Roverandom

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Hardcover, 1998

Status

Available

Local notes

Fic Tol

Barcode

586

Collection

Publication

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (1998), Edition: 1st, 128 pages. $17.00.

Description

A dog who has been turned into a toy dog encounters rival wizards and experiences various adventures on the moon with giant spiders, dragon moths, and the Great White Dragon.

Awards

Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Inklings Studies — 2000)
Read Aloud Indiana Book Award (Middle School — 1999)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1998
1925 (written in)

Physical description

128 p.; 5.5 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member angharad_reads
The title character is a small dog, who is turned by a magician's pique into a figurine of a small dog, and then reanimated as a very small dog indeed. Charming adventure story of his travels on the moon and under the sea, before being restored to better conditions. Unlike some of Tolkien's adult
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fiction, it's not boringly written or plotted. It's not allegorical nor philosophical, unlike others of his adult fiction. I really didn't have any complaints with this.
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LibraryThing member Sean191
I happened across this book when I was at the library. Being a big fan of the Middle Earth works of Tolkien, I picked it up. The plus of the book - it has Tolkien's comfortable way of telling a story. His pacing just makes you feel like you should settle in somewhere comfortable with a cup of hot
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tea and relax.

This story was written for his children and while I think it's a wonderful piece to be read if you're writing it for your own children. But, I felt it fell a little short as a story that should have been published.
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LibraryThing member avanders
Just a sweet little tale about a dog and his adventures. And though I don't typically enjoy books with animal protagonists, this one was really enjoyable and I'm glad I found the BB (Book Bullet)!
LibraryThing member Maydacat
This story was written and revised by Tolkien decades before his most popular novels, but only published well after The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Written to soothe his young son after the loss of his favorite toy dog, this fantasy illustrates Tolkien’s writing genius and imagination. In
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this tale, Rover bites a wizard and suffers the consequences, and in the process has a great many adventures. One can see the beginnings of the fascination Tolkien had with other civilizations, with other worldly settings, and with mythical creatures and beings. Well-written and well developed, this entertaining tale is sure please all ages, not just children.
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LibraryThing member feeroberts64
Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien is a story based on an event that happened when Michael Tolkien was but a boy.

Four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his favorite toy dog and his father created this story to give Michael an idea of what might have happened to his little toy dog.

This was such a fun read!
LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
If you like children's books from the 20s and 30s, this is a cute one, and fairly easy to get, as it wasn't published back then, but only in 1998 and since. The editors of the edition I read included lots of notes to help you recognize the references to other books and mythology that Tolkien loved
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to scatter through his writings.

If this had been published when it was written and if the author hadn't gone on to write Lord of the Rings, probably nobody would read it today. It's not the kind of great book that you read over and over. However it would make a really cute animated feature.
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Pages

128

Rating

½ (360 ratings; 3.7)
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