Did you know that celebrated American children’s book writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak (1928 – 2012) nearly ended up working on the 30th anniversary deluxe edition of The Hobbit? Sendak was first approached for the opportunity when his 1963 picture book Where the Wild Things Are had just been published. Why didn’t the imminent creative partnership happen? … Read more
The first edition cover of The Hobbit To put it simply, I haven’t read a fantasy as satisfying and sumptuous as The Hobbit. In its best moments (and there are innumerable), Tolkien makes us believe that he was there, seeing it all, in another place, another time, eons ago. First published in 1937, Tolkien wrote … Read more
With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. ‘Fly, you … Read more