The Hobbit Books

"A Tolkien Miscellany" is exactly what it sounds like -- a collection of five of Tolkien's lesser-known works. While these are found elsewhere, such as in the "Tolkien Reader," it's a pleasant way to pass an afternoon, taking in everything from translations to humor to poetry.

"Farmer Giles" is about a rather unusual farmer called on to defeat a rather easy-to-defeat dragon, after dealing with a deaf and blind giant. This is definitely a light, fluffy, funny story, while retaining Tolkien's scholarly, tongue-in-cheek edge. "Smith of Wootton Major" is the beautiful tale of a boy who eats a magical treasure hidden in a cake, and becomes enmeshed in a search for an elf king.

"Leaf by Niggle" ius more for the analytical thinkers among Tolkien's fans. "Leaf" is something of a glimpse into Tolkien's own soul, concerning his work and his own mortality. On a similarly intellectual note, the collection includes Tolkien's translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," a classic Arthurian story.

We then lapse into entirely different material. There is a long poem called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil," written in the style and meter of his songs about himself in LOTR, when he meets the hobbits. It explains a little more about the hearty Maia and his wife Goldberry, as does the second of the poems, "Bombadil Goes Boating." There are also several other poems -- some simple and cute, some dramatic and complex -- supposedly written by hobbits.

Anyone reading "A Tolkien Miscellany" will probably be surprised -- this has every kind of writing a fan could imagine the master of Middle-Earth doing. While "Lord of the Rings" is a classic, it's interesting to see Tolkien stretching his limits in these shorter works.

His translation of Gawain is probably the stuffiest thing here, although it's much more readable than most translations. Elsewhere, his work sparkles with beautiful descriptions -- like the faerie descriptions in "Smith of Wootton Major" -- and warm, almost playful verse. Tolkien even gets to take the sense of humor that is hinted at in his Middle-Earth books, and lets it run wild in "Farmer Giles of Ham."

While none of these have the scope and brilliance of Tolkien's larger works, "A Tolkien Miscellany" is an entertaining collection of the professor's shorter works.

Wonderful chapter by charter review of book giving insight on characters, then an understanding of different races and interactions. Michael Stanton loves the story as much as I do and presents the information as I would have loved to have been able to do. His enthusiasm shows through.

The author claims "I wrote it to entertain and instruct myself" (i). It does not cover anything new, but is written in order to clarify. The author is an early fan from the pirated American edition, and unfortunately does not seem to have been able to get past the flaws of that edition.

He begins with a brief biographical sketch of Tolkien's life and admits the books came out of Tolkien's love of language. He calls Tolkien "flagrantly ordinary...dowdy" (6) and does not get much more complimentary as he goes on.


He points out that Hobbits came late in Middle-earth's development and that Elves were Firstborn quite literally. Ironically, the author does not support a literary criticism of the books, calling that technique "obnoxious" (10) then proceeds upon it himself. Tolkien, he claims, is "identifying Middle-earth with our Earth long ago" (10). He then does highly critical analysis of patterns he thinks he sees which have no fundimental bearing on the books at all. He claims each of the 'ages' gets better, i.e. the Third Age is better than the Second and the Second better than the First which is the direct opposite to what every reader of Tolkien knows to be true.

He then ridicules the 'conservative' aspects of teh book and quickly passes over the obvious Christian references with a brief outline of them before abruptly ending the chapter in embarassment.

Stanton then simply rewrites the books in his own words for several chapters. If we wanted that, we would have read the books or fan fiction. He continually hunts for a "basic pattern" (27) and every detail is analyzed as having deep symbolic meaning -- something Tolkien himself despised. He even calls the Black Riders "vampires" (28) which is ridiculous, considering the only thing they have in common is a tendancy to come out at night. So do burglers, owls and college students but we don't call them vampires. Stanton then ignores all prevalant theories of Tom Bombadil and sidesteps the question with a typical New Age 'nature spirit' idea.

He sees much of the book as mere "literary devices" (33). He then mistakingly traces Aragorn's lineage. He ignores Boromir's large part in the Council of Elrond and in assisting the Fellowship. He degrades the books to what the Inklings clearly despised and even claims "Tolkien again makes you feel danger in the highest degree" (41). That, in itself, is a contradiction because Lewis and Tolkien believed that writing and reading for the mere thrill of danger was not only the lowest form of literature but one to avoid like the plague.

Stanton completely misinterprets all actions as mere nature magic mother earth wicca stuff which is, frankly, nausiatingly opposed to Tolkien's view and is one of the reasons why the movies are so dasdardly. At that point, Stanton goes downhill from there. He idealizes Gandalf, and without any explantion, dismisses the profound character of Denethor as simply "madness brings him to dispair" (77). In other words -- he was a crazy old man that got depressed the more crazy he got. The more logical explanation is that he was depressed first and thus became crazy and of course the true Denethor was depressed and lost all hope which is an entirely different thing.

In Stanton's attempt to explain Aragorn's usurpation of the throne, the author uses a series of logical falacies: Appeal to Authority with a claim that it was fine because the leaders wanted it, and then the fact that the White Tree had grown when it could have grown for Faramir's kingship or Denethor's and it was merely a final ironical twist. Last time I checked, it didn't have a sign on it saying "I grew because of Aragorn".

He then examines the poems and tears them apart until they lose all meaning and beauty. Stanton then tries to spiritualize everything in the worst sense. He puts it in the same category as the wildly occult Earthsea tales which I am sure because of which, Tolkien is turning in his grave.

In conclusion, I would not only not take the time to read this book, but I would encourage others not to do so. It is especially bad to those trying to show the truth of Denethor.Just because someone put it in a book does not mean it is true. And in the case of Stanton's writings, I am not even sure how something so blatantly erroneous could have been published at all.

Hobbits, Elves and Wizards is a broad over-view of the Lord of the Rings. In it, Stanton goes over the trilogy, and analyses the patterns in Tolkien's writing, historical relevence, Tolkien's life, and his writing.
The book is divided into two parts, and each cover different things. The first half covers the trilogy itself. There are six chapters, one for each of the books in the Lord of the Rings. In each chapter, he points out similarities between scenes, how the characters are progressing, and the geography.
The second half covers the races of Middle Earth, Languges, and Good and Evil, and how they play a role in the story.

Overall, this is a fairly good read, if you are not a die-hard Tolkien fan. Stanton was a UVM (University of Vermont) professor, and taught LOTR for a long time. This is his reactions and conclusions from the books, presented in a book form. It reads like he's there talking in front of you.
But if you are familiar with the Lord of the Rings, this book will just be a reiteration of what you can get out of the books yourself.
The only gripes I had about the book are the signifagance of the Gray Havens, for I would have liked to know more, The Hobbit. This book does not cover it, but it would be good to see in included. Some of Stanton's conclusions are a little off. At one point in the trilogy, Gollum is fantasizing at taking over the world, while Stanton says that he is not ambitious. He could have explained that more.
Also, the hardcover edition was released before the Fellowship of the Ring movie was released. The paperback version has his own comments on the movie, but not in the hardcover.

Even for Tolkien or Lord of the Rings fans, this in a good read about the style and writings of Tolkien.

A concise well-written, well-organized critique. Stanton includes many tantalizing nuggets dug out of the rich ore of The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) increasing the reader's wealth of understanding and appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece. Stanton is a seasoned guide who knows the terrain well, pointing out sights along the way, and helping us through the fogs and mists but savvy enough to get out of the way to allow the reader to see the grand vista for himself, even prompting us to do more exploring on our own paths of discovery. He writes in a manner that will enlighten the first-time reader of LOTR and add dimension to the seasoned LOTR affecianado.

Stanton never grandstands or gets in the way of the subject. I've read several criticisms on LOTR, and this is one of the best. Stanton looks at LOTR without the dated cultural bias and skewed pop criticism that mars so many other critiques and reviews of Tolkien's epic fantasy. The author is not presumptuous, or pompous, or arrogant, a tone that prevails in many other similar works. Stanton's book provides an excellent index, something that is lacking in many other criticisms of Tolkien's works, and a reasonable bibliography to broaden the perspectives of the more interested reader.

Hobbits, Elves and Wizards is a welcome addition to my library, and the one book that I recommend to all my friends who want a crisp, smooth overview and sympathetic interpretative criticism of The Lord of the Rings.

Informative for the novice only. If you've read LOTR more than twice, pass on this, as you likely will learn little.

This is a great guide just like all of the other Prima Guides. The people who have given this a one or no star rating were idiots when they rated this product. Why? Because it is - or should be - common knowledge that Prima doesnt make big glossy and beautiful guides for every tiny lame Gameboy games. The reviewers should know the difference between Gameboy and the actual plug-in, big ticket platforms ala: Gamecube, Playstation 2, & Xbox. If you want a guide that helped you enjoy the Zelda games: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, & Windwaker - then this guide for The Hobbit will follow suit with those games and turn your gaming experience into pleasure, not frustration.

Considering that the publisher of this Strategy Guide is providing information based on a variety of gaming platforms, they do a fairly good job.

There are some areas, however, that they could've elaborated more on - i.e. I'm trying to figure out how to get onto the upper level of the jail to get the goodies, and all that the book says is that it has something to do with a crate and a ledge. I've looked everywhere, and cannot find this "ledge" and the game only allows you to move the crate for so long before Bilbo can't move it anymore. Hence, only 4 stars.

I buy strategy guides, when available, at the time I buy my games as I find that they add to my gaming experience (read: keeps me from getting too frustrated!). This one has done a good job of keeping my frustration level to a minimum!

I also purchased this book thinking it would work for the GameBoy since it was stated for the GameCube but the games are only simular in abstract ways and does not help for the gameboy/gameboy advanced games.
Also from the the looks of the book if you have any choice for game help between Prima and Nitendo Power help books - go with the Nitendo Power I think you will be happier with that book's layouts.
Anyone have any sources for Gameboy help for this game please note it.

I purchased this book, thinking that it would be a guide for The Hobbit for Game Boy Advantage, and it does not cover this video game......The information given for this book does not specify the video games that it does cover.

This seems to be the companion to [or the other way around] "Walking with Frodo" and again I find Sarah Arthur too dogmatic about the approach to a devotional journey. She doesn't allow one think outside the box on this trek.

Sarah Arthur has become one of my favorite authors with her two devotionals based on the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Whatever your going through, whatever your dealing with, Walking with Biblo, or the first one, walking with Frodo, has something that will address it. Lonliness, self-doubt, fear, whatever it is this book will talk to you about it. It's a must for any Tolkien fan.

I loved this devotional. The tone is different from Frodo, but equally excellent. Sarah Arthur uses Bilbo's adventures as a call to Christians to step out and take the journey of Faith with gusto. Our walk is an adventure to be welcomed, grasped and enjoyed. As is this book.

This book is horribly superficial, and the writer shows a very clear failure to understand many of the themes in LOTR. This is not finding God in LOTR, but how to use LOTR as a blunt instrument in proselytizing for evangelical christianity; emphasis on "blunt".

Authors Bruner and Ware find many parallels between the LORD OF THE RINGS and Biblical teachings. I will cite only a few examples.

God often chooses the most unlikely, lowly people (e. g. Abraham, David, Moses, the twelve apostles) to accomplish great things (pp. 51-54). And it is Frodo, the lowly Hobbit, who takes upon himself the responsibility to destroy the ring (and Sauron's evil powers behind it) the only way it can be destroyed--by being thrown into the cauldron of Mount Doom.

"Evil is not possessed, but possessing." (p. 69). Gollum (Smeagol) committed murder to acquire the ring, and then was forced to live a miserable life hiding in dark places. But God can even take evil, turn it around, and use it for His purposes. One is reminded of this when Gollum snatches the ring from Frodo in the last minute, only to fall with the ring into the cauldron of Mount Doom. Thus, the evil Gollum unwittingly becomes the agent of the destruction of the evil ring (p. 89).

I am amused at the fury directed against this innocuous book by some of the negative reviews. (Perhaps this reaction tells us more about the critics' thought processes than about those of the authors of this book). Bruner and Ware freely recognize the fact that members of all faiths have enjoyed Tolkien's works (p. x). They are not saying that the applications are unique to the Christian faith. Nor do they ever suggest that Tolkien wrote the LORD OF THE RINGS for the purpose of promoting Christian doctrines or morals as such (pp. 109-111).

This is undoubtedly a thought-provoking book.

With all the secondary literature trying to cash in on the Tolkien phenomenon it is probably worthwile to listen to the author himself for a change. In his foreword, Tolkien writes:

"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old enough to detect its presence. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."

Oh, the "applicators" are at it, Professor, they sure are! After the 70s' and 80s' mystics, esoterics and new-worlders the evangelical christians have discovered Tolkien. Not out of conviction or love for it, I guess, but because there is no way around LOTR's huge success. The christians' favorite, C.S.Lewis, never quite matched it, on paper as on the screen.

So, after he found god in C.S.Lewis Bruner is out to find HIM in Tolkien. And he's not alone. Ralph Wood or Peter Kreeft just published similar "analyses". I'm waiting for their homilies on Harry Potter - but as I understand the super-christians still consider that one black magic. Much as they did with Gandalf and Sauron until lately. I guess they'll come around after Joanne K. Rowling is dead and can't defend herself against the blatant misuse of her work - as J.R.R.Tolkien.

I still was quite religious when I first read The Hobbit and the LOTR at age 14. And you know what I liked most about it? That religion was no part of it at all. I didn't take Sauron for Satan, or Frodo for Jesus, or Gollum for Judas. It speaks volumes about the intellectual poverty of modern evangelical christianism that they keep reducing every single story they like to a distilled version of the four gospels and, say, the first three or four Mosaic books.

Tolkien himself was a devout catholic - so what? Of course, there are religious undertones in his work. Illuvatar is his name for god, of course. But the Valar are angels as well as "gods"; they're even called that way, at some point. Tolkien knew full well that there are just as many heathen undertones: he knew his nordic literature. Or ecological undertones, for that matter: When will Greenpeace come up with "Finding the Kyoto Protocol in the Lord of the Rings"? Or why not preach about Tolkien's mistrust for modern parliamentary democracy? "Finding monarchy in the Lord of the Rings". See? It's not that difficult.

I guess I wouldn't have liked much of Tolkien's politics. But he's not around anymore to be asked, of course. And considering all else I know about him, his literary work, his teaching, the few recordings we have, he was a great person. And even if he wasn't I will always love his books - long after this evangelicalism has ebbed away again.

Additional comment for reviewer of Jan. 31, 2004, from Tolkien's own words:
"The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work." (Tolkien, in a letter to Robert Murray)

And in response to this book's publication: For a book to call itself "Finding God in LotR", and then to blatently ignore the inconvenient fact that Tolkien was an unabashed Catholic in a time & place where it was professionally and socially unpopular to be so, removes this book from making any claims to factual or critical authenticity, and slides it into propaganda-land.

To the reader on January 31, 2004 and to all who think like this person: J.R.R. Tolkien himself was a Christian and thus his rendition of the Lord of the Rings was a Christian work. Tolkien may not have written his work as an allegory, but he did write his work with a Christian conscience. I, as well as many others, see in these books many allusions to various themes in the Bible. I have not read this book, but am looking forward to in the future. Tolkien may not have meant his work to bear a Christian theme, but it does.

Although the Book Description is accurate, I'm a little disappointed in the quality of the activities and lessons included on the CD. I teach 9th grade English and was looking for materials to supplement my own knowledge of The Hobbit and other materials I had already found on-line.

Many of the lessons are simply, "Discuss the answers to the chapter 4 study guide questions. If there is time left at the end of class, have students begin reading chapter 5 quietly." The study guide questions are equally simple with lists of characters and instructions like, "Describe these characters." Even the crosswords and games are of a quality on par with activities I have created myself using resources on existing websites.

What these lesson plans most lack are insights on the deeper meanings within the novel. For example, there is little reference to Bilbo's heroism in comparison to the heroism of other mythological heroes. There is little background information about Tolkien and his motivations for writing the novel.

Overall, I would not recommend these lesson plans. There is a wealth of information about Tolkien and The Hobbit that is available on-line. With a some time and energy a much better unit plan could be developed with little effort.

I suppose if you didn't have time to create even the simplest test, quiz, or study guide, these lesson plans would suffice.

This unit plan comes on a CD and is one large PDF file. It has vocabulary lessons, study guides, quizzes, lesson plans, and extra materials, such as crosswords and word searches. The level of the material seems to be about right for my regular ed 7th graders, although it would be nice to have some more complex material as well. My students don't need it, but honors and gifted students could benefit from it. If you are teaching those classes, I would recommend The Hobbit: A Teaching Guide by Kathy Kifer, in addition to this CD.

The major reason I gave this CD 4 stars is that I don't have Adobe Acrobat and transferring the material to a word processor is tedious. I need to edit some of the pages to make them easier to photocopy and use as student handouts. This would be much easier with Adobe Acrobat.

Two minor quibbles: It is Gloin, not Golin and Durin's Day is the dwarves' new year, not the elves'. My students caught the latter error and I was actually rather proud of them for reading that carefully.

All in all, though I do recommend this CD. It has made teaching this book MUCH easier for me.

The company that put this book on CD out apparently could not come to any consensus as it pertains to order. On one disc, the artist is J.R.R. Tolkien, and then the next disc it's the reader, Inglis. This causes havoc on your computer's system, whether it's Microsoft Player or Mac's Itunes. Also, the chapters are cited differently on each disc as well, which makes it difficult to quickly know the proper order. This company needs to make the necessary changes in their approach or they will quickly become obsolete in this new era...

This set of CD's is of the "no frills" variety, but that does not detract from it being a great story, compellingly told by Rob Inglis.
My copy had a defect on disc #7, but Amazon exchanged it promptly and without fuss.

If you're expecting any text in this, don't buy it. It's exactly as it says: a little book containing the twelve months of the year with a place for each day to record birthdays of acquaintances and has a Tolkien theme to it. How so? It has twelve of Tolkien's paintings, all taken from the story of THE HOBBIT (although, interesting enough, one called "The Mountain Path", is what appeared on the first hardback edition of THE SILMARILLION). When opening, you are first confronted with a map of the journey, then title page and copyright information, etc. I've bought this back in 1996 in Indiana, of course, not to use (I have a first printing to this -- though I feel that this won't be having a real big market, alas!). All the illustrations are colour prints, and whilst seven of these appear in the oversized paperback edition of THE HOBBIT, those are black and white, unlike the illustrations found in this book.

"Bilbo awoke on morning...": A raven, perhaps Roac son of Carc, Lord of the Ravens (much like the much more majestic Gwaihir the Wind-Lord) on a cliff, set against mountains. It is much to big to be the thrush (at least, that is my perception)

"The Front Gate"*: the front gate of The Lonely Mountain, with water coming from it and smoke emanating the entrance, with the snow capped Lonely Mountain behind it.

"Bilbo Comes to the Huts of the Raftelves": The cover art to the 1970s edition of THE HOBBIT. Classic Tolkien painting and illustration.

"Conversations with Smaug": Has Bilbo, a mere shadow (so you can see him) with Smaug laying on a great pile of gold. Also, cover art for this book.

"The Hill: Hobbiton-Upon-the-Water" the cover art to the 1970s edition of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Another good illustration, with a clear shot of Bagshot Row.

"Lake Town"*: Shows the town built upon the lake, with the dock and barrels on the shore nearest you (bottom left of the painting), with a raft docking, and a boat in the water. Makes you wonder how boats crossed under the bridge that extended to Lake Town.. Must of have to gone around it.

"The Elvenking's Gate"*: A path leading to the gate of the Elvenking, with the bridge in entrance in the back, and the grand hill above it. Rows of trees on either side. Nice - much in similarity to "The Hill: Hobbiton-Upon-The-Water" and "Bilbo Comes to the Huts of the Raftelves".

"Rivendell": At atmospheric piece, showing the beauty of Rivendell. Probably done before LOTR days or early in its composition, because there doesn't seem enough geographic room to have the complexities described in LOTR. Tolkien always work much better artistically with landscapes than people.

"The Hall at Bag-End. Residence of B. Baggins Esquire"*: The last illustration in the current larger paperback. Depicts Bilbo (a quite slim looking one, probably immediately after returning from his Grand Adventure, without much chance of his getting fat yet).

"The Trolls"*: Rather odd looking trolls hiding in woods with Bilbo in the forefront. Very reminiscent of the illustrations of MR. BLISS.

"The Mountain Path"*: The frontis piece for the original edition of THE SILMARILLION (both hard and paper back).

"Beorn's Hall"*: an illustration depicting the Hall of Beorn.

*All these appear oversize paperback as are black and white illustrations.

In conclusion, this is a nice little novelty item, but of not much artistic import or consideration. Being a collector, of course you wouldn't actually use it for its purposes. The colour prints are worth having, though I'd much rather them come out with an edition that collected all of Tolkien's published (and hopefully a few unpublished) paintings into one nice volume. PAINTINGS might be that, although I have not seen the book so I could not say. Novelty and nothing else. A "Yellow Submarine" novelty of Tolkien's literary estate, doubtless made for pure product.

Is it just me, or does one ever get the impression that the Tolkien estate is, to some extent, in it for the money. Although THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH series is absolutely fascinating, was it totally necessary? But I won't complain or harbour on that point much - I am much glad they did it, and that is understandable. To truly appreciate the Labour of J.R.R. Tolkien, that did need to be published, and with excellent commentary by his son Christopher. The true question is little novelty items like these: we don't really need them, and it makes it look like they published it for product. This, the two maps for THE HOBBIT and LOTR, and recently I saw a tarot card game with Tolkien slapped on it. That was my biggest outrage, because Tolkien was a committed Catholic man, and in no way, shape, or form, would he allow an activity that calls on Satan for guidance for one's life be advocated by him. Personally, I hope that his children had nothing to do with the tarot reading game, and are aptly suing for misalignment or something or other. But sometimes, one can get the impression a lot of this stuff is published for the money, with a commercial aim instead of an artistic aim. Much of the posthumously published stuff Tolkien wouldn't have dared send off, because he was always revising it (that is part of the problem: he couldn't, like Niggle, make his painting complete, but always polishing). Much of the stuff in THE HISTORY is first rate stuff, and, like THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY series (with the exception on ANTHOLOGY 1, that was more of a historic record than anything), the people responsible for creating the art are probably the least qualified people to judge it. As I understand it, Christopher Tolkien finished THE HISTORY, but if he wants to continue publish stuff from his father's pen, go for it. Lets just not make it silly little novelty items, but real stuff, real meat. 3 stars for the paintings

Green approaches the Hobbit as serious literature and undertakes to apply archetypal analysis along with some of the tools of physcological criticism. Not much help for a casual reader, but if you have a background in literaty critical theory an interesting explanation of the symbolism of the work.

Green analyses the 2nd edition text of the Hobbit without reference to its sequal, The Lord of the Rings. Those wanting more information about Hobbits or their world must look elsewhere. But if you already understand the plot and are seeking to probe more deeply within the context of modern literary theories, this book may well form a part (though not an overly large one) of that journey.

Although not as bad as any video game or movie, this audio version still can't live up to the high standards set by tolkien fanatics, but on the other hand, every Tolkien Fanatic has allready read The Hobbit so there is no problem there. The book might however be good for the family vacation, my dad read me the hobbit, and instiled a life long love of reading in my mind, so this tape could be valuable to the lazy father... Just a thought!