Fantastical Children's Fiction

Tolkien is often credited with being the first real fantasy author. The Hobbit is Tolkien’s first published work of fiction and it is unique because it is geared towards children. If it were not for ten-year-old Rayner Unwin, it would not have been published in the first place. Rayner recommended to his father, Sir Stanley Unwin of George Allen & Unwin Ltd. that the book be published. Because it was written for his children, the story has a sort of teaching quality threaded throughout. It has “the air of a story being told, with interjections from the author to his presumably juvenile readers” (Foster, 1). The narration pauses in places and Tolkien adds in a brief teaching moment, emphasizing its young audience.  

-M