John Ronald's Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien - by Caroline McAlister (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A captivating picture book biography of a boy who imagined a world full of dragons and grew up to be beloved author J. R. R. Tolkien.

John Ronald loved dragons. He liked to imagine dragons when he was alone, and with his friends, and especially when life got hard or sad. After his mother died and he had to live with a cold-hearted aunt, he looked for dragons. He searched for them at his boarding school. And when he fought in a Great War, he felt as if terrible, destructive dragons were everywhere. But he never actually found one, until one day, when he was a grown man but still very much a boy at heart, when he decided to create one of his own. John Ronald's Dragons, a picture book biography by Caroline McAlister and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, introduces the beloved creator of Middle Earth and author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings to a new generation of children who see magic in the world around them.

Review Quotes

"The story of a boy who dreamed of dragons and found a way to bring them to life. Tolkien grows from dapper lad to dapper young man in Wheeler's cleanly drawn scenes..." --Kirkus Reviews

"An imaginative and informative look at this beloved author." --Booklist

"...beautifully illustrated introduction to Tolkien's life for younger readers..." --School Library Journal

"This picture-book biography of J. R. R. Tolkien shows the roots of many themes later found in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy." --Horn Book

"It's an ideal lead-in to family readings of The Hobbit." --Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

Caroline McAlister teaches English at Guildford College and every year takes students to Oxford, England, to study fantasy in the setting where Tolkien lived and wrote. She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Eliza Wheeler wrote and illustrated New York Times bestseller Miss Maple's Seeds and enjoys eating Hobbit food and reading Tolkien aloud with her friends. She divides her time between the coast of California and the riverbanks of Wisconsin.