There and Back Again, my childhood adventures with Bilbo.

It's Tolkien Week this week, something I ought to mention. We usually observe Hobbit Day as well (September 22nd), a celebration of Bilbo's and Frodo's mutual birthdays, because you can never really have too many birthday parties in the Hobbit tradition.

While I was thinking about this, I stumbled across a little article about an interview with Maurice Sendak, who is most often recognized as the author of Where the Wild Things Are.

He has some interesting things to say, and I can't really disagree with him. He is talking about modern children's books being "too safe" and says:

"We remembered childhood as a very passionate, upsetting, silly, comic business..." Max, the wolf-suited star of Where the Wild Things Are, "was a little beast, and we're all little beasts."

"You mustn't scare parents. And I think with my books, I managed to scare parents," [earlier children's authors] "went by the rules that children should be safe and that we adults should be their guardians. I got out of that, and I was considered outlandish. So be it."

I remember very distinctly feeling some of what Sendak is referring to as a child while reading my first epic fantasy adventure. I am of course talking about The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. You are familiar with Hobbits, I hope. (editors note:  If not see last year's Hobbit Day post by KtC) This was my first look into the world Tolkien created and it was a grand tale about Bilbo the Hobbit, some dwarves, and occasionally a wizard (some guy named Gandalf you might have heard of) who are on a journey to recover treasure from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, they run into no shortage of trouble with goblins, wargs, spiders, and other threats. I believe I was 9 when I first read through the book (late at night, with a flashlight because I didn't want to put the book down). Besides Narnia, it was my first real adventure into a fantasy world and while it is much shorter and simpler than Lord of the Rings, it was by far the most detailed world I had read up to that time.

Tolkien, I think, understood this idea that children don't need to feel safe through the whole story. For some reason, I always felt safe in Narnia, but not so in The Hobbit. Bilbo of course, is not really a child, but I identified with him and I was seeing the story through his eyes. At one point the "father figure" of Gandalf along with Bilbo's traveling companions the dwarves are separated from Bilbo, leaving him completely alone... underground... in a Goblin cave... filled with Goblins. Bilbo then stumbles upon an even bigger threat in the form one of the most incredible literary characters, Gollum.

This scene stuck with me for years. I was already on a grand adventure, but somewhere in those pages, I realized that I wasn't safe. Bilbo was not and could not be protected and sheltered, but was ultimately on his own. He had to use his own wits and courage to go on, to escape from Gollum, from the Goblins, and everything else he would encounter on his journey. My journey too.

Sendak goes on to say: 

"But all my books end safely. I needed the security in my soul of bringing these children back... We want them to end up OK, and they do end up OK. Unlike grownup books."

Tolkien knew this too. Bilbo returns to the comfort of his home. Safe at the end of a long journey, having gone There and Back Again. I always liked the ending.

I have gone on to read many, many more books, but The Hobbit will always be one of my favorites. My oldest daughter is 6 now and a voracious and skilled reader, putting many older kids to shame. I expect in the next few years she will discover and read The Hobbit. I hope she doesn't feel safe, but instead has a grand, passionate, and fun adventure in Middle Earth.

I'll be waiting in Hobbiton when she gets back. Maybe we will have some birthday cake together to celebrate Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays.