School Library Journal
There's still no one quite like Tolkien, and this utterly charming tale will please readers of all ages.
Horn
In 1925, Professor Tolkien and his family went for a seaside holiday in Yorkshire, where little boy Two (Michael Tolkien) was given a toy dog which he treasured but subsequently lost on the beach. His father wrote Roverandom to console him. Now published with a thoughtful introduction and extensive notes by two Tolkien scholars, the story tells of the puppy Rover, who unwittingly bites a hole in the pants of an irritable wizard, Artaxerxes. He is turned into a toy, lost on the beach, and sent to the moon by a sand wizard, Psamathos Psamathides (obviously a relative of Nesbit's Psammead). He flies on the back of Mew, a great gull, and is welcomed by the Man-in-the-Moon and his dog, Rover. Renamed Roverandom by the Man-in-the-Moon, to avoid confusion, and given wings, he has many adventures with the moon dog, Rover. He has further adventures under the sea with a sea dog, also Rover, before being turned back into a real dog and returning to little boy Two. The story as a whole is only modestly entertaining, with a rambling and unconnected plot. It reads like exactly what it is-the written form of an improvised story for children, never really polished or carefully edited. But readers familiar with Tolkien will find many passages and characters that will put them in mind of his more famous works, especially The Hobbit. The three wizards all show some resemblance to Gandalf; there are dragons, sly and dangerous, and spiders that weave sticky webs to catch errant moonbeams and anything else that comes their way; and there are puns and allusions galore. A handful of illustrations, also by Tolkien, depict the familiar lonely mountains and fantasy landscapes of his other creations. Tolkien fans will appreciate this opportunity for examining this early fantasy work and the subtle forerunners of characters and themes found in his later great works.
Kirkus Reviews
In 1925, the Tolkien family took a vacation at the beach, where four-year-old Michael lost his favorite object, a tiny toy dog. So to console him, father J.R.R. improvised the tale of a dog magically transformed into a toy. The story was rejected by Tolkien's publisher in 1937 and has lain neglected ever since. With good reason. It tells of young and impolite puppy Rover, who bites the wizard Artaxerxes's trousers; as a punishment, the wizard transforms him into a toy. Deposited in a toyshop, Rover is bought by a boy named Two, who loses the dog on a beach; but soon Rover meets Psamathos the sand-sorcerer. Psamathos sends Rover off on the back of Mew the gull to visit the Man-in-the-Moon. But the Man-in- the-Moon already has a moon-dog named Rover, so our Rover becomes Roverandom. Yessir, this is real edge-of-the-seat stuff. After various cutesy doings, Roverandom learns that Artaxerxes has taken a job under the sea, so he rides inside Uin the Right Whale to plead with Artaxerxes to change him back into a real dog. Which, after more fluffy bits—yes, there's a mer-dog named Rover—the wizard does, and Roverandom returns to Two. Even for Tolkien scholars, these are awfully thin bones to pick over.
From the Publisher
"There's still no one quite like Tolkien, and this utterly charming tale will please readers of all ages." School Library Journal —
