J.R.R. Tolkien: Master of Fantasy

by David R. Collins

These informative and inspiring biographies will give young readers a look at the lives of some of the world's most influential people in history. Each over 100 pages, the books are also ideal for reports.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

Library Binding

First published February 1, 1992

About the author

David R. Collins is a published author and a narrator of children's books and young adult books. Some of the published credits of David R. Collins include George Washington Carver: Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist, Cesar Chavez (Just the Facts Biographies), J. R. R. Tolkien (Just the Facts Biographies), and The Time Travelling Cat & the Tudor Treasure.

Reviews

[J. Jammy May · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually rather enjoyed this little light read and learnt things about Tolkien I never knew before. While a bit out of date (being printed prior to the turn of the new century) it’s still excellent in the information it provides on his life, achievements, and statistics of his works.

[Leah Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly brief biography, but a nice, quick read that taught me more about my king/icon/author of the greatest masterpiece of fantasy to exist/creator of my mentor, Gandalf.

[Katlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

More appropriately this book probably deserves a 4.5 but I would rather round up then down. I thoroughly enjoyed this short biography. I learned a lot of small tidbits and revisited others. It was amazing to see all of the old photographs of my favorite author. The Hobbit was what really got me into reading so getting to hear how it originally came to be was fascinating. I actually stole my fathers copy once upon a time and never returned it. Probably some 15 years later I bought him a new copy with the same cover. I just couldn’t part with mine. Fast forward to today and I now have 25 copies of The Hobbit, including an Irish and Spanish version. Tolkien will always have a special place in my heart and I appreciated how the author portrayed him in this installment.

The artwork I would probably give three stars. But overall I would definitely recommend this book to any Tolkien lovers.

The fact that Luthien and Beren was inscribed on Edith and Ronald’s gravestone had me tearing up. Just from that you know that they had a beautiful love story.

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like the drawn artwork at all and the photos seemed randomly selected—a lot of buildings and not a lot of his family or of greater significance to his life. His biography was told like a story, with imaginings of certain scenarios built in (not my favorite kind of biography style at all), but I suppose it makes for a faster, less dense read. Despite its small size, though, it covers good breadth of important moments in JRR Tolkien’s life. He was called Ronald, of those three letters, actually. Not overly impressed but keeping it for my Tolkien collection.

[L Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read - about an hour. It provided a short overview of Tolkien's life including his childhood, education, career, and family. The book has some interesting photographs of places where Tolkien lived and of the author himself. It would be an easy read for upper elementary and middle school students wanting to learn the basics about this author.

[Lee Kersting · Rating 3 out of 5]

A succinct biography geared towards a younger audience. The author lays too many claims to Tolkien's thoughts and feelings for my taste. To it's credit, the book has some great, candid photos of the professor I had not seen before.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read about his life. Hard to believe he was born in the late 1800’s. And started his own language.

[Erin Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, but informative biography of one of the world's best fantasy authors.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great addition to a Tolkien book collection. Interesting to read about Tolkien’s upbringing.

[Megan Koval · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book did a great job of bringing both Tolkien's life outside of his writing together. The information given throughout this book was great and I also learned a lot from reading this book. I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed reading this book.

This book would make a good read aloud if the class was doing author studies. It gives a lot of good information about Tolkien that I think the students would find interesting. I think that students could also relate to this because I feel as if a lot of the students would be familiar with his work and might be interested in learning more about him.

I think this book would be a good independent reading book for a student who enjoyed reading Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit because I think the student would find it interesting to read about the man who created the books and how he created them as well. I think it would be a good way for a student to find an interest in biographies because the book is about someone that they are familiar with and can access the work of.

This book contains a short preface that I think would be good to introduce students to the idea of what a preface is. Because it is only about two pages long, it is short enough to not overwhelm students, but to also get the point across of what a preface is and what information should be in a preface if a text contains one.

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd long wanted to know more about Tolkien the writer after having long ago read his enchanting tales. This brief biography was just the right length, giving an overview of the events in his life and photos of the places he spent it. I read of his birth in South Africa, his being orphaned at an early age, and his service in World War I. I was interested to learn that it took him twelve years from the time he started writing the Lord of the Rings until it was completed and published. Had he not persevered, we might never have this treasure! He lived a long life, able to enjoy the honors that his success brought him.

[Jean-Paul Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a temporary book because I refuse to read less than 200 pages per day. There was nothing wrong with it but it was so boring because of the and now they live here and then this happened and now they live here. The only interesting part was when Tolkien lived in Africa but even that was boring. It is funny because he had been able to detect when a book was monotone or actually written lively. This book was written with as much enthusiasm as the thirty page research paper due this Thursday on day dreaming in class. It was even written in the same font everybody always uses for a book report done quickly. Compared to J R R Tolkien books it is very flat.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

REad this to help my son with a project for school, although I have never read the The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, this was a very interesting book and gave me some information on an author my husband and son enjoy.

[Jamie Maltman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this one out from the library intending to read it to my son, and read it myself, filling in many parts I didn't know about the author's life. I'm nit sure anyone has ever loved words as much as he has. Quick summary of his life, with a lot on his younger years. Solid.

[David Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written for younger readers but fully enjoyable read for all ages. I found it actually filled in small parts of the story of JRRT even though I've read much about him in other works. I'm glad I took the time to read it.

[Indigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really, really enjoy the books that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. So it was interesting to read about what he did in life and who his family was and to know about all of his friends.

[Matt Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

meant for younger readers, but still found out some interesting things about Tolkien that i didn't know . .

[Chloé · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a sweet little book! I quite enjoyed learning more about one of my all-time favorite authors.

[Grace Wadsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and informative