A short fairy-tale Tolkien invented for his young son Michael in 1925 to console him after a toy dog was lost on a beach holiday. It was not published until 1998.

Is Roverandom suitable for young children?

Yes -- it was originally told to a young child and is entirely appropriate for all ages, with a gentle tone and a simple quest structure. Adults familiar with Tolkien's other works will find additional layers of wit and invention.

Is Roverandom part of the Middle-earth universe?

No -- it is set in its own playful fantasy world unconnected to Middle-earth. It shares Tolkien's characteristic joy in invented names and whimsical cosmology but has no narrative link to his legendarium.

How long is Roverandom?

Very short -- it is a novella of roughly 15,000 words, easily read in a single sitting.

Is Roverandom the same as The Father Christmas Letters?

No -- they are separate posthumous publications of stories Tolkien told or wrote for his children. Roverandom is a continuous narrative; The Father Christmas Letters is a series of illustrated letters.

Roverandom

By&

Adventure Classics

Pages: 83
Published: 1998
Language: English

Synopsis

Originally told by Tolkien to his young son Michael in 1925 as a consolation story after a toy dog was lost on a family holiday, Roverandom follows a real dog who is turned into a toy by a bad-tempered wizard named Artaxerxes.

To regain his true form, the miniaturised Roverandom must travel first to the moon -- where he befriends the Man in the Moon and encounters the sand-sorcerer Psych -- and then to the bottom of the ocean, where a sea-dog called Rover helps him seek the wizard who cursed him.

Published posthumously in 1998, the story bears all the hallmarks of Tolkien's oral storytelling: playful digressions, invented proper names, a tone that shifts between gentle comedy and genuine wonder, and a resolution that satisfies without condescending. A small masterwork of literary fairy-tale.