Saturday, October 13, 2012

"Roads go ever ever on"

Students at Horace Mann are about to embark on a journey!
Turns out, the posters were written in runes, which appear in the book. (Tolkien based his fictional language off ancient Norse runes.) 
The enormous success of last year’s read-a-thon, during which 250 students devoured Suzanne Collins’ "The Hunger Games," prompted teachers to plan another one.
Those who opt to take part in the challenge have a set amount of time to read "The Hobbit," Tolkien’s epic fantasy tale about a skittish hobbit who, swayed by a learned and powerful wizard, joins a hearty company of dwarves on a quest for stolen riches. 
After tackling the dense, 19-chapter novel, they must prove they’ve followed the story all the way to its conclusion — in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain — by answering a few questions about the plot.

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x781379724/Franklin-students-to-tackle-Tolkien#ixzz29AmZwl6y

I heartily endorse this book choice! I first read The Hobbit when I was in high school as it had just become available (yes, that dates myself). I proceeded to read and re-read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy dozens of times beginning each re-read with The Hobbit. While the Hunger Games is a decent story, The Hobbit is so much richer.

The students will come to find:
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon. 
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Goes_Ever_On_(song)

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