Question re: The Children of Húrin

[Kendra]

Can someone answer a question for me? Is 'The Tale of the Children of Húrin' a separate book from 'Unfinished Tales', or is it a story within them? My library has 'The Tale of the Children of Húrin' listed as a book on its own as a "fully continuous and standalone story", but then I saw the title included as a story in 'Unfinished Tales', so I got confused. Is it a short story in 'Unfinished Tales', but a full-length book in 'The Tale of the Children of Húrin'? An answer would certainly help in my future readings. Thanks!

[Keri]

It is both a separate book and a story within Unfinished Tales and there is a shortened version of the tale in The Silmarillion as well. Christopher Tolkien edited and more or less combined the two version from Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion into one stand alone book in 2007 to make it a "complete and mature narrative". There isn't any new information in The Children of Hurin that isn't already in the Unfinished Tales and Silmarillion versions. The story does however fit into the larger story of The Silmarillion so there would be some stuff (mostly explained in the Intro) that might be confusing to someone who hasn't read The Sil. But it wouldn't prevent you from enjoying the story, mostly just place names or characters that it would be assumed you'd be familiar with. Other than that, it functions quite well as a stand alone story and you should do fine reading that version of it.