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Summary
Summary
In 1925, while on vacation with his family on the Yorkshire coast, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his toy dog. His father, J.R.R. Tolkien improvised the story of Rover, a real dog magically transformed into a toy, to console him. This charming tale, peopled by a terrible dragon, a wise old whale, the king of the sea and the Man-in-the Moon, was put aside. After more than seventy years, Roverandom, a story rich in wit and wordplay and filled with thrilling and humorous events, was published to the will delight of all who love a rollicking good yarn.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Begun in 1925, this fantasy was roughly finished later, but set aside in favor of sequels to The Hobbit. Here, at last, two Tolkien scholars present it, with five illustrations by the author sandwiched between a long, minutely detailed introduction and padded but sometimes illuminating endnotes. Changed from a live dog into a toy after incautiously biting a wizard, Rover is dropped on the beach by his young owner, where he meets a second wizard who sends him on a gull's back to the Man-in-the-Moon. Sporting wings and a new name, "Roverandom" irritates the Great White Dragon that causes lunar eclipses and visits a valley where sleeping children gather for pleasant dreams, among other places, then returns to Earth to beg the first wizard, a bumbling sort who has since married a mermaid and moved under the ocean, to make him a real dog again. Despite a wandering plot and minor inconsistencies, the old Tolkien magic is here in full force: in evocative names, glimpses of supernal events, and wonderfully exotic locales seen through the eyes of a comfortably familiar character. Enthusiasts will pore over the notes, but the story stands well enough on its own as an incidental piece from one of our century's great literary imaginations.-John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Preschool) Banks and Hallensleben's third collaboration continues to pay homage to the creations of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd. While the playful exchanges between mother and child in their previous Spider Spider and Baboon recall the interaction in The Runaway Bunny, this new work evokes the powerful bedtime magic of Goodnight Moon. The opening scene finds a young child in a large but cozy room filled with familiar objects, immediately conjuring up the "great green room." "Somewhere a pair of shoes lies under a chair," begins the text, just as "there was a telephone / And a red balloon..." in the famous bunny's bedroom. (There is a bunny here, too, though it is the stuffed companion of a human child.) But then Banks's book makes a grand departure from its honored predecessor: "a window yawns open," and the book soars out and beyond the bedroom to take in the vast world-"if the moon could talk, it would tell of evening stealing through the woods and a lizard scurrying home to supper." The following spread returns to the warm, safe bedroom, and the story continues to alternate in that fashion. Small things from the child's home are reflected in kind in the world outside: a light flicks on in the hallway, "and if the moon could talk, it would tell of stars flaring up one by one and a small fire burning by a tree"; a wooden boat and a starfish sit on the nightstand, and the moon shines down on "waves washing onto the beach, shells, and a crab resting." Hallensleben's breathtaking impressionistic paintings portray distinctive settings not specified in the simple, poetic text: a man drives cattle through the square of a Spanish-style village; sailboats bob in a tropical harbor; a farmhouse nestles below luminous blue-white mountains. Each view of the world outside relates back to the sleepy child-as Mama tucks her in, a lioness settles her cubs-emphasizing the child's connectedness to all things. Finally, and most satisfyingly, the focus returns to the little girl's bedroom: "if the moon could talk, it would tell of a child curled up in bed wrapped in sleep," and-in a last twist on Brown's lullaby-"it would murmur, Good night." Hallensleben's rich, luxuriant palette moves adeptly in and out of the home. The child's room-always surrounded by a safely confining border until she falls asleep-is filled with warm, bright primary colors, while the outside world is depicted in full-bleed in more natural, subdued tones. The nighttime scenes are perfect for exhibiting the artist's remarkable range of blues and his talented use of light, especially notable in the village scene on the stunning endpapers. As in Baboon, Banks's rhythmic text subtly conveys the theme of a great and wondrous world while never sacrificing the comfort and security of parental love. Perhaps Brown would approve of her theories on the everyday experiences of the child being applied to the more global vision of today. Regardless, Banks and Hallensleben deserve high praise for creating a classic picture book of the highest caliber. l.a. Picture Books Debbi Chocolate The Piano Man; illus. by Eric Velasquez (Younger) Inviting us in with a devilish smile on the title page, the piano man turns his story over to his granddaughter, who proudly relates her grandfather's pianistic triumphs in silent-film accompaniment, on Broadway, in medicine shows and vaudeville, and, after the talkies took over, in piano tuning, where he thumped out foot-stomping rags that recalled his glory days. This is a heartening slice of African-American family history (Chocolate supplies an autobiographical note) that is refreshingly short on role-modeling and long on joy and visual glamour, as provided by the beautiful glossy woods of Grandfather's pianos. In his first picture book, illustrator Eric Velasquez tempers nostalgia with a sleek show-biz allure, as in the double-spread painting that introduces the piano man to his future wife, a beautiful stage show dancer who struts across the stage in a sassy blue gown. Some of the facial modeling is stiffly generic, but Velasquez gets the mood right, and Chocolate's stance of unassuming recollection strikes an equally right note. r.s. Kay Chorao Little Farm by the Sea; illus. by the author (Preschool) Chorao's portrait is a fond, bucolic look at the everyday life of a small modern farm. The descriptive text begins in winter when the farm appears quiet, but there is plenty of activity in the barn. As the year progresses, different activities specific to each season are described. Spring brings planting. Summer brings a string of visitors who come for strawberry picking and a glimpse of the piglets. In the fall, the farm family brings prize vegetables to the county fair and sells squash and tomatoes from the barn porch. The text and illustrations are chock full of details-Farmer Brown hangs dried gourds as birdhouses for the purple martins, and the birds in turn eat bugs that might harm the crops. Although the family members work all the time, the sto (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
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 tides 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. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4 and up, younger for reading aloud. This previously unpublished story chronicles the adventures and life lessons of a very engaging young dog named Roverandom, who makes the mistake of being insolent to a passing wizard. To teach the dog a lesson, the offended wizard turns Roverandom into a toy dog, frozen in a perpetual begging position, frustratingly small and without a real bark. As he begins his determined quest to become a real dog again, Roverandom faces experiences that are humbling, eye-opening, and exciting, from a trip to the moon, where he faces the Great White Dragon, to under the sea, where he confronts both the adversarial Sea-serpent and the ill-tempered wizard who originally cast the spell (and who gets his own just desserts at the end). The tale will appeal to readers of all ages, with its detailed descriptions of fantastical landscapes, its snippety, rival wizards, and its creative characters, all described with Tolkien's trademark droll wit and humor, and enhanced by his few but charming drawings. Short, riveting chapters make this a great read-aloud book, and as with all good Tolkien tales, there's a lesson to be drawn: mind your p's and q's. The wordy but comprehensive and interesting introduction to the novel, which was originally written to comfort Tolkien's four-year-old son following the loss of a beloved toy, includes some fascinating information about the author and his family, a boon for educators, parents, and Tolkienphiles. Extensive endnotes clarify Tolkien's satirical references to the politics and society of his times and explain the many mythological characters. A delightful story for fans of Tolkien, fantasy, and myth, featuring the irresistible, sympathetic, and comic Roverandom, a classic character in his own right. --Shelle Rosenfeld
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. ix |
| Roverandom | p. 3 |
| Notes | p. 91 |
| IllustrationsJ.R.R. Tolkien | |
| House Where 'Rover' Began His Adventures as a 'Toy' | |
| Rover Arrives on the Moon | |
| The White Dragon Pursues Roverandom & the Moondog | |
| Lunar Landscape | |
| The Gardens of the Merking's Palace |