Roverandom

An absolutely wonderful little book filled with incredible imagination from the author, shown by the setting of the moon and the sea. The moon especially captivated me; it just seemed like an amazing, beautiful place to be! And (almost) all of the characters were utterly delightful, Roverandom and his moon-dog and mer-dog friends most of all! I can't believe I've had this book simply sitting, unread, on my shelves for years, being completely unknowing of the marvellous little story that lay inside!

Working my way through Tales From the Perilous Realm for the first time, but I've already read a couple. This was a re-read. 
This was originally written for Tolkien's son, Michael, when he lost his toy dog. With that being said it's incredibly silly, and lighthearted. Rover the dog bites a wizard on the seat of his pants and is turned to a toy dog. This is the story of his journey through that, and his journey home. 
My favorite thing about this little tale is that you can still see the grand scope in which Tolkien writes. His mine clearly always saw the big picture, and what could be, rather than just weaving a little something-something...even for his 4 year old son. 
Personally a 5/5* for me. I liked it even more the second time. 

So I read this because it is Tolkien, and I haven't come into contact with anything other than the regulation Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (and the Silmarillion, but lets not go there), so I was interested to see how his kids books worked.
I thought it was pretty good. There are the Tolkienesque elements such as touching on his mythology (which are fairly boringly summarised in the introduction and the notes section at the end), and or course wizards and dragons. Written around 1925, (the Hobbit was published in 1937 and the Lord of the rings from 1945-54) there are a few elements here which hint at trial runs for future works - Roverandom is carried by a seagull, the three wizards featured all have elements of Gandalf about them. Of course it is expected that his epic works were in progress much earlier than they were published, so who can say which came first?
I haven't outlined the plot, as there is enough description in the blurb.

2 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Rover, though a toy dog made of lead, is aware, and capable of limited motion. But when he bites a nearby wizard, he sets off a chain of adventures.

Review
I very much enjoy some of Tolkien's non-Lord of the Rings stories: Smith of Wooton Major, Leaf by Niggle, etc. And this is a nice edition of Roverandom, which began, as many of his stories did, as one told to his children. It's got unobtrusive endnotes, color plates of Tolkien's own accompanying art, etc.

Unfortunately, I find - just as on previous readings - that there's just not much story here. Despite a number of revisions during its development, Roverandom very much reads as a spur of the moment story told to a child. The characters are barely developed, the plot is thin and disconnected, and it's just not very satisfying overall. There is some nice invention, but it's passed by so quickly that it never really has the chance to be fun.

If you're a super Tolkien fan and haven't read this, it won't hurt. But otherwise, you can safely pass it by without having missed very much.