From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 15:24:17 -0600

I read The Trolls to my second graders about two months ago. They were mesmerized by it. I liked the book a lot when I read it to myself, but the children's reactions made me appreciate the book even more. As a matter of fact, I find myself talking about the children's reaction whenever I share the book with others. (We make up a holiday book wish list and most of the kids asked for The Trolls.)

The story is like Scherherezade (sp??) in that the listeners are kept strung along for the whole book...wanting to know if there really were trolls. Did they bring their brother there? What happened? And the ending...amazing:

" 'Look she put us in the picture.' There the tree of them stood...wearing their Halloween costumes. Melissa was dressed in her ruffled stepmother dress, Amanda was in the velvet stepsister dress, and Pee Wee was dressed as a ghost.


Melissa turned to Amanda and said, 'How did she know?' "


I read the last sentence (ending a book with a question seemed so daring to them!) and my students just sat there, stunned. SO I repeated the last question to my class, "How did she know?" (that PeeWee would get to be the ghost, not the one of the Ugly Stepsisters)
 We had a fantastic discussion of treatment of siblings and how all the children had changed throughout the story. They argued about why Aunt Sally told the stories in the first place. (teach the girls a lesson, get them to eat their green beans, teach them about their past, etc) Then the discussion moved to the obvious, "Why hadn't their dad told them about his childhood before?" (he really had seen the trolls and did not want to talk about it, he hated Sally, he wanted to forget...)

I think the cover is amusingly deceptive. I am sure the art director must have considered a dark and ominous cover, but I am glad that s/he went with the cover she did: Wendy Anderson Halperin's whimsically drawn, high-haired aunt Polly with the Miss Frizzle dress and the children's happy eyes transfixed in the storyteller. The children in my class pored over the cover...looking for clues to the future. Every day, someone would ask about Fat Little Mean Girl and the class would sigh with frustration, right along with the sisters, when Aunt Sally would make them wait one more day to find out about the trolls. This is a book of hilarious happenings with a serious, deeper dread built in. My listeners definitely felt the dread. One of my more sensitive children said, "This story is so good, but it makes me nervous."

The anti-bullying message is clear to young readers without being didactic. The relationship between Aunt Sally and her brother...and her obvious regret at her treatment of her younger brother was poignant and true. How many of us as adults look back on our sibling years and harbor feeling of anger or guilt? I found that part of the book-the adult point of view-real and powerful, yet still subtle. Thanks for reading this treatise. Now I hope you read all the National Book Award Nominees!

Robin Smith Nashville, Tennessee
Received on Thu 13 Jan 2000 03:24:17 PM CST