Roverandom

Roverandom is a short children's story by J.R.R. Tolkien, written in 1927, that tells of the adventures of a young dog named Rover. 

Roverandom was also included in the compilation Tales from the Perilous Realm, released in 1997, along with Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, and Smith of Wootton Major.

In 2005, the story was released as an audiobook, narrated by Derek Jacobi and published by HarperCollins.

Synopsis

Rover has been turned into a toy after biting the wizard Artaxerxes. He meets the Man on the Moon, goes under the Deep Blue Sea and befriends other dogs, all the while searching for the wizard to attain his original size again.

Background

Tolkien and his family went to the beach at Filey in 1925. During the trip Tolkien's second son Michael lost his favorite toy dog on the beach. When they could not find it Tolkien invented a story about the little dog and his adventures to cheer his son. Later, in 1927, he wrote the tale down and a few years later, after the printing of The Hobbit, submitted it for publication to George Allen & Unwin. However it was never published by them. Not until 1998 was published by itself by HarperCollins. A publication was soon curated by Tolkien editors Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.

In adaptations

The Lord of the Rings Online

In The Lord of the Rings Online, Roverandom is part of a quest in the village of Dwaling in the Shire. Here there is a hobbit named Ronald, whose son lost his favorite toy dog during a picnic. The player must find the toy dog to complete the quest.

Appearances & mentions

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Arabic	روفيراندووم
Belarusian Cyrillic	Роверандом
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Роувърандъм
Czech	Tulák Rover
Georgian	როვერანდომი
Greek	Ροβεράντομ
Japanese	仔犬のローヴァーの冒険
Macedonian Cyrillic	Роверандом
Norwegian	Rundtomrask
Polish	Łazikanty
Russian	Роверандом
Serbian	Роверандом (Cyrillic) Roverandom (Latin)
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Роверандом
Urdu	روورانڈوم