The Toll-Bridge Troll - Hardcover

Wolff, Patricia Rae

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152776656 ISBN 13: 9780152776657

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1995

Synopsis

A series of riddles and rebus-like drawings tell the story of a fierce troll and a smart little boy who, every morning on his way to school, is challenged to outsmart the troll and cross the troll's bridge.

About this title

About the Authors

No Bio

Illustrator Kimberly Bulcken Root is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. She made her picture book debut with A Bed for the Wind. Her illustrations have appeared in The Nation, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. She and her husband, the illustrator Barry Root, live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

Little boys must go to school and young trolls must guard toll bridges. From this ingenuous premise debut author Wolff spins a series of humorous encounters as clever Trigg repeatedly outwits and out-riddles a small, rather elfin troll. In a neat surprise ending, the troll announces that his mother has ordered him to attend school, too, "so that I can get smart." The swift, puckish story and its plucky hero will appeal tremendously, especially to the many children inspired to play toll-bridge by The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Root's (The Palace of Stars) quirky style shines in her pen-and-ink and watercolor compositions (in the opening scene, Trigg, bidding his mother good-bye, nonchalantly steps over the enormous Great Dane that almost incidentally sprawls across the doorway). She also contributes endpaper landscapes showing Trigg's route and rebus-like mini-drawings, incorporated into the text. All the visual eccentricities help the reader believe in the fantastical world so deftly created here. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4^-7. A classic fairy-tale scenario is updated here. Trigg is a modern little boy in blue jeans and sneakers. But his path to school every day takes him over a bridge possessed by an old-fashioned troll. When the troll demands the customary toll, Trigg decides to outwit him by using riddles. Wolff's text is fluid and playful and filled with riddles that will be familiar to readers. Root's attractive pen-and-watercolor paintings gracefully blend quaint and contemporary elements in an oversize format. A fun choice; kids will enjoy knowing the jokes and laugh when the troll decides to join Trigg at school so he can become smart, too. Leone McDermott

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152776656
• ISBN 13: 9780152776657
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Root Kimberly Bulcken
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32