Roverandom is the J.R.R. Tolkien story featuring a dog who is turned into a toy.
Tolkien wrote Roverandom in 1925 after his son Michael lost a favorite toy dog during a holiday. In the story, the dog Rover is transformed by a wizard and has adventures involving the Moon, the sea, and fantastical creatures.
The work remained unpublished during Tolkien’s lifetime. It appeared in book form in 1998, edited and introduced by Christopher Tolkien. This makes it different from Tolkien’s better-known novels, which were published while he was alive.
Roverandom is often discussed alongside Tolkien’s other shorter children’s stories, including Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major. It also shows how family experiences could inspire his imaginative fiction.