John Ronald's Dragons The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien [Hardcover]

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 ofThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Ringsto a new generation of children who see magic in the world around them.

Caroline McAlisterteaches 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 Wheelerwrote and illustratedNew York TimesbestsellerMiss Maple's Seedsand 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.

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 Tolkiens 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 Hol3(