Roverandom

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Faery: the tale's brief glimpse of the Shadowy Seas and Elvenhome links it to Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Although Roverandom may turn hardcore Hobbit-lore fans off with its deviation from Tolkien's meatier works, the yarn does deserve credit for its successes. The simplicity of the plot line prevents alienation from young readers, while more mature readers will notice that Tolkien's narrative is full of quiet humor and droll British colloquialisms. Even the most casual reader will notice the ease with which Rover's quest moves from earth to sky to sea and home again. An expanded edition was published in September 2008, followed by the full-cast dramatization in October. In this edition is included the story Roverandom, essay On Fairy-Stories, as well as an introduction and afterword. It is illustrated by Alan Lee. Illustrations by Tolkien himself. I have always adored his artwork for his books and his beautiful style of illustration. And his handwriting!

Of the moon garden, Tolkien wrote: 'Pale blue leaves that never fell […] Later in the year the trees all bursts together into pale golden blossoms'. These descriptions are foreshadowing, perhaps, the mallorn trees of Lothlórien: 'Far in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold.' (see: The Fellowship of the Ring, bk.2, ch. 6)

Roverandom

i. The Book of Lost Tales: Part One · ii. The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two · iii. The Lays of Beleriand · iv. The Shaping of Middle-earth · v. The Lost Road and Other Writings · vi. The Return of the Shadow · vii. The Treason of Isengard · viii. The War of the Ring · ix. Sauron Defeated · x. Morgoth's Ring · xi. The War of the Jewels · xii. The Peoples of Middle-earth · Index) · Grandmother - Roverandom's first owner. It is revealed at the end that she is the grandmother of Little Boy Two. Great White Dragon, a resident of the moon who chases Roverandom and the moon-Rover. Following his encounter with the Man-in-the-Moon he is renamed the "Mottled Monster". Roverandom was also included in the compilation Tales from the Perilous Realm, released in 1997, along with Farmer Giles of Ham, " Leaf by Niggle", and other short tales.

When J. R. R. Tolkien is mentioned, the average person will have immediate thoughts of dragons, hobbits, fiery mountains, or elves. Rightly so, for he is the author of great works on those topics. It is highly unlikely, however, that the person will have immediately recalled the adventures of a small, impetuous dog. This is a shame, because the author who brought us The Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings trilogy also wrote a charming juvenile novel about just such a thing: Roverandom. He further revised Roverandom during the next nine years, progressively adding incident and detail. In 1936 he submitted the tale to his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, as a possible successor to The Hobbit. But The Hobbit (published in 1937) proved so successful that a sequel was wanted above all else, so Tolkien set Roverandom aside, apparently never to return to it. Tolkien borrowed as well from the private mythology or legendarium that was his life’s-work. ‘The Mountains of Elvenhome’ and ‘the city of the Elves on the green hill beneath the Mountains’ seen by the sea-going Roverandom in the West of the world, for instance, came from the geography of the ‘Silmarillion’: they are the Mountains of Valinor in Aman, and the city Tûn (or Túna). Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien · J.R.R. Tolkien: Life and Legend · J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator ·References also abound to myth and fairy story, to Arthurian legend and the Norse sagas, to children’s literature, even to Gilbert and Sullivan. Most notably, the ‘sand-sorcerer’, Psamathos, is akin to the psammead or ‘sand-fairy’ of Edith Nesbit’s Five Children and It (1902) and The Story of the Amulet (1905), and indeed is called a Psammead in the earliest surviving manuscript of Roverandom. spiders and wrapped up by the spiders’ spun silk. Bilbo frees himself and the others, and the company gets away. Bilbo finally tells them about the ring and Gollum.