Editing Roverandom

{{Short description|Novella by J. R. R. Tolkien}} 
{{More citations needed|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox book
 |name = Roverandom
 |image = TolkienRoverandom.png
 |caption = Hardback edition, featuring Tolkien's illustration of a fantasized moonscape
 |border = yes
 |editor = [[Christina Scull]] & [[Wayne G. Hammond]]
 |author=[[J. R. R. Tolkien]]
 |country = United Kingdom
 |language = English
 |genre = [[Children's literature]]
 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] (UK)
 |release_date = 1998
 |media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
 |pages = 144 (hardback)
 | isbn =  978-0007523283
 | preceded_by = [[The Peoples of Middle-earth]]
 | followed_by = [[The Children of Húrin]]
}}
'''''Roverandom''''' is a novella by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], originally told in 1925, about the adventures of a young dog, Rover. In the story, an irritable wizard turns Rover into a toy, and Rover goes to the Moon and under the sea in order to find the wizard again to turn him back into a normal-sized dog. The author wrote ''Roverandom'' for his son Michael to amuse him upon the loss of his favourite toy, a little leaden dog which he lost on a beach of grey shingle stones the same size and colour as the toy. The work is in tone a children's story, but contains many allusions and references in the manner of ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''.

It was submitted for publication in 1937 after the success of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', but was not published for over sixty years, finally being released in 1998. ''Roverandom'' was included in the collection ''[[Tales from the Perilous Realm]]'' from its 2009 reprinting onwards.

== Characters ==
'''Major'''
* Rover(andom) - The main character.  A young puppy that is white with black ears. He is rather rude and excitable when first introduced. This is what causes him to irritate Artaxerxes in the first place.
* Artaxerxes - The wizard who meets Roverandom while on holiday. Wears a green hat with a blue feather in it. Comes from [[Persia]] but got lost and now lives in [[Pershore]].
* Psamathos Psamathides - The chief of all Psamathists (sand-sorcerers). He is described as being the size of a large dog and being very ugly, with long ears that stick up. Days and nights he hides closely under the surface of the cove's sands, taking a nap - or two. He snuggles himself into the sand as into a warm blanket and only comes out when the sky begins to look like teatime or when some amusement is going on: a dance of the [[mermaid]]s, for example. Otherwise one can hardly find him, tucked up amidst the endlessly stretching covesands. (This being somewhat resembles the Psammead from E. Nesbit's ''[[Five Children and It]]''.)
* Rover the Moon Dog - The Man in the Moon's dog.
* Rover the Sea Dog - The Dog under the Sea.
'''Minor'''
* Tinker - The cat whom Rover lived with before becoming a toy.
* Little Boy Two - The boy who owned Rover as a toy. An allusion to Michael Tolkien, the author's second son.
* the Great White Dragon - The chief of the Moon's [[dragons]].
* the [[Sea-serpent]]
* Uin - The [[North Atlantic right whale|right whale]] that takes Roverandom under the Sea.
* Grandmother - Roverandom's first owner. It is revealed at the end that she is the grandmother of Little Boy Two.
* the mer-king - ruler of the [[Merfolk|mer-folk]]
* Mrs. Artaxerxes - Daughter of the mer-king and wife of Artaxerxes.

== Places ==
* The Moon - Rover goes to the [[Moon]] seeking the Man in the Moon's help. The Moon is highly fantasized; envisioned by Tolkien as a place full of mythical creatures reminiscent of those found in the works of [[Lewis Carroll]]. Traits of the Moon's trees foreshadow those of the [[mallorn]] trees of [[Lothlórien]].<ref>[[Christina Scull]] & [[Wayne G. Hammond]] (1998, editors), ''Roverandom'', 2013 pocket edition, HarperCollins, Notes p. 177; {{ISBN|978-0-00-752328-3}}</ref>
* The Cove - Where Psamathos lives and Roverandom is accidentally left by Boy Two. It is located on the north-east coast of England. Its description as a "queer cove", an allusion to the English expression meaning 'odd fellow, rogue', is one of many plays-on-words in the book.
* The Isle of Dogs - An island Mew and Rover fly over on the way to the moon. Mew describes it as a place lucky or deserving lost dogs go. A place where they can make as much noise as they want, with bone trees growing everywhere. It is a fanciful allusion to the [[Isle of Dogs]] and the [[Dogger Bank]].
* Under the [[Sea]] - The mer-king's realm
* Faery: the tale's brief glimpse of the [[Minor places in Arda#Shadowy Seas|Shadowy Seas]] and [[Elvenhome]] links it to Tolkien's [[Middle-earth]] [[legendarium]].

== Sources ==
* Tolkien, J. R. R., ''Roverandom''. London: [[HarperCollins]], 1998.

==References==
{{Portal|Children's literature}}
{{Reflist}}

{{J. R. R. Tolkien}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1998 short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories by J. R. R. Tolkien]]
[[Category:Short stories set on the Moon]]
[[Category:Fantasy short stories]]
[[Category:Novels published posthumously]]
[[Category:HarperCollins books]]
[[Category:Animal tales]]
[[Category:Mermaid novels]]
[[Category:Short stories about dogs]]