The Hobbit SparkNotes Literature Guide (SparkNotes Literature Guide Series, 33)

Used this as supplemental material for my middle schoolers language arts class

This was a great help for this grandmother helping to home school her grandson.

Great Read! Spark Notes was very helpful to my 6th grader for her book report.

Helped organize main points .

I thought this book would supplement my child's study of The Hobbit while we read it for homeschool. It is a very short book with little insight into the story or characters. It is just a synopsis and would give someone a skim-the-surface overview of a very long, complex story. We don't have much use for it since we are actually reading the book and loving it.

First off, let me point out, before using any guide you should always read the book. Guides like this one will not help you write a detailed report or even pass a test on the subjects. They are meant to work along side the novel or movie or whatnot, to help you understand certain themes, help you view characters in a different light, and so on.I buy such guides to help me better understand some books I have. Or at least see if anybody has anything NEW to add to my knowledge. Out of all my guides I think this was the least interesting. Many of the review questions fail, to me, to bring up anything new to the table (as it were). There is also one chapter about how to write a literary analysis. Now while this would be interesting if I was writing an essay on The Hobbit this isn't what I want in a study guide. Also, if I wanted to learn how to write an essay I assume it takes more then a chapter to teach me.

The summary is great and helps young readers for their homework. Characters are well described and the short analysis are à good starting for a reading study.