John Ronald's Dragons: The Story of J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald's Dragons is a beautifully illustrated picture book biography that introduces children to the early life of J. R. R. Tolkien, the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The story highlights how Tolkien's lifelong fascination with dragons and his powerful imagination helped him navigate personal loss, including the death of his mother, and the trauma of war. It gently explores how these experiences, combined with his inner world, ultimately fueled his creativity and led him to write the stories we know today. This book is perfect for sparking conversations about imagination, resilience, and how personal experiences can shape artistic endeavors.

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.