The Hoard, The Sea-bell, and The Last Ship

Tonight we finished up The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, reading The Hoard, The Sea-bell, and The Last Ship. The kids were sad that our reading of Middle-earth volumes has come to an end. Though the older two did listen to the Hobbit audiobook recently and the eight year old requested to listen to the Silmarillion audiobook this afternoon,

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Me “Tonight is our last night of reading The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.”

6YO: “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

8YO: “Are there only four books of Middle-earth?”

My wife explained that most of the rest of the books were fragments with notes and not complete narratives.

I then told them about Children of Húrin but said we wouldn’t read it until later this year.

8YO: “I wish there was more about the history of the Shire. Or Bilbo’s childhood.”

When we got to the section of The Last Ship that talks about going back to Elvenhome she burst out.

6YO: “VALINOR!!! Is it Valinor?”

Me: “Yes.”