The Hobbit-which edition for a 9 year old(art work,1 book or 2)?

[Blueskiesandbuttercups]

Ds9 would love it and is a very good reader although he sometimes avoids thick books.Having said that he made the exception for Harry Potter having read them all.

So I've seen a 2 book edition I thought would be ideal but then there is the artwork question- Tolkien's or ?

Any experts out there?

I want him to love it.

Dd aged 9 read the Hobbit last year. She read an edition which had the original artwork, but I don't think it really was an issue which one. It isn't that long, so I wouldn't worry about the two books-I didn't even know they did two book editions.