Book Review: Walking with Bilbo

Walking with Bilbo by Sarah Arthur is a devotional packed with 22 chapters of anecdotes straight out of the life of Bilbo Baggins, the fictional main character in the book, The Hobbit. Each chapter has a story from The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings and then an anecdote from real life to connect it together. There are also Going Further Questions to connect the reader’s life with the devotion. At the end of each chapter, there is a section called “The Word on ______” which includes a few Bible verses to look up that pertain to the topic of that day’s devotion.

This book is written by an author who has written books devoted to youth in the past so I knew that this book was most likely aimed at youth. I think it is a decent devotional for the late high school/early college age group but it would probably not be my first choice unless he/she is a big time Tolkien fan. Unfortunately this book is not appropriate for the middle school crowd who has read The Hobbit as required reading for school. My soon-to-be 13 year old son would have been a perfect candidate but I felt the book was aimed at an older age group.

All in all this book is a nice devotional and takes the reader on a non-threatening journey through the virtues. The book is sensitive to Catholic readers (since Tolkien was a devoted Catholic himself) and would be appropriate for both Catholic and non-Catholic Christians. If the intended reader has not read The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings (or at least seen the movie) first, this is probably a book he/she would rather skip.

I was provided a copy of this book free of charge from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.