Tolkien Reading Day 75 Years of The Hobbit Pack

Tolkien Reading Day: 75 Years of The Hobbit

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Some Reading Day Activity Suggestions For smaller children:

Reading together: for children who have not yet read The Hobbit. Read and talk about what hobbits are like, and what their homes are like. Move on to the arrival of the dwarves. Things you might like to talk about:

Q. would you like to live in a hobbit hole? Would it be nice,
Q. would it be damp?
Q. would you like to have dwarves to tea? Why or why not?

what kind of mark Gandalf makes on Bilbo's door?
how many dwarves come in?
what do the dwarves wear.
is anything odd about their names?
Look the way the dwarves are named: names rhyme and some begin with the same letter, e.g. Fili and Kili, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur. How many dwarves rhyme?
What are the different colours they wear
And the different things they bring with them
And the different things they want to eat and drink?

If you have read right through The Hobbit you will know that elves don't live on hills in this book but in valleys and in caves.

Q. Can you find on the map at the start of the book and name them?
Q. What sort of things happen in them?
Q. Is Rivendell a nicer place to live than Mirkwood? Can you say why?
Q. What creatures live in Mirkwood?

The story includes a dragon: if you read this chapter you could talk about the dragon,

where does it live?
what is its bed like?
Can it speak?
What does Bilbo take?
How does he find the door?
What does the dragon do?
What happens to it?

In the chapter 'Roast Mutton', what strange things does Bilbo find?

You can easily discover the answers by re-reading together.

Tolkien puts lots of poems and songs into The Hobbit. Read the dwarves washing-up song in Chapter 1 - Do you think they are really going to do what the song says, or are they making fun of Bilbo? Read the goblins' song in 'Over Hill and Under Hill'. Can you say what it is about? Is it a quiet song, or a noisy one? How can you tell?

If there are any words you don't understand, look these up in a dictionary or online and find out what they mean.

Activities

You could create your own dwarf. Maybe a grown-up could create an outline for you to colour. Dwarves can be either male or female. All Tolkien's dwarves are male, but there is not much difference in shape between male and female dwarves! All are short (but not so small as hobbits), and stocky.

The child's dwarf should have its own name, one that fits in with the way Tolkien names his dwarves.
The new dwarf should have its own colourful hood, and tunic, and boots.
It should have something that it brings, like a pick, or shovel, or harp. Anything will do.
Ask the child/children what their new dwarf would eat and drink.

If you draw a picture of a dwarf and make a sentence or two that describes him or her and you would like to share it with everyone, please send it to us. The very nicest ones could be sent to the Tolkien Society to be published in the journal Amon Hen during the year, or included on the society's website. If you send a picture, please let us know only your first name, and the town or city in which you live. Please note: we can't return your picture.

Some Reading Day Activity Suggestions: For older children

The reading activities for younger children can be adapted for older children
Look at the start of The Hobbit and create your own dwarf:

If you like drawing then make a picture.
If you like writing then write about your dwarf.
He or she will need to have a colourful hood, and belt, a tool or weapon, and a name.

If you look at Tolkien's dwarves you will see that each one is differently dressed, carried different goods, likes different kinds of food and drink and behaves differently. So you will need to decide what your dwarf is like.

How does s/he arrive at Bilbo's home ' cheerfully, irritably, wearily?
re they generally bad-tempered, lazy, happy, hungry, thirsty, footsore, inquisitive, enthusiastic, kindly, or polite.
Use lots of adjectives (words that describe what things look like) and adverbs (how things happen): e.g. 'a blue hood' (blue = adjective); 'Bilbo quickly ran to the door' (quickly = adverb)
Can you make up a sentence or two that shows how your dwarf greets Bilbo?

Here are two examples:

Mynni a footsore and grumpy dwarf arrived at Bilbo's front door with the grey dust of the road all over his new scarlet hood and shiny black boots. He put down the sack his was carrying and knocked on the door with his rough red knuckles, and when the hobbit opened it he said, 'About time too. I've walked miles today and my feet are killing me. I wouldn't have come if I'd known it was such a long way. Well, aren't you going to ask me in for a cup of tea?'

And:

A cheerful dwarf in a pale mauve hood and yellow boots, with blue bows in his beard, rapped on the door with his trowel and shouted merrily,'Hey Bilbo! It's me, Mungo son of Kringo. Are you there? Open the door, I'm starving.'

Poems and Songs:

Tolkien uses many songs and rhymes in The Hobbit. Look at the dwarves' 'washing up' song in Chapter 1 and then look at their song in 'Queer Lodgings'. Can you say what the differences are, and how the words that are used make the songs feel different?

Look at any of the poems and songs and talk about the words that are used and the 'pictures' they create.

What kinds of words rhyme in the poem/song
What kind of rhythm does it have ' cheerful and lively; slow and serious, lively but with unpleasant words?
Which songs are teasing? Look at the dwarves and the spiders?
Who is doing the teasing and why?
What words do they use?
Beorn is a strange character. Can you describe what he is? Is he always the same?

Runes

The story of The Hobbit uses runes for secret messages. Tolkien creates some of his own runes for the writing around the map and gives information about these. Can you translate the writing? It will be translated for you later in the story!

There is a Study pack on historical Runes and all sorts of fun can be had if you try playing with runes. Their traditional use was for writing short messages, making lists, and remembering things. They are always shaped like a series of scratches because they were usually scratched onto wood, bone, antler, or stone by people who didn't use paper or parchment.

A chart is provided in the Study Pack that shows all the rune shapes so children can make up their own messages for friends and grownups to read. This is a suitable game for older children.

More Activities

Read the story to one another. You could read different characters. Don't forget to make the voices different too!

This is fun, but reading and 'walking though' is better if you have enough people:

Reading and 'walking through' is an especially enjoyable way of involving children in literature and getting a 'feel' for the story. There is a detailed plan the 'Playing in Middle-earth' for 'walking through' one chapter.
Often Tolkien introduces interesting and archaic (very old) words as well as various levels of language, so a dictionary is useful, or access to one online. Any unusual words may be discussed.
Suitable extracts for a walk-through from The Hobbit would be
- The arrival of the dwarves (Ch.1).
- A shortened version of the encounter with trolls avoiding the need to put anyone in a bag! But discuss this.( Ch.2)
- The arrival at Beorn's house (Ch.7).
- The encounters in Mirkwood (Ch.8).
Each of these chapters has plenty of characters and activity. The children may be asked to read the words of the characters and move about relative to one another. They may be asked to describe what they look like as their character. One or more children may act as narrator. There is no need for excitable activity!

There's always another path to take:

The story of the thief who steals a golden cup and brings the wrath of a dragon on the surrounding land is not Tolkien's original creation. You might try reading Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf to find out where Tolkien got his idea.

The idea of Bilbo being picked up and dropped in an eagle's nest is very like the story of Sinbad and the Roc. You might look at the stories of Sinbad. Can you discover whether an ordinary eagle could carry a person? If not, why can the dwarves and Bilbo be carried?

There is a very ancient story that has a different version of eagles carrying people. It is found in an Anglo-Saxon story about St Andrew. On a journey in a boat his friends fall asleep while he is talking to the steersman. When they wake up they all tell him of the same strange dream, that great eagles came down as they slept and carried them up to heaven where they heard the angels singing.

You write your own story about a dragon, or a golden cup, or about eagles rescuing or carrying people. You might need to think about how large the eagles would have to be, and the reason for the rescue?

If you write a short story (500-800 words) and you would like to share it with everyone, please send it to us at the address for the Education Officer given in Amon Hen, or by email. The best ones will be published in the journal Amon Hen during the year, or included on the society's website. If you send a short story, please let us know only your first name, and the town or city in which you live. Please note: we can't return your work.

Other things to do with friends, family, in groups, in class

Discuss the story

Try reading your favourite bits of any of Tolkien's books or poems out loud to one another.

Short sections:

half a page at a time (or a poem, or song).
Take it in turns to say what you like about the bit you have chosen. Let the person listening say what they like or don't like about your choice.
No one is allowed to just say I don't like it, or I like it.
Everyone must say why, even if it is only e.g. I like it because it has an elf in it, or I don't like it because it has spiders in it. You may agree to disagree, but you must be as polite and courteous as Bilbo is to Smaug.

Using longer bits from the books:

If you like the same longer bit (a page or two, maybe more) and read it aloud with you each taking turns for each character; it will be like a play as you speak the words of the characters. If it does not have any characters in it, take turns to read paragraphs, or alternate verses if it is a poem.

If you are having difficulty deciding what to read:

Scary bits:

Finding the trolls (Chapter 2)
The first encounter with the goblins (Chapter 4)
Gollum's pool (Chapter 5)
The encounter with the wargs (wolves). (Chapter 6)
The encounters in Mirkwood (Chapter 8)
The attack on Lake Town. (Chapter 14)

Talk to each other about why (if) these bits are scary.
What sort of language does Tolkien use to make us scared?
Is it just the words he uses, or are we scared by other things in the bit you have read?

Interesting bits to find and discuss ' this is like a treasure hunt to start with:

The speaking purse.
The description of Rivendell.
Gollum's daisy riddle.
The description of Beorn's home.
The description of Lake Town.
The first words of the thrush.
The conversation between Bilbo and Smaug.
The description of the approach to the Lonely Mountain.
The first description of flying bats.
The names of the Bowman before and after his shot.

You might challenge each other to see who can most quickly find each 'treasure', and get a point if you are first to find the description. But the point is really to talk to each other about why these bits are interesting, and what sorts of language Tolkien uses to create atmosphere in the chapters in which these bits are found.

Tolkien Reading Day 75 Years of The Hobbit