Troll Swap - Hardcover

Hodgkinson, Leigh

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763671010 ISBN 13: 9780763671013

Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2014

Synopsis

Timothy Limpet feels out of place in his troll family. He likes things to be just so, and most trolls, frankly, don’t. Tabitha Lumpit likes things to be loud, loopy, and messy, and she feels like a fish out of water in her very neat family. Sometimes they wonder if their families really see them for who they are. So Timothy and Tabitha swap places . . . with hilarious and touching results.

About this title

About the Author

Leigh Hodgkinson is an award-winning animator and worked as art director on the BAFTA award-winning animated series Charlie and Lola. She is also the illustrator of the Magical Mix-Ups series and the author-illustrator of Goldilocks and Just One Bear. She lives in Sussex, England, with her animator husband and two young children.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 1—Unlike the rest of his troll family, Timothy Limpet is neat and quiet. Tabitha Lumpit, who "would rather pick her nose than a flower any day," is a small girl who is quite different from her soft-spoken, tidy parents. When Timothy and Tabitha meet by accident, they decide to switch places. The human and the troll are dressed similarly-Tabitha even wears a headband with antennae-so their families humorously never notice the difference. At first, everything is hunky-dory, since the youngsters are behaving as they "should," but soon the children and their parents miss the way life used to be. Tabitha and Timothy decide to return to their own homes where they are different yet special. The delightful mixed-media illustrations and the varying typefaces exhibit a childlike essence and will tickle the funny bones of young readers. The fact that the parents make an attempt to behave a bit like their children is a sweet plus. This charming story with its engaging art will be well received by children.—Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI

Trolls! They’re “messy, mucky creatures” who live in “damp, dark, squelchy caves.” Except, that is, for Timothy Limpet, who is “nice and polite and tidy.” His ostracism is mirrored by that of human girl Tabitha Lumpit, who is “loud and loopy and messy” among her well-mannered contemporaries. A chance meeting of the two leads to a sensible swap, with both troll and human family alike delighted by the change. But, you know, it’s just not the same without the original rebels in their midsts—in fact, now things seem “just a tiny bit dull.” Happily reminiscent of Mo Willem’s Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed (2009), this is a goofball ode to individualism infused with a childlike zeal. This mostly comes courtesy of Hodgkinson’s mixed-media illustrations, which look plucked from the wall of a first-grade classroom—the characters are built of rough geometric shapes and filled in with the boldest of stripes and colors. Even the hand-drawn font is effective: huge and sprawling for Tabitha and aligned above neat dashed lines for Timothy. Great for your little trolls. Preschool-Grade 2. --Daniel Kraus

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0763671010
• ISBN 13: 9780763671013
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Hodgkinson Leigh
• Number of pages: 32