What is The Hobbit?
{{Italic title}} {{Infobox book |name = The Hobbit, or<br>There and Back Again |image =The Hobbit - title page of first American print.jpg |caption = Title page of first American print |author = [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] |illustrator = J. R. R. Tolkien |cover_artist = J. R. R. Tolkien |country = United Kingdom |language = English |genre = {{Plainlist| * [[High fantasy]] * [[Juvenile fantasy]]}} |subject = [[Tolkien's legendarium]] |set_in = [[Middle-earth]] |publisher = [[George Allen & Unwin]] (UK) |release_date = 21 September 1937 |pages = 310 (''first edition'') |isbn = <!-- was first published before ISBN system started --> |oclc = 1827184 |congress = PR6039.O32 H63 |followed_by = [[The Lord of the Rings]] }} '''''The Hobbit'', or '''''There and Back Again'''''''', is a book written by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]. It was first published on September 21, 1937. Tolkien wrote it in the 1930s for his children as a bedtime [[story]]. The story takes place before ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. The plot is about a [[hobbit]] (which is one of a small race of people invented by Tolkien) named [[Bilbo Baggins]] who goes on an adventurous quest with a group of [[Dwarf (mythology)|dwarves]] and the [[wizard]] [[Gandalf]] in order to fight a [[dragon]] called [[Smaug]], which has stolen the treasures and home of the dwarves. Although Tolkien borrowed (for example names and background) from his own [[Middle-earth]] storyline that he created, ''The Hobbit'' was at first not intended to be part of it. Later, when Tolkien wrote ''The Lord of the Rings'', he made small changes to the story of the ''Hobbit'' to make it fit into ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the rest his Middle-earth world. == Characters == {{Main|Middle-earth characters}} '''[[Bilbo Baggins]]''' is a [[hobbit]], who lives a quiet life in the [[Shire (Middle-earth)|Shire]], and who goes on an unexpected adventure during the book. Bilbo is visited by the wizard '''[[Gandalf the Grey]]'''