Troll by Frances Stickley illustrated by Stefano Martinuz

"There beneath the bridge unseen,

he found is easy to be mean.

Disguised beneath the bog and bubbles,

Troll could never get in trouble.

No one even knew his name."

Anyone that comes near his lair is subject to terrible abuse by troll. 

"I'll shove those turnips up your nose." "I'll squash your bun." "I'll spit on you. That bunch of bad weeds stinks like poo."

Then one day a little white rabbit comes along. Troll tries shouting his usual insults but instead of running away the she comes closer. 

"She pointed towards her ears and shook her head. 'I cannot hear, but please repeat the things you said. I'll try to read your lips instead."

Troll feels ashamed. He no longer wants to be mean. He practices being polite and kind and then he sets off to visit all the animals that he previously treated so badly.

You can see inside this book here. And you will want to look for other versions of The Three Billy Goats Gruff or perhaps begin by reading couple of these before you share Troll.

Publisher blurb: In this funny tale, inspired by both internet trolls and The Three Billy Goats Gruff, there is a terrifying troll that lives under a bridge. Unseen, he delights in shouting nasty things to passers-by. But when a d/Deaf bunny unwittingly faces up to him, he realises that it's not so fun to say nasty things to someone's face. Can Troll finally learn to love himself and others?

Troll is on the Empathy Lab list. This is a fabulous resource which will give you some terrific titles to consider for your school library. Read more here. 

The Empathy Lab annotation says: Everyone’s scared of Troll, who revels in being mean. Then a little rabbit asks: ‘you seem so cross. Is something wrong?’ which triggers real change. Troll practices saying kinder things, including to himself. About understanding yourself before you can be kind.

Inspired by internet trolls, cloaked in anonymity, he delights in shouting mean things to passersby, hurting feelings just for fun. That's until a little deaf rabbit unknowingly crosses his path and shows concern for the Troll as he looks so cross. Finally understanding the hurt his words and actions have caused, Troll learns the errors of his ways and realises his behaviour has isolated him and caused so much harm to others. Love Reading4Kids

The Kids Book Curator explains how this book can teach children about tolls and trolling on the internet. 

Thunderhead by Sophie Beer

"The possibly dying part of the surgery didn't scare me. It was the deaf part that scared me. Life without music. Even though music is my life."

Thunderhead is a long way outside my 'reading demographic'. It is a Young Adult title and I mostly read books for ages 5-12; and it is filled with contemporary music references nearly all of which meant nothing to me mainly because I am 'too old' or I missed this experience during my own teenage years. I will say some reviewers (see the end of this post) disagree and I have seen this book recommended for ages 10+ but I think it will have greater appeal to readers aged 12+ in the early years of High School. 

Thunderhead did hold my attention but I think my reading experience was probably only set to about 30% because I could not really relate to the enormous number references to music and also, unlike most reviewers, I did find the angsty teenage friendship trials a little tedious even though I am sure this is probably how most teenagers really do feel as they navigate change and try to work out how to fit in. My own teenage years were agony but I do not want to dwell on or think about events from over fifty years ago. 

Here is the publisher blurb:

Meet Thunderhead: awkward, music-obsessed and a magnet for bad luck. Their favourite things in life are listening to records and hanging out with their best (and only) friend Moonflower. But Thunderhead has a big secret. And when Moonflower moves schools, they're faced with the reality of surviving the wilderness of high school alone. Make new friends? NOTHANKYOUVERYMUCH. As two big life events approach, Thunderhead posts playlists and heartfelt diary entries as an outlet to try to make sense of their changing world, to try to calm the storm brewing in their brain and to try to find the courage to unfurl their heart.

Here are some text quotes which did resonate with me:

"I care so much about what people think of me that it keeps me awake at night, remembering cringe, ridiculous things I've said, twisting myself inside out with embarrassment."

"Get up and speak in front of the class? I would rather eat my own shoe with tomato sauce and a pocket knife."

"Music is one of the only sources of true magic I can think of. You can put a song on and suddenly be engulfed in memories of when you discovered it or what you were doing when you first heard it. Songs are spells, woven with melody and lyrics."

"At first I was scared I was going to die. Which is a pretty heavy thing when you're still as tall as you were in Year Four. I'd like to die having reached the prerequisite height to go on a roller-coaster, thanks very much."

"Mr Dosun (the school counsellor) is a bumbling, good-natured guy who I'm fairly certain is the result of a bad magic spell and is actually a golden retriever in a human's body."

"I get so angry that I have to be a BODY. I wish I were some ethereal spirit, flitting through dimensions and the space-time continuum, not bogged down by being inside a mound of flesh that is falling apart."

"Approximately every seven years, every cell in your body has died and been replaced. ... I met Moonflower seven years ago, when we were in Year Two. In that seven years, every cell inside her body has died and been replaced by another. She is literally not the same person who I first became friends with."

The daughter of one of my friends works for our Australian radio station called Triple J - even though she is way older than the intended audience for Thunderhead I kept thinking she would really enjoy this book so I think I will send her the details. Unlike me, she is sure to know 100% of the music references and her teenage years are recent enough for the trials and tribulations of friendships and the desperate need to 'fit in' to still resonate. 

Readers can find all the songs from this book via a Spotify list but since I don't have an account with this service I was unable to add this layer to my own reading. You can however listen to samples of the tracks. There are over 180 tracks because each entry in Thunderhead opens with a list of five or six tracks that reflect the themes or her feelings as she goes through her complex life journey. 

Thunderhead is sure to be a CBCA 2025 Notable title - hopefully in the Older Readers category.

This is the album Thunderhead really wants to own:

Here is an interview where Sophie Beer talks to Joy Lawn (Paperbark Words). Allen and Unwin list some famous author endorsements for this book on their webpage. 

Click each of these review links for more plot details:

It’s a difficult review to write, without giving away too many of the secrets and twists but I can assure you that this is one fabulous and moving novel. Just so Stories

I loved this book, because it was lovingly and thoughtfully created with personal experience and excellent research. It’s one of those books that I couldn’t put down, and that comes to life vibrantly on the page. It’s full of heart and soul, music and joy, family and friends. It will make you laugh, cry, and cheer, and get into your heart and soul. Feeling seen and understood in the books you read is a powerful thing, and we need to have more awesome disability representation like this. The Book Muse

And music itself is a character in the book. Every chapter begins with a playlist – Playlist for Luck, Playlist for New Friends, Playlist for Staring Big, Awful, Scary Things Right in the Eyes. Beer cleverly establishes Thunderhead’s long term love of music via intergenerational influences to ensure the lists don’t date the book, with everything from Nina Simone, to Taylor Swift, to mxmtoon. Storylinks

Here is the webpage for Sophie Beer where you can see her previous picture books. It is fun to link her new Upper Primary/High School book Thunderhead with her work on the Little People Big Dreams title about Elton John. Sophie Beer did all the art in Thunderhead and at times this gives the book a graphic novel feel. 

Before Nightfall by Silvia Vecchini illustrated by Sualzo translated by Geoffrey Brock

Carlo can't hear

Carlo can't see out of one of  eyes

Carlo was hurt and cut

open and sewn shut

in so many places.

I won't name them all because

it would be like playing

Operation

and always going buzzzzz

This verse novel is narrated by Emma. Her brother Carlo is hearing impaired and blind in one eye. His second eye is now failing and so Carlo will need an operation. The pages where Carlo recovers in hospital are the most powerful part of this book as each page is black (with white text) and so as a reader I really felt the pain of complete sight loss. Carlo did go to school with his sister but:

Because one again we received

a notice from school

Carlo won't be allowed

to continue to attend

none of the teachers there

are qualified to 

talk

think

create

invent

learn

stay

with him

So now Carlo is being homeschooled by his parents and everyone is trying to learn sign language but what will happen if Carlo can no longer see their hands?

This book is aimed at a Young Adult audience. It is a complex book to read and understand even though it only has 109 pages. It demands to be read very slowly because Silvia Vecchini does not fill any story gaps - you have to work things out for yourself. Between each section of verse there are narrative pages where we meet other people in Carlo's life:

Something different between the verse are different points of view from people in Carlo’s life. A school official, a sibling, a school friend and a local shopkeeper. A nurse and then Carlo himself, whose POV is portrayed in white text on black pages, signifying the darkness around him as he waits to see if his limited sight is restored. What book next

Publisher blurb: A moving tale about a brave hearing-impaired teen losing his vision, told through the perspective of his loving sister in poetry, prose, and the sign-language alphabet. Carlo is a teenager who happens to be hearing-impaired and can see only out of one eye. Now that eye is failing, and Carlo must have an operation to try to save his vision. His fierce and funny sister Emma, Carlo’s closest companion, begins writing poems that express the fear she works hard to hide, while his seeing-eye dog Lulù remains steadfastly at his side. But even with the support and affection of his family, how can Carlo face such uncertainty? And what will happen if he can no longer communicate with them? Before Nightfall is a book about trust, imagination, empathy, and language, narrated through the poems Emma types and through prose passages told from multiple perspectives and illustrated with sign-language alphabet, drawn by the Italian artist Sualzo. Despite the immense challenges Carlo and Emma face, their story is one of hope and wonder.

I picked this book up in Readings Kids in Melbourne. I probably would not have found Before Nightfall, but it had been miss-shelved with the Middle Grade books - it is most certainly a YA title. The book price sticker shows this too. You know that I rarely read YA but I am pleased I made this discovery, and I am keen to share this book with a literary friend. 

Silvia Vecchini was born in 1975 in Perugia. She loves poetry and has written several books for children and young adults. Antonio “Sualzo” Vincenti is an author and comics illustrator. He won the Festi'DB di Moulins in 2009, best screenplay category, for L'Improvvisatore, and was named finalist in the Micheluzzi Award in 2010. Geoffrey Brock is the author of two collections of poems, the editor of The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Italian Poetry, and the translator of books by Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, Roberto Calasso, and others. His translation of Pinocchio appears in both the NYRB Classics series and the New York Review Children’s Collection. He teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Translation at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Awards for Before Nightfall:

• Strega Ragazzi Prize 2021 Finalist
• Cento Prize 2020 Finalist
• Orbil Award 2020 Finalist
• Giovanni Arpino Prize 2020 Finalist

I do hope this book has been submitted by IBBY in Italy for our IBBY Collection for Young People with Disabilities. 

The IBBY Collection located at the Toronto Public Library features a large international selection of books for and about young people with disabilities. The books are chosen by the IBBY National Sections, as well as by independent experts and publishers. Take a look at our Australian titles which are part of this collection. 

Highlights of the Collection include:

• 4000+ books in over 40 languages
• special formats such as Blissymbolics, PCS, Braille, sign language, tactile and textile books
• fiction books that portray children and teens with disabilities as characters in stories and novels
•  books for adults with developmental delays, language disabilities or reading difficulties

El Deafo by Cece Bell

I am late coming to this book which was published in 2015. I really appreciated the raw honesty of this story but of course you might expect that from an autobiography. At times Cece's experiences were heartbreaking but the ending has a promise of better times to come. I experienced a huge roller coaster of emotions. I desperately wanted someone to talk to the other students at Cece's High school - why were they so awful to her just because she was wearing a large hearing device? And worst of all is that dreadful PE teacher who breaks her expensive equipment seemingly with no consequence for him but huge ramifications for Cece.  

In a talk Bell gave at the 2014 ALA Midwinter Conference about El Deafo, she said she chose rabbits rather than humans as characters because rabbits can hear really well and what's funnier than a rabbit with hearing aids? Bell's characters are drawn with cute, simplistic faces, yet they are very expressive and she does a phenomenal job, both with words and pictures, of conveying the experience of not being able to hear and understand the world around you. Books4YourKids

The dream sequences where Cece imagines her alternate life as a superhero were terrific and very easy to identify from the way the page designed changed.  Here are twelve facts about Cece Bell. 

Publisher Blurb: Starting at a new school is scary, especially with a giant hearing aid strapped to your chest! At her old school, everyone in Cece’s class was deaf. Here, she’s different. She’s sure the kids are staring at the Phonic Ear, the powerful aid that will help her hear her teacher. Too bad it also seems certain to repel potential friends. Then Cece makes a startling discovery. With the Phonic Ear she can hear her teacher not just in the classroom but anywhere her teacher is in the school—in the hallway . . . in the teacher’s lounge . . . in the bathroom! This is power. Maybe even superpower! Cece is on her way to becoming El Deafo, Listener for All. But the funny thing about being a superhero is that it’s just another way of feeling different . . . and lonely. Can Cece channel her powers into finding the thing she wants most, a true friend? Here is a sample from the audio version of El Deafo. And the Kirkus Star Review. 

The real reason I found the book as compelling as I did was due in large part to the way in which Bell tackles the illogical logic of childhood friendships. So many kids are friends thanks to geographical convenience. You’re my age and live within a certain radius of my home? We’re besties! And Bell’s hearing-impaired state is just a part of why she is or is not friends with one person or another. Really, the true arc of the story isn’t necessarily CeCe coming to terms with the Sonic Ear, but rather how she comes to terms with herself and, in doing so, gets the best possible friend. It’s like reading a real life Goldilocks story. This friend is too bossy. This friend is too fixated on Cece’s hearing. But this friend? She’s juuuuuust right. SlJ Betsy Bird

Through the portrayal of bunny characters (bunnies because they are known for their big ears and excellent hearing), Bell has managed to amplify the book’s whimsical feel providing readers with a remarkable story of a young girl living with hearing impairment. Children's Book Review

Awards for El Deafo:

• Cybils Award for Elementary and Middle Grade Graphic Novel Winner
• Goodreads Choice Award for Best Middle Grade and Children's Nominee
• Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature Finalist
• Guardian Children's Fiction Prize Longlist
• ALSC Notable Children's Books Selection
• Charlotte Huck Award Honor
• Children's Choice Book Award for Debut Author Finalist
• Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids Winner
• Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work Finalist
• Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection
• Judy Lopez Memorial Award Winner
• Newbery Medal Honor

As you would expect El Deafo is also included in the IBBY Collection for Young People with Disabilities.

I have a plan this year to read more graphic novels. Luckily the libraries I visit each week have strong collections. The hospital library where I work as a volunteer has an interesting collection which comes from Scholastic Australia and their Standing Order service. Here are the books they offered in 2023:

Other books by Cece Bell:

I Yam a donkey    Rabbit and Robot The Sleepover

The time tree by Enid Richemont

The Time Tree is a tiny and very old book (1989) which we recently culled from our school library.  I had fond memories of reading this little time slip story so I picked it up yesterday.

Joanna and Rachel are best friends on the brink of starting High School.  They visit a tree near their home and feel a 'presence' but the girls are fearful of confessing this to each other and so this disturbing sensation threatens to ruin their long standing friendship.  Finally it all becomes too much and the girls, independently, decide to share this peculiar feeling that comes when they sit in their tree.

"Listen," said Joanna boldly, 'I think someone was watching us - yesterday after noon, when we were up in the tree. I mean there wasn't anyone around but I could sort of - feel it.' ... It was out at last, and they both felt better."

The girls have somehow connected with Anne who lives in 16th Century London.  She is treated so badly by her family because she is deaf but Anne is a clever girl.  Joanna and Rachel teach her to read and write and so her destiny changes.

Things change from this :

"She knew that she was a freak. She knew that her presence offended people, that her shadow falling on the wooden pails might sour the milk ... "

Her literacy skills now mean :

"Her father, somewhat unwillingly, tried teaching her to add figures together.  In future years he would turn more and more towards this once rejected daughter, even asking for help when his accounts would not make sense."

Anne sews a sampler with a surprising image - one she had seen in the junior alphabet book Joanna and Rachel used with Anne in their tree.  You will smile at the end of this book when the girls find this curious sampler in a museum.  I enjoyed the way this story gives the reader small and personal insights into life in Elizabethan times.  It does not seem important to know how or why Anne meets these modern girls - the meeting is just important for all three girls in ways none would have imagined.

Here is a review with more plot details.  You might like to look for some other Enid Richemont books in your library.