There and Back Again....

The Hobbit – By J.R.R. Tolkien                                                                    Matthew Poole

The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo Baggins, a happy unadventurous hobbit who lives a quiet, comfortable life until a visit from an old family friend, Gandalf the wizard sends him on the adventure of a lifetime!  Bilbo and 13 dwarves set off to reclaim the dwarfs’ fortune from the evil dragon, Smaug, and Bilbo is chosen to be the burglar to help them on their quest.

After escaping from three hungry trolls with Gandalf’s help, the group finds some very special swords made by elves that will come in handy when they are captured by goblins and held deep underground.  The dwarves fight their way out but poor Bilbo is knocked out and when he comes to, he finds a magical ring that turns the wearer invisible.  He has to trick Gollum, a hissing, whiny underground creature who wants to eat Bilbo, into showing him the way out of the goblin’s underground tunnels by winning a riddle game.

He catches up with the dwarves and Gandalf, only to be trapped up trees by evil wolves known as Wargs, but the group is rescued by a flock of great eagles, led by the Eagle King. 

The adventure continues through the dark forest of Mirkwood, where Gandalf disappears, and giant spiders attack but Bilbo saves the day with his sword and the magic ring.  Shortly after escaping, they are again captured by a bunch of wood elves, and again the magic ring allows them to escape. 

They finally arrive at Lonely Mountain, where the sly dragon sleeps on the treasure, but the clever Bilbo finds out the dragon’s weak spot, his scales leave an opening near his heart!  An archer shoots an arrow into the dragon’s heart and kills him but the leader of the dwarfs refuses to share the treasure with the humans and elves who helped them.

Bilbo attempts to bring peace before an army of goblins and Wargs trys to kill them all and by fighting together, the good armies win the battle.

Bilbo returns home, a changed and very adventurous hobbit with a new appreciation of life!

The Hobbit was a great fictional story that I really enjoyed.   The author wrote the book for his children and he sure knew how to tell a tale!  Some of the language was hard to understand but all in all, I would recommend this book.