BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95
The literary executor of his fathers, J.R.R. Tolkien, estate.

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

I saw that.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

The most popular course at Wheaton College was taught my Dr. Clyde Kilby. He was a longtime correspondent with C.S. Lewis and he knew Tolkien. His course incliuded reading all of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well as much of Lewis including his entire science fiction trilogy. Despite the heavy reading for the course, apparently he was mesmerizing.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Neat.

I once read the Hobbit aloud to 5 periods (30 each) of 8th graders at 10 minutes a day during a push to improve reading in all classes at my school. After two days of reading to all five classes I got smart and recorded it on a cassette 1st Period then I walked the room helping them with vocabulary etc. The idea was I read a section then while I checked they read it on their own. The English Dept got a big budget to get class sets of 35 books for all departments. I used that class set of the Hobbit for 3 years before the program ended. Of course the good readers often just borrowed one of the extras and read it on their own.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

"The Hobbit" was the first "serious" book I can ever remember reading. I had read small books like "Biography of a Grizzly" and other short books, but that is the first book of say over a hundred pages! I still remember riding on a bus and reading that book -- hard to put down. In the years after, I of course had to read the trilogy as well as see the movies. Great stuff!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

One thing a lot of people don't know unless they read about Tolkien himself.
The Hobbit was written in 10-15 segments as bedtime stories for his children. So it is just perfect for short daily readings to little ones.