As a homeschooling mom, one of the most daunting tasks (other than waking up every day and implementing the daily plan!!) is teaching my kids to write. My children happen to learn Math, Phonics, Reading, and Spelling quite easily. I really don't worry about those subjects. But, writing is a different story.
Well, Francis wrote this book review this week, and I thought it deserved to be published.
ENJOY!
The Hobbit: An Insider’s Look
Francis Fifelski, Grade 4
What will happen to Bilbo as he travels away from home? In The Hobbit, a small man named Bilbo Baggins is forced to leave home to help Dwarves capture their once mountain castle, but are challenged by the evil Dragon Smaug. What will happen to these travelers as they embark on a perilous journey to the mountain of gold?
In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, a peaceful Hobbit that never wants to go on an adventure, goes with Gandalf the Wizard to give a mountain castle back to the Dwarves. On the way he encounters Giant Spiders, Goblins, Eagles, and Elves, as well as a greedy Dragon. At one point Bilbo finds a ring that turns him invisible so he can stay safe. The only problem is, the enemy, the evil Dragon Smaug, is invincible; or is he?
The setting of The Hobbit is Middle Earth, a land full of imaginary creatures like Elves, Dragons, and Dwarves. Middle Earth is a very dangerous land, because of enemies that are very dangerous, like Goblins and Giant Spiders. Middle Earth is very small, but the author J. R. R. Tolkien mentions of the lands in the East, that are far away from Middle Earth.
Bilbo is a Hobbit, a species of manlike creatures that are very short and have twelve meals. Hobbits are very peaceful, especially Bilbo, who loves sitting at home enjoying his food. Bilbo is much uninvolved in the adventure, but he is son of a Tooke, and the Tooke family was the only adventurous Hobbit family. Bilbo is very smart and proves it when his riddles stump Gollum, but Bilbo gets all of Gollum’s riddles Right.
I like Gandalf because he is very powerful, wise, and tall. Gandalf is probably the wisest Wizard in the Council of Wizards, because he is always solving the answers to problems. Gandalf is very old, so he knows a lot about Middle Earth and its past. With all of these qualities, I think Gandalf is one of the most important characters in the book.
Thorin is one of my favorite characters because he is strong, brave, and noble. Thorin is the son of Thror son of Thrain, and heir to the king under the mountain. Thorin is the fiercest of the thirteen dwarves and also the most longing for the Arkenstone, (a white jewel that beams a rainbow of colors,) and is very rude to Bilbo, as to the Elves and Humans. At the end of the battle in the end of the book Thorin is killed by the Goblins and is buried deep beneath the mountain with his Elven sword Orcrist, (which means Goblin slayer,) and the Arkenstone. Thorin is an amazing character because of his skill in battle and his warlike appearance. I also think he is cool because he is a strong and noble dwarf. Thorin is probably my favorite character in The Hobbit.
Smaug is a dragon with a heart of evil, greed, and pride. Smaug is the main enemy because he is the actual thing the dwarves are trying to fight. Smaug is a pretty dumb Dragon because he showed off his chest, that had a huge patch with no scales, and that led to his defeat. The only thing that could stop Smaug was an extremely good burglar, or a burglar that could turn invisible, like Bilbo. Smaug is important to the book because he is the main enemy. I also think that Smaug isn’t very cool because he a Dragon and they aren’t my favorite creatures.
Tolkien was born in Africa and fought in World Wars 1 and 2. As a boy Tolkien created his own languages, but all of those languages can not be found to day, because he burned them. When Tolkien was a boy, his father died, so his family moved to back to their home in England. When Tolkien was in college he started writing stories, and when he graduated from college one was published. When Tolkien was in his early twenties he fell in love with a girl, but because he was catholic, and the girl he loved was protestant, the girl’s parents had her locked up in a country house for three years! Just before Tolkien entered WWI, he married the woman he hadn’t seen in three years.
Tolkien has many other books for young adults. He has written The Lord of the Rings, a trilogy of sequels to The Hobbit, and also a series of books that tell about the history of Middle Earth, all the way up to right before The Lord of the Rings, and other books that are in Middle Earth. I want to read The Children of Hurin, and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
I think The Hobbit is a really good book because it has so many cool and sometimes freaky things. One of the reasons is it has magic and I like magic. The hobbit is so good I’ve read it three times in just a week. Another good thing about the Hobbit is that it lots of imaginary characters that are mostly like the ones from Norse myths.
I think anyone would like The Hobbit, but anyone who likes knights and dragons and anyone who likes myths would really enjoy The Hobbit.
If you read The Hobbit I guarantee you will love it! After I read The Hobbit I was delighted about the amazing adventure Bilbo has. If you read The Hobbit you would probably think that was an amazing story, I loved it!!!
