A friend posed the following question to me:
“… you were plugging LOTR the other day and Mark Hornes new bio of Tolkien..I am considering starting to read The Hobbit with my family, Including a 4.70 yr. Old and a 3 yr old boy..and a 1.75 yr. Old girl wondering what ur thoughts are on it’s age appropriateness. I have listened to it but wanted to get someone elses thoughts. Thanks!
Timothy, grace and peace be with you. A few thoughts: 1) Literature like LOTR accentuates children’s imagination. I am saddened not to have grown up in an environment where my imagination was stirred. 2) LOTR is literature at its best.There is good poetry, good food, and good war. All three central components to redemptive history. LOTR begins children’s hermeneutical training. By reading it to them early on you develop a good sense for how the Bible should be read. For instance, food in LOTR is not just a meal, it is in many ways sacramental. Professor Dickerson–Tolkien scholar–says that food was tantamount to sacrament in Tolkien’s writings. It was preparation for warfare. Think of Psalm 23: … a meal in the presence of mine enemies. 3) LOTR is good intro to biblical warfare. As Psalm 8 teaches, children are voices of warfare to silence foe and avenger. Hope this helps. Perhaps other dads may wish to comment. –UTB
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