My youngest child turns six soon. In fact, I just dropped him off for his first day of kindergarten. He was ready, I was ready, but when he leaned over, squeezed me tight, and pressed a kiss into my cheek, my tears started. Luckily he got out of the van and walked into school, holding his older sister’s hand, without seeing me cry.
I had my 12 year old in shot gun to cheer me with some of his prepubescent humor. Tears dried.
Anyway, we have a birthday coming, and do you know how hard it is to find gifts for child number four?
Extremely.
So, we perused the toy department at Wal-Mart last week, searching for ideas. I had my five and eight year old boys with me, so can you guess where we focused our search?
Yes, the LEGO isle!
And there, shelved between the Star Wars spaceships and the Lego city trucks, my children discovered Lord of the Rings Legos, released, I assume, in anticipation of the December 14th opening of The Hobbit movie. We found Helm’s Deep and Weathertop in plastic brick splendor. Upon request, I named the characters, explained the battles.
Then my boys looked up at me with eyes full of excitement and anticipation. “Will you read The Hobbit to us again?”
Oh yes.
The Hobbit is the perfect book for reading aloud. It has Adventure! Goblins! Wizards! And, best of all, a reluctant hero who overcomes his practical side to indulge his curiosity. (tweet this)
A prequel to the dense Lord of the Rings books, The Hobbit follows the simple storyline of a quest. Dwarves have had their precious gold stolen by a particularly vile dragon. These dwarves want their treasure back, and they enlist Bilbo, upon recommendation from a wizard, to help them. Hobbits, by nature, do not venture beyond their borders, and they certainly do not engage in dangerous or adventurous behavior. But Bilbo has enough pluck in him to join the quest, even if he needs a kick in the pants (literally) to get out the door.
Although I know my kids like the plot the best, (there’s nothing like a troll to get your heart racing), my favorite part of The Hobbit is… the hobbit. Bilbo could listen to his fears and stay at home by the safety of his hearth. But he leaves his comfortable hobbit hole, and on his journey he discovers that small, simple creatures like hobbits can accomplish very brave, very important things.
Isn’t that a great message for kids and adults alike?
So my kids now beg me to read The Hobbit each night, and as my son’s birthday approaches, I’m thinking that one of the best gifts I can offer is my time spent with him, sharing this wonderful story.
If only I could master 14 different voices, one for each dwarf and Bilbo himself. I do my best.
What great read aloud books have you shared with people in your life? Leave your suggestions in the comments, and thanks for stopping by!
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Julia
What a wonderful blog…I love the words and your posts are amazing. I love your side panels too.
NEW FOLLOWER and E-MAIL SUBSCRIBER…..don’t want to miss anything.
Stopping by from the list of bloggers on BBAW.
Enjoy the fun this week.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
I haven’t read The Hobbit in years. It is such an amazing story, in fact I always liked it better than The Lord of the Rings.
I’m wondering if my kids would be up for a read-a-long? My youngest is 12 and may be “too cool” for that sort of intensive mom time, lol.
Julia, I have to tell you that I’m so glad I found you. (I followed you here from a comment you made on Joy’s Book Blog.)I’ve been exploring and loving your blog.
From a fellow word nerd,
Jennifer 🙂
Jennifer, Welcome! I’m so glad you found me too! I look forward to sharing ideas with you. I have a 12 year old also, and he usually wants to go and read by himself in his room when we do this. But sometimes, he stays. 🙂
It’s been ages since I read The Hobbit, but I love this line:
small, simple creatures like hobbits can accomplish very brave, very important things.
What a great lesson for every age and stage. Thanks, Julia!
Thank you, that line means a lot to me too! Should have made it a “click to tweet”!
Lord of the Rings Legos do sound incredibly cool, although I think the read-aloud experience will be more valued in the long run.
Thanks for visiting my blog. The Monday reading meme is hosted at Book Journey each week: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/. Down at the bottom of the post is a Click Here to get to the link list where you add your own post of what you’re reading and can click on other blogs to comment on their reading lists. She often has over a hundred participants which is a bit overwhelming for real relationship-building but good for quick access to the book blogging community.
Thanks Joy! This is very helpful to me and hopefully also to my followers. You always share great information. I’ll try to get to Book Journey next week! Thanks for stopping by, and yes, I think the read aloud experience is more valuable too.
Indeed Julia – our boys have similar interests! Mine love The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings – it’s their favorite ever!!
Now, if they could convince us to spring for those spendy Lord of the Rings Legos ??? 🙂 🙂
Bless you and happy reading!
Love, Hester 😉
“Spendy” indeed! (what a fun new adjective!) Yes,I won’t be buying those sets anytime soon. Blessings back to you!
I’ve been wanting to read this myself in light of the movie coming out. It never occurred to me to read it to my kids…great idea! I’ll try that as soon as I finish reading Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog by Garth Stein to my kids. I’ve also had great success with the Harry Potter series as read-alouds!
Oh yes, Harry Potter is a lot of fun. My book club read Racing in the Rain – I didn’t think to do so with my kids. Is it about NASCAR?
So glad you posted this! I need to get this book and read it to my kids. Can you believe I’ve never even read this? Can’t wait and thanks!
Oh, you should Amy!