The Hobbit -- Marissa

Today's review in GUEST REVIEW WEEK is:

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien reviewed by Marissa Fuller

"'Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!' he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb."

Ok so I have read this book twice niw, and it never ceases to thrill me! I love following along with Tolkien's maps, and obviously just reading the story in general. It is a wonderfully engaging book, and definetly a good read ;)

Bilbo Baggins is a respectable hobbit living life in the shire--- a quiet, unadventurous life, thank you very much.  In fact, adventures don't even cross his mind; at least, not until Gandalf shows up.  Bilbo suddenly finds himself thrown into a very large adventure indeed-- and without a pocket hanker chief, too, if you don't mind!  Accompanied by thirteen dwarves (and occasionally Gandalf) Bilbo confronts trolls, orcs, elves, and a dragon, all in an effort to reclaim the lonely mountain Erebor and restore the dwarves to their rightful home.  Will Bilbo be able to make it there and back again without too much trouble, or will unpredicted enemies keep him from returning to his beloved home?

Okay, so I really, really loved this book!  As it is meant to be a children's story book, Tolkien manages to keep it very clean.  There is one instance of the 'h' word (with the h cut off at the beginning) and, I couldn't find it, but I believe there may be an instance of the 'd' word.  There is a bit of violence, mainly because of the orcs, but like I said, it is a children's story and Tolkien keeps it well focused on the adventure and experiences of Bilbo.  There are also a couple of scary/intense scenes, but they don't have any awful, terrible content.  Beer is mentioned a little and drunk by some of the characters as well, and there is some smoking.  Personally, I was very comfortable reading this book, (compared to the movie it's definetly PG) but for a book, the mild language and drug use make it PG-13. I highly recommend this read!

Rate: PG-13

          Mild language and drug use; little violence and intense/scary scenes

Good or Goodbye:  GOOD

Nitty Gritty:  Like I mentioned, there are about two cuss words, the d and the h word, as well as a little bit of name calling.  The orcs present a little violence in the book, but Tolkien usually keeps it very short and doesn't go into gory descriptions. Some of the characters drink and smoke, including Bilbo, but it is not often.  There are a few intense scenes, including characters such as Gollum and the orcs, and the dragon.