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neilrcoulter's review
3.0
I had no idea there was a children's picture-book biography of J.R.R. Tolkien! But there it was on the free giveaway shelf, so it came home with me. My 8-year-old got to it before I had a chance to read it, and over the next days I was amazed at the Tolkien facts he was bringing up. I've now finally had a chance to look at it, and I see that it is indeed full of facts about Tolkien's life and the creation of Middle-Earth.
I've read so much about Tolkien that it's hard to know what to think about this book. On the one hand, I like that it's showing a little bit of his real life to kids who probably know him primarily through The Hobbit. On the other hand, I tend to think he wouldn't be very impressed with a picture-book version of his life that shows him moving through spaces on a game board, and illustrated in a rather puzzlingly inapt style. There's nothing inappropriate or inaccurate in the text, but it's just kind of an odd thing.
However, since my son enjoyed it so much, I'll choose to have a good opinion of it. :) And now I'll await the picture-book biography of his fellow Inkling Charles Williams . . .
(I'll be waiting a while.)
I've read so much about Tolkien that it's hard to know what to think about this book. On the one hand, I like that it's showing a little bit of his real life to kids who probably know him primarily through The Hobbit. On the other hand, I tend to think he wouldn't be very impressed with a picture-book version of his life that shows him moving through spaces on a game board, and illustrated in a rather puzzlingly inapt style. There's nothing inappropriate or inaccurate in the text, but it's just kind of an odd thing.
However, since my son enjoyed it so much, I'll choose to have a good opinion of it. :) And now I'll await the picture-book biography of his fellow Inkling Charles Williams . . .
(I'll be waiting a while.)
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