Later this year
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
will be released in to cinemas.
To mark this the book has been relaunched and I am giving away 3 copies of new paperback.
All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below talking about your experiences of the book or of reading alongside your children. I will choose three winning comments 25th June 2012.
Personally I cannot wait until I can read stories like this to Tabitha at bedtime. As a child I loved to read, to immerse myself in tales of far off places and characters. I know she will too, she already spends hours looking at books and shows vivid imagination in her role play.
Being able to sit and read aloud to her while she hangs on my every word and begs me for 'one more page' is one of those parenting moments I have longed for. I love that I will be able to roll out my GCSE Drama 'A' and finally use my scary voices and dramatic pauses.
I read The Hobbit as an adult when I was backpacking around Asia. In those days I could read several books a day lazing in a hammock, smoking, eating mango and drinking Milo. Rushing back and forth to the tiny rental bookshop on the island, I stormed my way through the whole set of books until it was complete, I was trapped in a world of Tolkien for about three weeks.
A few months later the Lord of the Rings movies were launched and I vowed never to watch them. I don't think I could handle my visions of the characters being ruined and as hazy as my backpacking memories are, I like it that way. However the character of Bilbo Baggins being played by Martin Freeman is I think genius.
Anyway for Tabitha I shall re visit those characters again, I will enjoy recreating them for her and I hope she enjoys them as much as I did.
