My teacher Mrs. Heinz and The Hobbit
The memory of a good teacher can be a beautiful thing that lasts a lifetime
In 6th grade, I had a teacher who did something extraordinary and unexpected: on Friday afternoons, she would read a chapter of The Hobbit to us. I had never read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. I had never heard of them. I know that's hard to believe now, after the six movie releases, with all the massive hype and fanfare.
But when I was in the 6th grade, it was long before the Internet, smartphones, and all the technology we have today. Life was quieter then, and information did not come at you 24/7 like a tsunami. Gen X had a very different upbringing than later generations, which extended to finding and reading books.
Mrs. Heinz reads The Hobbit to our class
I remember the first day of her class when she announced she would read to us. I liked reading, but what 6th-grade boy would like to sit there and listen to a teacher read a book? And what the heck was this "hobbit" thing going to be about anyway? The book's title sounded weird, and I was sure it would be tedious to listen to for an entire class.
I could not have been more wrong!
As Mrs. Heinz began reading, I was slowly drawn into Tolkien’s story. I stepped into Middle Earth, and as the class drew on, I found my mind relaxing, and all of the 6th-grade boy stress I usually felt slowly faded as I relaxed and listened quietly with the rest of the students.
My first audiobook: The Hobbit
Mrs. Heinz reading that book to us was the first audiobook we ever experienced. There were no smartphones involved or any other kind of computer. All we had was the sound of Mrs. Heinz’s voice reading the words of JRR Tolkien. And yet we were swept away by all of it, taken out of the classroom, and brought right into Bag End, Rivendell, and all the way to the Lonely Mountain.
I’ll never forget that experience; I’ve kept it tucked away in the back of my mind all these many years. It was my first experience with Tolkien, and of course, once it was done, it wasn’t long before I discovered that the author of the “weird book” had written something more called “The Lord of the Rings.”
Mrs. Heinz planted a seed that day in me (and I suspect numerous other students) that led to the delightful discovery of many other books by other authors over the years. And it was all done by a gentle human being simply sitting there and reading a book aloud to a group of initially befuddled but later delighted students.
I don’t know what happened to Mrs. Heinz. It was so many years ago that I’m sure she has passed away by now. But I have never forgotten her and I never will. She gave us a precious gift by reading The Hobbit, and I will be forever grateful to her for opening my eyes to all that JRR Tolkien had to offer.
Rest in peace, Mrs. Heinz, and thank you so much for your beautiful gift to me and your other students. You will always have a special place in my heart for reading that story to me back in 6th grade.
JRR Tolkien audiobooks
Since I mentioned audiobooks earlier in this post, I will leave you with links to my favorite versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at Amazon. Rob Inglis is the narrator, and his performances are the best versions of Tolkien’s books I have ever heard:
For those who might wonder if Rob Inglis also did The Silmarillion, the answer is no, but Martin Shaw did a wonderful job narrating that very special book:
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I read the entire LOTR out loud to my kids when they were little.
Just happened to check my email and was delighted to read your heartfelt essay about your teacher. God your good and gifted!