A review by neilrcoulter
Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien

4.0

[b:Roverandom|23617|Roverandom|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1374681558s/23617.jpg|2964446] is a story that [a:J.R.R. Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1383526938p2/656983.jpg] told his three young sons during a holiday at the seaside in the 1920s. The story was inspired by the loss of a beloved toy dog. As the editors (and Tolkien scholarship super-gurus) [a:Christina Scull|9497|Christina Scull|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png] and [a:Wayne G. Hammond|9498|Wayne G. Hammond|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png] point out, the story develops and matures as it goes along. The first chapter (or episode) feels very much like a transcript of a story a father tells his children, but by the end of the book Tolkien has, to some extent, brought even Rover into his mythology--even with a brief mention of the Undying Lands of the West.

However, throughout the book Tolkien maintains a lightness of tone and an authorial presence that is much closer to [b:The Hobbit|5907|The Hobbit|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1372847500s/5907.jpg|1540236] than to some of his other works. And I found that Roverandom actually reminded me more of [a:Lewis Carroll|8164|Lewis Carroll|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1192735053p2/8164.jpg]'s [b:Alice|176972|The Annotated Alice The Definitive Edition|Lewis Carroll|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1367782378s/176972.jpg|15777985] stories than anything by Tolkien. There is a lot of wordplay and lighthearted, episodic structure that is different than anything else I've read by Tolkien. I read this to my three sons, and it was great fun, especially with the occasional ridiculously long lists of words that Tolkien includes.

The editors' introduction is essential to understanding the context of Roverandom, and even though it gives away a lot of what happens in the story, I think it's worth reading before looking at the rest of the book for the first time. Also, Scull and Hammond have included a number of helpful notes at the back of the book, explaining some further context and literary references. These notes are not referenced within the text itself, and I wish they would have been. But it is easy enough to check the back of the book occasionally for additional annotation.