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Rating: 
Summary: Enchantment of the Truest Sort.
Review: For a girl named Eowyn, it may sound sacreligious to claim that anything rates above The Lord Of The Rings in my mind, but Smith does. There is a purity, a simplicity in form, and a brilliantly honest charm in this tale that matches and surpasses any other of Tolkien's writings. Something of a classic, traditional, and yet also thoroughly original fairy, pardon faery tale shines through any of it's varied covers, making it the star of any shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: J.R.R. Tolkien, a great author
Review: I read this book, Smith if Wooten Major, quite a while ago, but i still remember a lot about it. It was a very good book, but some parts did not seem clear to me.
It is about a baker who puts a star in a cake. And when a child eats it that star appears on his forehead. Then they enter another world when they desire to. This tells sbout one person who gets the star and then who has to let it go so someone else can get it.
Right now it is the only J.R.R. Tolkien book i have read, but i am eager to read his book the Hobbit and the Lord of the Ring Trilogy and i will do so soon.
Rating:
Summary: J.R.R. Tolkien, a great author
Review: It might be that I read "Smith" after "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" and therefore this book suffered in the comparison. Many reviewers praise this book as one of Tolkien's great works, but I'll have to risk to disagree. The main idea of the story is a good one, a sweet, simple little fairy tale, but the writing lacks the tightness and the joy of language evident in the Bombadil poems and doesn't display any of the charming wit found in the pages of "Farmer Giles." I found the Smith's wanderings in the land of Faery to be without true purpose and cohesion. The revealing of the true nature of Alf the Master Cook was not sufficient diversion to raise this story above others. I would read this book to a child for a bedtime story without a problem, but I would probably not read it again myself for entertainment. I like everything that Tolkien writes, but this one falls short of high honors because it has sugary prose, but little substance. I suggest you borrow it from the library.
Rating: 
Summary: Ambling and sweet
Review: It might be that I read "Smith" after "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "Farmer Giles of Ham" and therefore this book suffered in the comparison. Many reviewers praise this book as one of Tolkien's great works, but I'll have to risk to disagree. The main idea of the story is a good one, a sweet, simple little fairy tale, but the writing lacks the tightness and the joy of language evident in the Bombadil poems and doesn't display any of the charming wit found in the pages of "Farmer Giles." I found the Smith's wanderings in the land of Faery to be without true purpose and cohesion. The revealing of the true nature of Alf the Master Cook was not sufficient diversion to raise this story above others. I would read this book to a child for a bedtime story without a problem, but I would probably not read it again myself for entertainment. I like everything that Tolkien writes, but this one falls short of high honors because it has sugary prose, but little substance. I suggest you borrow it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: Pass on the star
Review: People who know anything about the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien know that he disliked allegory. That makes "Smith of Wootton Major" a bit of an oddity among his writings, but not an unwelcome one. It's a sweetly fantastical little fable that drips over with Tolkien's love of real, deep fairy tales.It takes place in a little town "not very long ago for those with long memories, not very far away fro those with long legs." The Master Cook of that village takes a vacation, and returns with an apprentice in tow. But something odd happens at the Feast of the Cake -- the cook stirs in a "fay-star" with little trinkets in the cake, and it's accidently swallowed by a boy there. The boy (later called Smith) is changed by the fay-star, which sparkles on his forehead. When he grows up Smith ventures into Faery itself, and even meets the Faery Queen herself. The message she gives him is for her mysterious, missing husband, the King -- who turns out to be the last person anybody in Wootton Major would have expected. "Smith" is a fairy tale in the best sense. Don't expect cackling witches or convenient loopholes in spells here; Tolkien was too skilled for that. Instead we have majestic fey and sparkling magic, woven with a tidy medieval town. (Not to mention the custom of naming people after their jobs -- Smith, a smith, capisce?) Never once does it become precious or cutesy. It's among Tolkien's simpler writings. In fact, it's so simple that it barely has a plot -- the vanishing King is the closest thing it has. But Tolkien's writing sparkles with little details of the fey, with only a minimum of description. His glimpses of Faerieland are too brief, but they're also reminiscent of a few passages from "Lord of the Rings." A sweet, fantastical little story, this is one of Tolkien's lesser-known but still deserving stories. Charmingly symbolic.
Rating:
Summary: Pass on the star
Review: People who know anything about the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien know that he disliked allegory. That makes "Smith of Wootton Major" a bit of an oddity among his writings, but not an unwelcome one. It's a sweetly fantastical little fable that drips over with Tolkien's love of real, deep fairy tales. It takes place in a little town "not very long ago for those with long memories, not very far away fro those with long legs." The Master Cook of that village takes a vacation, and returns with an apprentice in tow. But something odd happens at the Feast of the Cake -- the cook stirs in a "fay-star" with little trinkets in the cake, and it's accidently swallowed by a boy there. The boy (later called Smith) is changed by the fay-star, which sparkles on his forehead. When he grows up Smith ventures into Faery itself, and even meets the Faery Queen herself. The message she gives him is for her mysterious, missing husband, the King -- who turns out to be the last person anybody in Wootton Major would have expected. "Smith" is a fairy tale in the best sense. Don't expect cackling witches or convenient loopholes in spells here; Tolkien was too skilled for that. Instead we have majestic fey and sparkling magic, woven with a tidy medieval town. (Not to mention the custom of naming people after their jobs -- Smith, a smith, capisce?) Never once does it become precious or cutesy. It's among Tolkien's simpler writings. In fact, it's so simple that it barely has a plot -- the vanishing King is the closest thing it has. But Tolkien's writing sparkles with little details of the fey, with only a minimum of description. His glimpses of Faerieland are too brief, but they're also reminiscent of a few passages from "Lord of the Rings." A sweet, fantastical little story, this is one of Tolkien's lesser-known but still deserving stories. Charmingly symbolic.
Rating:
Summary: Tolkien's finest tale.
Review: Spare, solid, straightforward, honest--and enchanting. Devour it in an hour, savor it for a lifetime.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively simple, with starlit depths
Review: This short, lovely, late tale by Tolkien is not only a fine fairy tale, but a poetic meditation on the craft and Art of the fantasy writer - the Myth Maker. Enjoyable simply as a story for readers of any age, it offers quiet and rich rewards to those who wish to read more deeply. If possible, look for the earlier edition with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations. A reminder that true fantasy ultimately deals with the Mysteries ...
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively simple, with starlit depths
Review: This short, lovely, late tale by Tolkien is not only a fine fairy tale, but a poetic meditation on the craft and Art of the fantasy writer - the Myth Maker. Enjoyable simply as a story for readers of any age, it offers quiet and rich rewards to those who wish to read more deeply. If possible, look for the earlier edition with the original Pauline Baynes illustrations. A reminder that true fantasy ultimately deals with the Mysteries ...
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