Genre: Fantasy

Reason for categorization in this age group: Reading level

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit, one of the short, hairy-footed folk who occupy the Shire. Hobbits like food and tobacco and drink, but they are not very fond of adventurous attitudes. In fact, adventurous folk are thought to be very odd indeed. Bilbo never thought he would be one of said adventurous types, but when the infamous wizard Gandalf shows up at his hobbit-hole and brings with him a party of raucous dwarves, Bilbo finds himself one in a company setting off across Middle-Earth.

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The company is under the leadership of Thorin Oakenshield, heir to the riches and realm of the Lonely Mountain. Poor Bilbo is thrust into an adventure with the goal of regaining the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. On their way, the company encounters goblins  and a strange creature called Gollum in the Misty Mountains, giant spiders and elves in the forest of Murkwood, and Smaug himself in the depths of the Lonely Mountain.

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This is a real adventure, the nature of which Bilbo has only heard about in stories, and Bilbo himself is right in the thick of it. What can such a small person really do against such evil?