Tag Archives: Hobbit

One Weird Old Trick to Undermine the Patriarchy

Curry Preserve, Lummi Island, WA. Photo by Scarlett Messenger
Curry Preserve, Lummi Island, WA. Photo by Scarlett Messenger

One Weird Old Trick to Undermine the Patriarchy

My five-year-old insists that Bilbo Baggins is a girl.

The first time she made this claim, I protested. Part of the fun of reading to your kids, after all, is in sharing the stories you loved as a child. And in the story I knew, Bilbo was a boy. A boy hobbit. (Whatever that entails.)

But my daughter was determined. She liked the story pretty well so far, but Bilbo was definitely a girl. So would I please start reading the book the right way?