I was lucky that a college acquaintance who owned a bookstore suggested the Hobbit to me.I read to my kids starting perhaps about 1960. I have no way to fix date. My second daughter drew a picture of one of the characters and sent it to Tolkien, who autographed it and sent it back.It was a wonderful reading experience for my kids, and made them more eager to read other books.
But I would never call Tolkien required reading. That was the original topic, let us not forget.