I read The Lord of the Rings for a first time when I was 10. Almost immediately after that we had to do a paper about something at school (10-year-old children do not have a proper topic for a paper; at least not in Finland), and I chose Tolkien. By then, I had read the Lotr twice and The Hobbit once, but I didn't know much about Tolkien (of course, there was a friend of mine who wanted to make sure I'd fall in love with the Lotr, and maybe it was partially her fault that I decided to choose Tolkien). That was how I got to know Tolkien, not only his work.
In secondary school we had to do a book review each month, and I used three months to write about The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately my Finnish teacher didn't appreciate Tolkien, and I'm afraid she couldn't completely understand why I was writing so pathetically.
This year I had a course of art. The assignment was to choose an artist, reproduce a painting by him, write a short essay about the artist, and analyse the painting. To nobody's surprise, I chose Tolkien. The picture I reproduced was a watercolour painting called "The Halls of Manwë". I wasn't very content with my work, but the teacher seemed to be, since I got an excellent grade. Anyway, it was easier to choose someone about whom I knew even something beforehand.
The brother of my friend once told us about his philosophy teacher. On the first philosophy lesson he taught them how to say "A fat dwarf fell through the floor" in Elvish (after hearing that, I stopped regretting I hadn't applied to that school). I've also heard he gave Quenya lessons to volunteers during lunch breaks. Of course it would be nice to learn Quenya, but I don't want to be taught by a person who seems to despise dwarves.
