What’s It About?
The Hobbit is the prequel to the series “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien. The story follows a hobbit (a short, hairy-footed humanoid) named Bilbo Baggins as he helps a group of dwarves reclaim their kingdom. It is a high fantasy story with beautiful elves, powerful wizards, brutish dwarves, violent orcs, and a ton of adventure.
Why Do I Like It?
Bilbo is a prime example of a reluctant hero, which is the archetype I find extremely interesting. He starts off willing, trading his completely average, good life for one of adventure, but once the adventure starts, he realizes he doesn’t know what he is doing or how to actually help. Personally, I love how absolutely unprepared Bilbo is for anything outside of the Shire. He hasn’t really met anyone from other races aside from hobbit and wizard. He is also strangely removed from the plot, as he has no stake in the struggles of the other characters, but he remains an integral part of the story. It’s fascinating and makes him a really compelling hero, as the only reason he’s there is because he wants to be there. He wants to help. His agreeing to this one task also ends up involving him in much more than just getting a kingdom back. He becomes a man (or hobbit) of the world, not just the Shire. In the end, he returns to his home a hero to everyone but the folk of the Shire, who live very secluded lives and are slightly offended that he chose to leave for a time. He glady returns to live a regular life and enjoy the riches he procured during his travels.
As someone who is very interested in fantasy, especially high fantasy, and lore, I also very much enjoy the time and effort Tolkien puts into his world building and lore. His work is so renowned that there is a subsection of fantasy that uses his world as direct inspiration. Reading the story that inspired hundreds of other authors feels oddly inspirational and powerful.
The Movies
Though I don’t remember them that well, I do remember thoroughly enjoying these movies. Since they broke one book up into three movies, they were able to include almost all of the plot from the book (which is where most movie adaptations epicly fail) and they had really good visual effects. I feel like the last movie was a bit of a let down, but overall they were accurate to the book and really fun to watch.
My Childhood Library 
Hello, Bethany. Although I have not read the books, I really wish I did, and I might do that sometime soon. I have watched the movies, and I thought they were pretty good. I do like it when movie adaptations line up well with the books. The Harry Potter movies were great, and the Percy Jackson movies made me wish I never had eyes.
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