Customer Reviews
A charming tale about a dog turned into a toy - By: rhinoa, 27 Feb 2008 
A charming tale about young dog Rover & his adventures. He bites the trousers of magician Artaxerxes who turns him into a toy dog as punnishment. He shrinksin size as does his bark & he is stuckin a begging position. He is bought by a mother to give to her son Two, but he falls out of his pocket on day on the beach. The sand wizard Psamathos gets super fast seagul Mew to fly him to the moon down the silver pathway it's light leaves to meet the Man-on-the-Moon (another magician) & his moon dog Rover. As the dogs share their name, they change Rover's (the main character) to Roverandom.
On the moon they have many adventures together as Roverandom is given wings to fly about with. They have problems with the fearsome White Dragon who lives on the moon & causes eclipses of the moon as well as sometimes turning it red. Eventually Roverandom is sent back to earth to see Artaxerxes to change him back to his regular dog form. Artaxerxes has married a mer-maiden (one of the mer-kings daughters) & is living under the sea. Whale Uin takes Roverandom under the seain his belly where he meets another dog called Rover, this time a mer-dog. They have many more adventures under the sea waiting for Artaxeres to find the time to change Roverandom back including an incident with the giant sea-serpent who sleeps not far from the mer-kings castle. Roverandom is eventually changed back into a proper dog & travels home to find Two.
This was a lovely tale based on an incident when Tolkien's second son lost his favourite toy dog at the beach one day on a family holiday. Lots of parallels to The Hobbit can be seen (the dragon, the spiders on the moon & the three magicians have Gandalf like qualities) & I definitely recommend it as a bit of light fun & happy reading.
A Truly Magical Story - By: English Rose, 31 Jan 2008 
So wonderful that this exciting book has been re-published. It is one of my most treasured books one that I read time & time again. The illustrations add to the story greatly. A real heart-warming & funny family story to share year after year after year. Highly recommended.
Brilliant! - By: G. Wake, 04 Jun 2007 This is great little book which I found a pleasant & entertaining read. There is nothing very special about it but the illustrations are nice, if sparse, & the story is good & not too complicated. It is easy to read out loud & shouldn't be too hard for a competent child to read by themselves. The only negative thing about it is that there aren't more stories of the same ilk from Tolkein.
Roverandom - By: Boozie, 03 Jun 2007 An absolute ace book. Follows the adventures of Rover, a dog who is turned into a toy by a wizard & can only move by night. 1 of tolkiens first books.
He's a rover - By: E. A Solinas, 28 Feb 2006 For a little kid, losing a favorite toy is downright traumatic. Soin 1925, when four-year-old Michael lost his little toy dog on the beach, fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien made up a story to comfort his son. It explained away the loss of the toy, & wove a magical story around a little dog named Rover.
Rover is an ordinary little puppy near the seasidein England, until he runs into a grumpy old man & ends up biting off part of his pants. The old man happens to be a wizard (Artaxerxes by name), & promptly transforms Rover into a toy dog (and no, I don't mean a tiny dog -- I mean a real toy). Rover subsequently gets picked up & sold to some little boys (presumably the Tolkien kids).
Fortunately, Rover encounters another magical being, a crusty, kindly sand-wizard named Psamathos. That wizard,in turn, gets Rover (who is renamed Roverandom) flown to the moon, where he spends time with the Manin the Moon & his winged dog Rover. And then he's heading off to encounter a talking whale, a mer-dog, a sea serpent -- & a dragon.
Like the vastly underrated "Farmer Giles of Ham," "Roverandom" is a charming little bit of whimsy. No deep themes, no epic clashes, not even really a villain. The writing is charming & magical, with phrases like "There was a cold wind blowing off the North Star" sprinkled through it. It almost gives the feeling of beingin another world. Best of all,in the middle of the book are Tolkien's own illustrations, cute little drawings & ethereal paintings.
Rover is well-named, since his adventures are all over the map & don't really progress from one to the other. It's merely a cute little dog roaming over the moon, the ocean, & the land, conversing with shrimps & bothering wizards. He's an outspoken little guy, but likeable. The grumpy wizards are also excellently done, reminiscent of Gandalf.
While "Roverandom" is a book aimed at children, adults may enjoy the whimsical humor & beautiful writing. A charming & timeless story.
