What Parents Should Know
From the book's slow start to its breathtaking finish,
readers will marvel at the unrelenting inventiveness of this
brilliantly written tale.
Common Sense Media Review
Heroic fantasy succeeds best when the lead character has the
most room to grow into hero-hood, and little Bilbo Baggins has
a lot of growing to do. The wise wizard Gandalf cleverly
appeals to the latent adventurer in Bilbo, but the hobbit is
soon up to his ears in peril. At first he is a hindrance to the
grim band of dwarves, but even before he acquires the magic
ring he is demonstrating a plucky spirit.
Once he tricks the ring's current but not necessarily rightful owner, the slinky creature Gollum, and stumbles upon its power, the dwarves find themselves ever more in his debt at he boldly uses the ring to his -- and their -- advantage. But he doesn't tell them how he's able to sneak around and rescue them from under the noses of their captors, whether giant spiders or elves (who are not bad--just antagonistic toward dwarves).
But after the dragon is out of the picture, Bilbo is forced to make a difficult decision. When the dwarves refuse to share the treasure with the elves and men, who have valid claims to at least a portion, Bilbo betrays the dwarves for a higher good.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
