What grade?

[TylerS36]

What grade do you think "The Hobbit" is appropreate to read at? Like do you think it should be read at 10th/9th/9th whatever.

[Morkhon]

Honestly I think it could be read at 6th. It was written to be a children's book and kids are around 10-11 at this level. I read it when I was 12 and found it to be below my reading level, while LotR was the most complex book I had read up to that point.

[bmilder]

There's no "set grade level." Being in a certain grade doesn't mean that you can or can't read a given book; it depends on the person. I personally read it around 3rd or 4th grade and followed with LotR a year later. (I had my own LotR website up and running by 5th grade :) ) I'm in 9th now and there's still people I know who can't even finish Hobbit. I'd say the average kid could read it around 6th grade, but exceptional readers can read it earlier.

Unfortunately kids don't read much at all anymore, and books that could be read at 10 are now being read later and later as they become increasingly disenchanted with books. I heard that Hobbit used to be read in my town in 8th grade until they took it off the curriculum because it was "too hard." <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o">

So go ahead and read it now :) .

[TylerS36]

I already read it, it was good too.

[arynetrek]

i first read Hobbit in 3rd grade, again in 5th/6th, again in 8th. it was taught in class in 3rd & 8th; & was an extra-credit summer reading thing for the beginning of 6th grade.

"appropriateness" of a book depends more on the attentiveness/imagination of the reader than anything else. if you can get a kid hooked on a certain book, they'll read it. & if it's a little hard for them, their devotion to the story will make them into better readers.

i think of Hobbit as "Intro to Tolkien" or "Tolkien 101" - it's obviously simpler that LotR & meant to be read by (& to capture) younger readers than LotR. not to say that LotR is "too advanced" for kids (how long has your Tolkien page been up, Ben?) but Hobbit can be seen as a stepping-stonen into LotR.

aryne *

[andustar]

a little question: how old are you when you are in these grades? i just don't know the system so i can't really agree or disagree with you :)

[bmilder]

My first Tolkien site went up in March 1997, probably before most of you were even on the internet. It's still up, and was just replaced this summer by Tolkien Trail, although it had fallen into disrepair long before that. If you still want to see it, it's at www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo (http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo)

Andustar, the ages can depend on how old you were when you enrolled in school. I'm in 9th grade, and over the course of the year the ages vary from about 13 to 15, so I guess third grade would be approximately 7 to 9.

[Loopy]

I totally agree with Arynetrek.....A boy a baby-sit who is around 11 yrs old has read The Hobbit and LOTR in the last few months, and loved them. He has started on the Silmarillion now (probably too difficult for him but I admire his effort and try to encourage him). My brother, who is a year or two older can't get into it. I told him the basic story of the The hobbit and he thought it was pretty cool, but he always gets bored when I try to read it to him.

[Elanor]

loopy, what is that in your pic? a monkey? what kind?

I think most kids should be able to read this book by 4th grade (9). Some obviously can't. My youngest sister is in 4th grade right now and has Down's Syndrome. Her reading skill and speed is behind the other kids (though she could beat any of them at music or art), but she can still understand the basic story when I read LotR to her. Most kids wouldn't put in the effort, but I definitely think the average 9-year-old could read and understand the Hobbit.

[Elysha]

I heard it read aloud; I was ten years old and the brother next in age was eight years old when we heard Mom read "The Lord of the Rings" to us, so I must have heard "The Hobbit" even earlier.

Another brother, who is ten now, read "The Hobbit" to himself at eight years old (after having heard it read to him first, and liking it so well he wanted to reread it!).

[Mathron]

That is sortof my story.
Aroudn 3rd grade, I think, when I was 8 or so, I statred to read the Hobbit with my dad. We stopped, around halfway through.
A year later, I went back and read it all on my own.
Then I went and read basically everything I could get my hands on.
~grin~
Life changing experience, oh yes.
-Mathron

[Loopy]

RE: the monkey -- it's a cute little one :D

seriously tho, I don't know what kind it is.

[Grand Admiral Reese]

Depending on when you learned to read, The Hobbit could probably be read at any grade level. I read it last summer between tenth and eleventh grade, but I probably could have read it around fourth or fifth.

[dunedain lady]

The first time my dad read The Hobbit to me, I must have been about seven, then I read it several times by myself over the years. LOTR my family read out loud, each taking a chapter, two years ago. I also did The Hobbit in 8th grade.

[Finduilas]

It really depends on the person. I had been reading the LOTR for at least a year by the time I was in 7th grade, (I was about 11 I think) and I read the Silmarillion then. I will say that most (not all) of HoME is to hard for that age group though (not all because I read the Return of the Shadow then).

[Darth McClain]

I'd say probibly 9th grade.

[Inoldonil]

I think the best way to be introduced is to be read it to at a young age, when you're interested, but maybe not capable of reading it yourself. As long as you're not of the sort that would be terrified by it, as many young children are. I was read the Lord of the Rings when I was three or four, but sadly I didn't read The Hobbit (thinking the Rankin Bass movie was accurate*) until I was much older. I suppose I was 10 or 11 when I read The Hobbit.

*It does infact stay true essentially to the plot, but you have to read the book to really appreciate it, and to have the right idea of The Hobbit.

[Finduilas]

It's their other movie that would turn people off the books.

[Fred Weasley9]

I'm reading it now and I'm in 4th grade
I am ten

[Sauganast]

The first time I read the hobbit was in gr 4, I think I read it 4 or 5 times that year. The next year I was introduced to the Lord of the rings, I read that series 2 times that year, and now I do it once a year. The hobbit is a very basic book, and not really what you would call complex. But once again, I know people who read it in gr 3 or 2 and people now in gr 9 who can't get all the way through it. I own The Hobbit movie and the LotR ones, while the animation in them are.... interesting at times..... they are far off from the books, which ticked me off, cuz I didn't get to see Tom Bombadil. The Silmarillion though, is quite a larger feat to tackle compared to both LotR and The Hobbit, I found there to be a few too many names to remember and it took me about a month to finish cuz I had to rererereread parts (:) ) But when you finally get through it it clicks together and is easier to understand the second time through.