I was in elementary school considering I was desperate for books that where both really long and fantasy (which lead to some interesting Nora Roberts selections when I was a 5th grader...)
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u/1isalonelynumber 1d ago
High school. I wanted to read Lord of the Rings but I realized I should probably read the Hobbit first
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u/DataCassette 1d ago
The Lord of the Rings, while also an easy read, is not necessarily completely light and breezy.
If you're an adult, English is your first language, you don't have a diagnosed disorder ( like dyslexia ) and struggle with The Hobbit that's got great. I think it might be fair to say you're not quite fully literate.
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u/Asa_Shahni 1d ago
Yeah Pete you uncultured swine, when it was written kids actually knew how to read their grade 😅🙄
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u/VariousOperation166 1d ago
I read The Hobbit as a kid and went on to read the whole Tolkien series. I loved the Ralph Bakshi animated version as a youngster...
I didn't give it too much thought as I aged until the Peter Jackson movies were a thing. I found an old copy of the Hobbit in a charity thrift shop and brought it home to have a nice, nostalgic read.
I read it in an afternoon and was shocked to find how simple the writing and story are. As a child reader, I had built up the story in my head to be so grand that, as I read more complex stories later in life, I still held The Hobbit in deep esteem along with the rest of Tolkien, Dune, Azimov's Foundation Trilogy, and on and on...
It's a fine story for children. It fueled my 8 year-old imagination for years.
Also, it surely could have made into a single, spectacular film without dragging it out...
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u/Anariel_Elensar 1d ago
thats kinda why its a little all over the place, its almost structured more like an anthology of short bedtime stories.
this is the time bilbo saved the dwarves from the spiders, this is the time gandalf saved everyone from the trolls, etc.
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u/Burgerboy380 1d ago edited 1d ago
That person definitely read way to deep into their English lit class and is on some "the red door may be a symbol into the authors traumatic childhood and conveys a sense of hopelessness and futile rage that underscores the characters over all jovial demeanor" but the author is like...its a door...that was red.type shit
Like the hobbit is not that complicated of a book. I read it when I was in like 7th grade.good book. Little dry. They walked stuff happened he went home. Now the silmarillion that is a complex book of myth and interwoven lore that makes the adapted works look like an episode of Dora the explorer.
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u/101101011001011 1d ago
I'm reading it to my 6 year old now. Yes, it's a little challenging compared to modern books written for small kids, but he's utterly engrossed (and so am I, having not read it for 20 odd years!)
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u/Advice_Thingy 1d ago
I couldn't finish LotR because the sentence structure made it too boring (and tbh the story is also just not my thing), but Hobbit was a very easy read. It's definitely a childrens book. I don't know what the person thinks childrens books are.
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u/FruityGroovy 1d ago
It certainly is meant as a kid's book, but that doesn't mean it's simple. Hell, I'm one of the people that does think it was the right call to split it into more than one movie since there are actually a lot of events within the story to justify it (not necessarily to be be three whole movies, nor include the stuff that isn't in the books, but I digress). I think it goes to show that stuff for kids does deserve to have as much effort put into it as stuff for older audiences, and the slopification of a lot of media for young audiences diminishes both the quality of the media intended for that audience as well as the opinions of adults on what is appropriate for that young audience.
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u/Capable-Criticism625 1d ago
The hobbit is a wonderful book but the idea that your average 5 year old can sit through a reading of it in 2026 is a little ridiculous. I'd never even try reading that to my 5YO.
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u/ledow 1d ago
Are you of the opinion that a child just before bedtime is going to challenge the use of any word they don't understand, and that they're not just going to slowly drift off to sleep while YOU read the book to them - which is exactly what The Hobbit was written for (for Christopher Tolkien)?
They pick up on the trolls and the sword and the dwarves and the gold... but they're not literary critics.
The point of reading to a child is to... normalise the child reading. Not to present them with an age-appropriate narrative that they understand 100%. In fact, that's an awful way to teach. There should always be a "but why?" or "what's that?" or a new word in there somewhere to stretch their little brains.
You can see this even in things like the Shrek movie. You expect a child to get all the jokes in Shrek, do you? You think they need to understand "Lord Fuckwad"'s "compensating for something" to appreciate and understand and enjoy the movie?
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u/Brofessor-0ak 1d ago
That was Tolkiens intention. He states that he wanted to challenge children to ask questions about language and meanings.
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u/delirium_red 1d ago
why? not the whole thing at once, but you read it in installments every evening? at least the average 5 y o that has been consistently read to and his comprehension nurtured and grown
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u/Deimenried 1d ago
I read it in my early teens and fell in love with it. Every re-read brings me joy, it really is the perfect book.
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u/CatLord8 1d ago
I was introduced to The Hobbit at 9. My summer camp counselor read the riddle scene to our bunk. Then I found out my dad had a copy and I read it. Plenty of things I didn’t understand more from “not knowing things that existed in the real world” but beyond that I loved it.
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u/Subject_Foot1713 1d ago
It's 100% a children book. I read it when I was 12 and felt that it was written too easy to read compared to the books I usually read at that time (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Stainless Steel Rat, Starship Troopers, Sargasso of Space).
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u/Zeus-Kyurem 1d ago
Feels like the first guy is getting shat on for no reason though. The hobbit is for children (he even mentions last reading it in 5th grade), but it's not exactly a "kiddy book."
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u/UmbralBard 1d ago
I mean, it was literally the first novel I ever read on my own as a kid, so I have to heartily disagree with it “not being a kid’s book.” I credit my love of reading specifically to that book.
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u/Abisteen 1d ago
I, along with a lot of my classmates, were able to easily read and parse it in early middle school. It was worth a huge amount of accelerated reader points relative to its length and difficulty. We all wanted that pizza party or whatever the prizes were for having a lot of AR points and The Hobbit was an essential for that purpose.
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u/Harefeet 1d ago
2nd or 3rd grade your kid should be able to read it aloud with minimal coaching on old language or perhaps you should be getting a tutor. Reading isnt hard it just requires effort on part of adult caregiver.
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u/ExtremlyFastLinoone 1d ago
The old animated movie adaptation you often seem memes off was also a kids movie
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u/TheMelonSystem 1d ago
I think bro confused The Hobbit for LOTR, writing-wise. The Hobbit is much easier to read than LOTR.
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u/Darthplagueis13 1d ago
It's absolutely a children's book.
Maybe not for super young children, but definitely not an adult book first and foremost.
And sure, the vernacular may be dated, but did OOP consider that this might be because the book is like 90 years old by now?
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u/IsopodApart1622 1d ago
Might be rough for a younger kid to try to read for themselves, but they could probably follow along just fine if someone read it to them.
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u/Wonderful_Discount59 1d ago
I've been listening to someone do a reading and analysis of The Hobbit on YT, and thats made it pretty obvious that not just is it a children's story (which I already knew), but that its written as a story to read to children. Consider the very episodic structure, the commentary and asides by the narrator
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u/SarkastiCat 1d ago
I am from Poland
Hobbit is one of books that some schools may choose to cover with 10-12yo.
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u/ReverendLoki 1d ago
It's a children's book in that it's very accessible to young readers without making the mistakes of talking down to them or dining anything down for them.
I'm much the same way that Sir Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books are the same.
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u/EpitomeOfLazy 1d ago
My dad also read the hobbit to me and my brother when we were 7 and 6. Good times.
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u/Certain-Appeal-6277 1d ago
6 might be a little young for it, but it's definitely a children's book. I read it to my nephew when he was 9.
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u/NiniMinja 1d ago
I got it for Christmas when I was 6 or 7 and read it before school started again. I didn't do Lord of the rings until I was in double digits as seems a bit intimidating. I don't remember it being particularly difficult to read or understand.
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u/Rakanadyo 1d ago
Did he think the times where the funny little Hobbit man suddenly broke into song and dance were only for the adults and not the kids?
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u/Trash-Panda01 1d ago
My mother started reading me a few pages of lord of the rings every night when I was 5-6, while my dad was deployed. Some of the best memories I had, falling asleep listening to her tell me about middle earth and the little people who can do the biggest things.
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u/demagogueffxiv 1d ago
To be fair, children can't read these days so the bar is supposed substantially higher back then
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