The Hobbit turns 70

Seventy-years-ago today J R R Tolkien published The Hobbit, and apart from proving a most momentous harbinger for what was to follow (The Lord of the Rings for those who have been living under a rock) it would provide a stepping stone for a fantastic journey that would be undertaken by children and adults for generations to come.

The Hobbit was targeted at children and has a rather simplistic prose style, which is more than I can say for the snore-inducing Children of Hurin (although it is raved about by the clan of unwashed fantasy readers, many of them running around in smocks and pocking each other in the buttocks)

But as a stand alone work of children’s fiction it occupies a slot amongst the greats like C S Lewis, Enid Blyton, Frank Baum and Richard Adams.

Here’s a list of my Top 5 children’s books in no particular order

1) The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe — C S Lewis

2) The Wind In The Willows — Kenneth Grahame

3) The Hobbit — J R R Tolkien

4) Watership Down — Richard Adams

5) The Water Babies — Charles Kingsley

Don’t agree with my list then sod off, or you could tell us your top 5.