Hobbit book for little kids?

[boatbaby]

My son has been asking about the lord of the rings/ hobbit story after hearing some grown ups talk about the movie at dinner the other night. He's almost 5 (but we do chapter books) and loves the idea of the elves and hobbits and all that... but is too young for the movie or original book. Anyone know of a watered down kids picture book version?

Thanks!

[dancindoula]

Have you read any of the books yet by any chance? At five, if you are already reading chapter books he should be plenty ready for The Hobbit - it's a children's story, so no real gore or gruesomeness in spite of a few battles. It's a sweet story with a good balance of adventure and excitement (it's also one of my personal favorites).

Maybe read the Lord of the Rings trilogy yourself (they are the three books that come after The Hobbit) to decide if he is ready for those since they are written for a more mature audience. Those tales are more descriptive in the gloom and despair part of the tale and have a lot more fighting, so I guess it depends on the child whether it's appropriate for five years old. Have fun though - they're probably my all time favorite stories and I can't wait to read them to my own children someday.

As far as the movies - there isn't one yet for The Hobbit, and the trilogy movies are really well done but I personally feel they are too graphic for young children besides being really, really long.

[Alyantavid]

You could try the book. There is an old cartoon version of the Hobbit that my son loved at that age.

[holyhelianthus]

My mom read it to me starting very young and is now reading it to my 5, 3 and 2 year olds. They enjoy it. The Hobbit is a lot more tame than LOTR.

[boatbaby]

I've never read any of them... I really appreciate the clarification. I didn't realize there was even a difference between The Hobbit and LOTR.
Not usually my genre. But it may soon be. I will definitely check out the original Hobbit book then and have a go with that.

Thank you VERY much for explaining!

[tinybutterfly]

I read The Hobbit to ds#1 when he was 5. After that I read LOTRs to him, but skipped some of battle stuff, edited, you know.

Hope you both enjoy it!

Oh, and I agree that the cartoon, The Hobbit, by Rankin and Bass is really fun.

[christinar]

My husband read The Hobbit to ds & dd when they were 3 & 6 - they both loved it. We got a big hardcovered edition out of the library - it has gorgeous illustrations. There is a cartoon Hobbit movie they both enjoyed, and if you like computer games, which dh, dd, & ds all do, there's a cute cartoon Hobbit computer game.