Reading with My Son (The Hobbit)

June 18, 8:30 pm. Well here I am blogging and what I really wanted to do was snuggle up with my son and read. He’s ten so I’m probably not supposed to advertise that we sometimes snuggle up and read so don’t tell anyone. Shhh.
I strolled over to his room and reached for the doorknob…Locked. Hmmm, it’s actually been veeerrrry quiet in there for some time.

Me: “Helloooo in there- what are you doing?”

Him: Pause and hesitant answer “Oh- you know… just reading.”

Me: “Oh, really? What are you reading?”

Him: Pause. “Welllll, ummm ….. you know…..actually I’m reading The Hobbit.”

Me: “WHAT? THE HOBBIT???!!! “But, well..... weren’t we reading that one TOGETHER?”

I’m crushed.

I tried reading the Hobbit when I was a child. A friend begged and pleaded with me to read it so I tried. I just never really got into it. Then she begged me to read “Lord of the Rings”. She told me even if I didn’t like “The Hobbit” I’d just LOVE “Lord of the Rings”. I tried but it was no use. I just could not get involved.

Over the years I have heard much about J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, am familiar with the general story and acquainted with the Norse myths upon which they are based- but I have never read the books.

Fast forward some years (the number is not important). Last year we gave our son a copy of the Hobbit and he ploughed through it. He loved it. I began to think I might pick it up someday and try another read. That someday was 3 days ago.

It happened like this. I had been reading “All of a Kind family” to my daughter. It’s a book about a Jewish family living in the tenements on the Upper East Side of New York in the early 1900’s. We were reading a chapter a night. One night as I was putting my son to bed he mentioned that he wished WE could read another book together now. I had just the one.

This time I was immediately drawn into the book. The storytelling is beautifully crafted and the hero is not bigger than life- but very much on the scale of life. There are much loved comforts that are sadly left behind for danger and uncertainty. There are fears, doubts, inner struggles- and thinking of the greater good. All of it.

We had just left off at a point where our hero had found an item of some significance and was trying to escape from a formidable foe. I wanted to keep reading but I could hardly hold my eyes open and my son needed some sleep. I’m a mom! It’s part of my job- right? I reluctantly closed the book despite the familiar pleading for just one more page.

Now my son is reading it without me. I will remain in the cave with Bilbo Baggins for now, seemingly trapped but hopeful for escape. I also admit I feel a little wee bit sad since my son can so easily read on without my assistance. Fifteen minutes later my son emerges. “Mom- can we read the part I already read together? I want to read it again with you.”

And so we did.