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. 

A Case with a Bang by Ulf Nilsson illustrated by Gitte Spee translated by Julia Marshall

 

This final instalment in the award winning Detective Gordon series is a multi-layered philosophical story about good detective work involving all, kindness to newcomers and doing the right thing. 

Gecko Press

A Case with a Bang is the fifth and final instalment in the detective Gordon series. EVERY Primary school library should add this series to their collection - they are fabulous. In these books you will meet quirky characters. You will read words of wisdom. And you will savour all the delicious cakes. You are sure to also enjoy solving each mystery alongside a very special mouse called Buffy. Ulf Nilsson died in 2021. 

In this final book from the series Buffy sets out to find out about a report of brumbling and scorching. A large garbage can has been bashed and smashed and there have been raids on kitchens in the district with residents reporting stolen pots and pans. Detective Gordon has now retired and Buffy is in charge. Gordon is still keen on police work (and cake) and so he offers to work with a young squirrel called Helmer who is keen to learn about police work.

Read the first chapter here on the Gecko Press page.  Julia Marshall from Gecko Press has translated the whole series so that children who read books in English can enjoy meeting Buffy and Gordon and all their forest friends. 

Blurb: Night brings a humming, scraping sound in the woods. Someone has wrecked the badger's trash can. Later, three large creatures are spotted up on the mountain. Detective Buffy discovers this seemingly small case really is a dangerous mystery—she comes back from her first investigation flat as a gingerbread, rolled over by something huge and terrifying. Back at the station, retired Detective Gordon is training a new young police assistant, and the cakes have run out in the forest bakery! While all the animals cower at the police station, Buffy remembers Gordon’s stories about trolls. Is it possible they do exist? Taking Gordon’s advice about how everyone thinks differently, she finds a way to communicate with the giant creatures—perhaps not so terrifying after all. The book leaves readers with a memorable Gordon message: Everyone thinks differently, strangers are welcome, cakes for everybody!

I just have one tiny issue.  If you have been collecting this series (as my friend has been) then you will want the five books to have the same cover design. Sadly with the newest instalment, the paperback edition has a different cover and here in Australia the hardcover edition which would match her set is almost AUS$38 - way too expensive for a school library to consider. The paperback is under AUS$19. If you are new to this series then the set of paperbacks will all match. 

I previously talked about the first book (The First Case) and the third book (A case in any case). In 2017 an animated version of the first book was released (in Swedish with subtitles). Oddly Buffy has been re-named Paddy. 

"There is always a good ending. In every story. And in real life.

If one is open to everything."

Troll and the Oliver by Adam Stower

Troll wants to eat the Oliver. The Oliver tricks him at every turn until finally the Troll pounces. He gobbles up the Oliver only to discover Olivers taste revolting. Luckily the Oliver has been busy baking cup cakes and of course all Trolls LOVE CAKE!

The word "the" is very important in the reading of this book. It is one of the aspects that makes this such a funny story. You could talk to your students about reversing the title - Oliver and the Troll and introduce the grammar concept of the as the definite article.

My friend gave me this book to read from her school library last week. I did wonder why? It is not new. It is not a book translated into English - I am collecting these. Oh now I know - cake!  There is a cake recipe in the back.  Perhaps this is a hint that I should get cooking. In this video Adam Stower talks about his book.

Here is an alternate cover:

Nicely tuned to a preschool sense of the ridiculous. Kirkus

This is sure to become a story time favourite. Books for Keeps

After, or perhaps before, reading this book you will want to read some other famous troll stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  I would also suggest you take a look at The Finger Eater by Dick King Smith.

Beware the deep dark forest by Sue Whiting illustrated by Annie White

This place is creepy, 

thought Rose.

And she opened her eyes

till they were as round as the moon.

Tinky is just a tiny pup. He doesn't understand the warning to stay away from the deep, dark forest. When he runs off Rosie has to conquer her fear and plunge in after him even though she is warned about the venomous snakes and carnivorous plants that lie in wait to attack her.

In the spirit of We're going on a Bear Hunt, Rosie bravely sets off into the unknown.  She does not encounter any carnivorous plants or venomous snakes but she does have to sneak past a ferocious sleeping wolf, make and swing on a vine rope across a chasm because the flimsy bridge is broken and finally confront an enormous and hungry troll. There is NO WAY Rosie will become dinner for this troll.

She grabs hold of her pup and then:

She swung across the dizzily deep ravine.
She slipped past the bristly brute of a wolf.
She squelched back through the deep and dark and muddy forest.

Here is a set of detailed teachers notes which focus on the story structure, characters and most important of all the language devices used by Sue Whiting such as alliteration and repetition. Annie White makes good use of font size and form along with huge bold capital letters when Rosie yells at the troll "I'M NOT DINNER! I'M ROSIE! I also love the colour palette she uses with lots of bright green and with splashes of red.  You can read how a young boy in a cape inspired this book.

Children in my school library often ask for 'scary books'. I think Beware the deep dark forest will meet this criteria. The troll is huge and perhaps a little frightening but the way Rosie scares HIM is sure to make a young audience howl with delight.

I do hope this book is selected for the CBCA 2019 short list along with Boat of Stars and Rainbow Bear.

That most of us will go to any lengths to save the thing we love, is the dominant theme in this book. It is a story of courage played out by a young girl who wants to save her young impetuous pup who doesn’t know what danger is, and is bent on discovering the world beyond his boundaries. Kids' Book Review

Beware the deep dark forest is a 2019 CBCA Notable book (Early Childhood).

Image source Cockburn Libraries : 

https://www.cockburnlibraries.com.au/kids/childrens-book-week-kids/book-of-the-year-early-childhood/

I would pair Beware the deep dark forest with Scary Night by Lesley Gibbes and Dragon Quest by Allan Baillie.  With a group of older students you could compare this book with Into the Forest and/or The Tunnel by Anthony Browne. 

A most magical girl by Karen Foxlee

"the Morever Wand must be retrieved form its hidden resting place in Under London by the youngest and most able member of the society; preferably, a most magical girl."

A most magical girl is short listed for our CBCA Awards this year.  I am fairly sure it will receive a prize - yes it is that good.  You will feel at times that you are drowning in a cold underground river, crawling into tiny spaces, hiding from an enormous hungry dragon and smelling the rotting food hoarded by trolls.  You will also grimace as the evil maniac Mr. Angel feeds his Dark-Magic extracting machine all manner of sadness and horror from the fog filled streets of Victorian London.

You can read about the plot of this book on some of the links to reviews below.  I thought it might be more useful if I share some text quotes which will show you aspects of this writing.

Detailed character descriptions :

Kitty - "Her head was held low, a furious frown upon her face, and there was not an inch of tidiness to her. Her wet black curls were tied roughly with a piece of twine, and a brown leaf dangled on a strand beside her ear."

Mr. Angel the wizard - "He had very dark eyes, which were sad, probably the saddest eyes she had ever seen, with very long lashes. He had a largish nose and a mouth that was rather lopsided, one side sneering, one side melancholy. ... He was sad and lonely-looking. He was wicked-looking."

"three shadowlings ... dreadful things, made of nothing yet brimming with wickedness, sleeping shadows bought to life with his dark magic."

All manner of smells permeate this story :

"Hafwen smelled of the earth and unwashed clothes and deep dark places, and for reasons Annabel did not understand, this was comforting."

You can really see the scenes and I do think this book would make a fabulous movie :

"It was a mean street, the buildings leaning, holding each other up like a mouthful of rotten teeth."

"Outside, she could hear London : horses' hooves and carriage wheels, the lowing of cattle and ... somewhere, someone wailing."

"Then the broomstick stopped. ... Then it shot forward at great speed. ... It hurled through a church nave door and careered back out again. It skidded beneath a bridge. It fishtailed between factory smokestacks. ... It hit the window, and the glass fell apart in great shards around them ... "

Little touches of humor:

"Surely they shouldn't be outside in such weather.  She'd catch a cold and take ill. A physician would be called for, and he'd say that nothing could be done.  Her story would be serialized in the Illustrated London News ... There would be illustrations."

"Annabel had played shuttlecock with Isabelle Rutherford ... Surely hitting a light orb was no different."

Chapter Headings 

One of the parts of this book that I absolutely adore are the little chapter headings - quotes from Miss Finch's Little Blue Book (1855).

"A young lady rises early, opens her windows, and delights in the pleasures of an industrious day." Chapter 2

"In education, geography is harmless, but too much history and politics can lead to a quarrelsome nature." Chapter 5

"No matter the heat, a young lady shall not remove her gloves in the ballroom." Chapter 17

The idea of drawing the map of Under London on Annabel's skin is also ingenious.

Here is a little warning.  At about page 270 I realised everything was not going to be resolved for Annabel and her wonderful betwixter friend Kitty and that I was going to have to wait for the sequel. I do hope Karen Foxlee has a plan for this but I cannot find any details yet.

I have already talked about Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy. I think A most magical girl is an even better book.  The tension is well maintained and the plot keeps moving swiftly. You will cheer for Annabel as she overcomes huge obstacles and shows great kindness especially towards the little troll Hafwen.

• Author web site.
• Kirkus review.
• Listen to an audio sample starting from page 93.
• Looking Glass review.
• You can buy this book from iTunes.
• Publisher site.

There are three double page illustrations in this book which mark the sections as the Dark Magic Gauge gains power.  I really like these dark illustrations and the front cover by Canadian Elly MacKay.

After reading A most magical girl I recommend you look for The book without Words, A very unusual pursuit, Barnaby Grimes and the curse of the night wolf, and Rooftoppers.

Tales for very picky eaters by Josh Schneider

This is a book you should read just for the fun of the storytelling.

Tales for very picky eaters has five simple stories with tantalizing titles:

• The tale of the disgusting broccoli
• The tale of the smelling lasagna
• The tale of the repulsive milk
• The tale of the lumpy oatmeal
• The tale of the slimy eggs

James does not want to eat these food but through good humour and wild storytelling his father is able, each time, to change his mind.

James asks about an alternative to broccoli. (Personally I adore broccoli and I feel sad that brussels sprouts and broccoli receive such bad press.)  His father offers dirt, used chewing gum or a sweaty sock flavoured with apple and cinnamon.  James changes his mind!

James complains the lasagna smells funny. His father explains he will now have to fire the troll who labours hard to make this lasagna down in their basement.  The troll  will have to return to his old job working for the rat circus.  James feels sorry for the troll and decides to eat the lasagna.

"Milk is repulsive and I won't drink it.' 'That's probably a good idea,' said James's father.  "Milk give growing children strong, hard bones.  Think of all the great things you could do with nice soft bones." It is easy to imagine what happens next when James thinks about all the sports he loves to play.

This little book was the winner of the 2012 Theodore Geisel Award. We have nearly all the past winners in our library.  Here is the review in Kirkus.

Children love seeing how the father spins these outrageous tales, until at the very end James turns the tables on his father when he actually decides to try something new. 

Little Stupendo by Jon Blake

Our Grade Two classes are looking at different junior book series from our library this term.  So far we have read Poor Fish (Aussie Nibble), My amazing poo plant (Aussie Nibble), Hot Stuff (Solo) and today we read Holly and the Skyboard (Sprinter).

I bought home a small selection of Sprinters to read tonight so I had more titles from this series to recommend to my students.  Here are three I really enjoyed.  It is always exciting to find simple beginner chapter books with satisfying stories.

Little Stupendo is the long suffering daughter of the Great Stupdeno.  It is Little Stupendo who has to repair torn costumes when his tricks don't quite work out but Little Stupendo is tired of this.  She longs to perform dare devil stunts herself.

The Great Stupendo has a new stunt involving a tightrope but he also has a serious rival - Johnny Bravo. When The Great Stupendo upsets his neighbour Mr Chinspot revenge is in the air.  The Great Stupendo has one serious weakness - his fear of spiders.  Meanwhile Little Stupendo has been practicing.  "As the Great Stupendo snored in his bed, Little Stupendo walked the plank.  Then the broomstick. By the light of the moon she crept outside and climbed onto the clothes line.  Bit by bit, she learned how to keep her balance. She even waved to the crowd, except no one was watching."

There are three Sprinter titles featuring Little Stupendo.

Hector the Rat is a completely unconventional fellow. "He was clean. He worked hard.  He was kind." He loves to tidy his room and he has discovered the joy of reading. His family are disgusted and order him to leave the family sewer.  Once above ground Hector meets Charlie and they become instant best friends.

Trouble is Charlie's mum will not allow him to have a pet rat in the house. The most glorious scene in this tiny 60 page book comes when Hector and Charlie are chased back into the sewer pipes. They are being chased by a rat catcher.  "Hector put his hand deep into his pocket. He pulled out some string, a tiny rat-sized torch, a magnetic compass, two boiled sweets, a toothbrush and a piece of paper which he unfolded carefully."

Ulf is a troll who lives in the far North. He loves to eat fingers and he tricks people by offering a friendly greeting as the walk alone on the hills.  As he says "How do you do" the walker would "hold out his or her hand to shake Ulf's.  Then Ulf would take it and, quick as a flash, bite off a finger with his razor sharp teeth and run away as fast as his bow-legs would carry him, chewing like mad and grinning all over his frog-face."

The Finger Eater continues his nasty ways until he meets Gundrun.  She has a solution which will stop this troll from inflicting any more harm on unsuspecting humans. I won't spoil this except to say if you ever find some discarded reindeer antlers (reindeer shed their antlers and grow new ones every year) hold onto them because you never know when they might be quite useful.

We have over 30 Sprinter titles in our school library.  They are part of our Fast Fiction collection and take less than twenty minutes to read aloud.  Perfect for newly independent readers.

The Heart of Glass book three in Tales from the Five Kingdoms by Vivian French

I am not going to write very much about The Heart of Glass Tales from the Five Kingdoms by Vivian French. If you have read the first and second books then you will already be hooked on this series and I probably do not need to convince you to read on. If you have not read the first two books you should do this before you pick up this book.

The Heart of Glass is another highly imaginative story. I marvel at the way writers like Vivian French can conjure such terrific characters, adventures and scenes.

In this third installment Marcus and Gracie have travelled to the Unreliable Forest of Flailing on a dwarf-spotting expedition. This should not be dangerous except that they have set out at a time of high activity in the dwarf world. Princess Fedora is about to marry Prince Tertius and the dwarfs have a huge order for gold. They are having some difficulty reaching this gold because time is short so the dwarfs have called on the trolls for assistance. In particular the dwarfs have called on King Thab and a bargain has been made. King Thab wants a Princess in exchange for supplying one troll as a laborer for the dwarfs. King Thab also wants power but so does Mullius Gowk who is in an Old Troll. Mullius is the last of the Old Trolls. “The High King of the Old Trolls had never known the meaning of the word mercy. He had lived for hundreds of years and had never once done a good deed. … after his death there had been stories … of his unrelenting cruelty and unceasing quest for domination.”

There is also a prophecy about power involving a Trueheart :

When Trueheart’s life in ended here
The High King’s heart will beat once more
And power come to those who reign.
A King of Kings will rule again

Trolls, dwarfs, Gracie (a Trueheart), bats, underground tunnels, greed, bargains and silly royalty are the perfect ingredients for a rollicking adventure. Good will of course triumph over evil but you will be so absorbed in the characters and twists and turns of the plot that by the end this hardly seems to matter.

As with the first two books in this series I read The Heart of Glass in just one sitting. It is good to see Vivian French has included a character list this time so you can keep track of everyone. I highly recommend this series for Middle Primary readers. Read an extract here.

A strange little monster by Sue Whiting illustrated by Stephen Michael King

Sasha is a monster living in Grotty Hollow but she is not like any of her companions or family members. Sasha likes a quiet life and she loves to play her flute with her grandfather. One night, after an awful meal of slug stew which has left her with a tummy ache, Sasha overhears her parents talking about her failure to behave as a monster. Worse her mother is actually crying. “She had never heard her mother or father cry before. Grotty Hollow monsters were too tough for crying.”

Sasha is so worried she decides to conform. She becomes a model monster but deep in her heart she knows this is not her true nature. On the day of the Hide and Go Scare games Sasha runs away only to be confronted by a Mountain Troll and he likes to eat little monsters! Her only weapon is her flute. Will Sasha save the day? Of course she will? Will her family accept her differences and love this strange little monster? Yes yes yes!!

This is another fairly new Aussie Nibble and for me it is another winner.