Tag Archives: troll

Jul23

The Wandering Troll by Russ Hughes and KayeC Jones

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wanderingtrollcoverThe Wandering Troll by Russ Hughes and KayeC Jones, picture e-book, 35 pages, published in 2016.

A troll leaves his under-bridge home because it has become too noisy. He searches for a new home in the forest, snow and desert. Will he ever find a peaceful place to stop for good?

This rhyming tale of a troll trying to find a spot to settle down is a lovely book for sharing with younger children. The inclusion of onomatopoeic ‘noise’ words, such as swoosh, thwack and click were fun additions to the reading aloud experience. His journey was repetitive, allowing for children to easily predict what might happen next.

The story was enjoyable, and we did giggle at the plight of the poor troll. He seemed so very happy in the snow (that’s probably my favourite page), but he needed somewhere much quieter. It was good for him to find a cosy home, and the ending made me feel happy.

While I liked the meandering text placement, it does make it slightly harder for newer readers to follow. The letters and words varied in size, spacing, colour, and direction. There was even the occasional misplaced upper case letter. It was all very whimsical, though it did suit the style of the illustrations and the story well.

The illustrations are gorgeous in The Wandering Troll. It appears as if each part of the picture is sewn to the page like appliqué pieces. Even the text is done in this style, with stitching through the centre of each letter. The troll is quite simple, yet his button eyes and stitched mouth are surprisingly expressive throughout the book. I like his angry face when he hears too much noise.

The Wandering Troll is suitable for toddlers, preschoolers, and lower primary school students.

 

*I received this book in digital form from the author, who asked me for an honest review of this book. I did not receive any other remuneration, and the review is composed entirely of my own opinions.

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Jul3

Don’t Wake the Troll by Ben Kitchin and Ben Redlich

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IMG_0859Don’t Wake the Troll by Ben Kitchin and illustrated by Ben Redlich, paperback picture book, published by Scholastic Australia in 2013.

A group of dwarves make a plan to creep deep into the mountain to steal back their treasure from a giant troll. They wait until the troll is sleeping and down the tunnel they go, they have to be very careful not to wake up the troll. As they tip-toe along, there comes a noise, kerlunk, kerlunk. It is their shields banging into their armour, so they ditch the shields, the noise might wake the troll, and on they sneak. But then there is another noise….

A wonderful and amusing adventure with treasure and a big smelly troll. The story is clever and exciting. I just love the illustrations too! There are some very funny pictures that made both my preschooler and second grader laugh out loud. The dwarves look so funny, especially as they start to leave their armour and weapons behind. The troll is very well drawn, covered in hair with great dirty nails, a big warty nose, and flies surrounding his stench, he is funny, yet a little scary at the same time. My kids really got into this book. My preschooler wanted to make all the sounds as the dwarves move down into the troll’s lair. Don’t Wake the Troll also has a very fitting ending. This is a book to be read and read again, especially with preschoolers and children in lower primary school.