Roverandom
Written by J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by Derek Jacobi
4/5
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About this audiobook
Tolkien’s acclaimed modern classic ‘fairie’ tale, read by Derek Jacobi.
While on holiday in 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach at Filey in Yorkshire. To console him, his father, J.R.R.Tolkien, improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is magically transformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him in order to be returned to normal.
This charming tale, peopled by a sand-sorcerer and a terrible dragon, by the king of the sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, went through several drafts over the years. Now, many years on, the adventures of Rover – or, for reasons that become clear in the story, ‘Roverandom’ – are performed by Sir Derek Jacobi.
J. R. R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was a distinguished academic, though he is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been translated into over sixty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
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Reviews for Roverandom
528 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a shame Tolkien's fairy tales for children are virtually unknown. They're really delightful! And the narrator is really fantastic! Thank you!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent read. It's a fun little fantasy novel about a dog.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very whimsical and enchanting story....it has dreamlike beauty at a number of points as it follows a little dog through a series of adventures. The whole tale is modeled after an “Immram,” a form of old Irish tale that follows a hero through an otherworldly journey. Great stuff!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful story. Tolkien's imagination and style are clear here and it's a beautiful little tale. I could not help but smile.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5lovely story for children. beautifully told and its very engaging
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Narrator was amazing and this story is adorable. A perfect adventure story and full of magic and adventure
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful story for all ages and a great narrator
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Delightful story. Really good reader. Really shortened a long road trip.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Made me laugh and feel like a kid again! Recommende?
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Though J.R.R. Tolkien has written an endearing story and the reader’s voice and talent must be commended, the recording has one terrible technological problem. It skips every second throughout the whole of the story and makes this story very hard to tolerate.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien is a story based on an event that happened when Michael Tolkien was but a boy.Four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his favorite toy dog and his father created this story to give Michael an idea of what might have happened to his little toy dog.This was such a fun read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This story was written and revised by Tolkien decades before his most popular novels, but only published well after The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Written to soothe his young son after the loss of his favorite toy dog, this fantasy illustrates Tolkien’s writing genius and imagination. In this tale, Rover bites a wizard and suffers the consequences, and in the process has a great many adventures. One can see the beginnings of the fascination Tolkien had with other civilizations, with other worldly settings, and with mythical creatures and beings. Well-written and well developed, this entertaining tale is sure please all ages, not just children.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just a sweet little tale about a dog and his adventures. And though I don't typically enjoy books with animal protagonists, this one was really enjoyable and I'm glad I found the BB (Book Bullet)!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I happened across this book when I was at the library. Being a big fan of the Middle Earth works of Tolkien, I picked it up. The plus of the book - it has Tolkien's comfortable way of telling a story. His pacing just makes you feel like you should settle in somewhere comfortable with a cup of hot tea and relax.This story was written for his children and while I think it's a wonderful piece to be read if you're writing it for your own children. But, I felt it fell a little short as a story that should have been published.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The title character is a small dog, who is turned by a magician's pique into a figurine of a small dog, and then reanimated as a very small dog indeed. Charming adventure story of his travels on the moon and under the sea, before being restored to better conditions. Unlike some of Tolkien's adult fiction, it's not boringly written or plotted. It's not allegorical nor philosophical, unlike others of his adult fiction. I really didn't have any complaints with this.