Three Billy Goats Gruff - Hardcover

Asbjornsen, Peter Christen; Rounds, Glen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823410153 ISBN 13: 9780823410156

Publisher: Holiday House, 1993

Synopsis

The Three Billy Goats Gruff come up with an ingenious scheme to foil the big, ugly troll who lives under the bridge that they must cross to get to the grassy hillside.

About this title

About the Authors

Glen Rounds is a contributor for the following Holiday House Inc Title: Three Billy Goats Gruff

Glen Rounds has written and illustrated books for all ages, including the recently reissued Wild Horses. He lives in southern Pines, North Carolina.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3-- A kinetic retelling of a beloved tale. Using no-nonsense language and his trademark minimalist drawings, Rounds strips the story down to the bare essentials, recapturing its time-tested appeal. With hairy, scratchy-looking skin, a huge wart on a pickle-shaped nose, bloodied extremities, and poor posture, the Troll makes the perfect bad guy. Splatters of brown-gray charcoal color float around the outline of his body, giving him an offensive aura. When the biggest Billy Goat Gruff appears on the scene, a face-forward drawing featuring a bristly goatee beard, ornery eyes, and a set of broad shoulders lets everyone know that this is not some cud-chewer. A dramatic double-page spread, filled with movement and emotion, captures the conflict as the two foes charge one another. After the goat butts his enemy with "hard horns" and tramples him with "sharp hooves," another striking illustration shows the troll's grasping hands as he slips below the bridge. Readers are left with the reassuring image of the three goats grazing peacefully on a hillside. While carefully preserving the essence of the Norwegian tale, Rounds freshens it up with his unique perspective and style. Make room for this one next to the classic versions by Paul Galdone (Houghton, 1979) and Marcia Brown (Harcourt, 1957). --Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rounds's pedestrian retelling of the familiar Norwegian folk tale about the billy goats who trick a mean troll lacks the verve and vitality that has made the story a favorite of kids around the world. Reminiscent of children's crayon drawings, the illustrations--set against ample white backgrounds--feature a yellow sun outlined with black rays that hangs in a blue pencilled sky, and a scraggly hillside where "the grass is so tall and green and tender." The eponymous animals, however, seem neither brave nor clever, and the troll hardly surly enough to make the story work. There is almost no character differentiation between the smallest goat, who goes trip-trapping across the troll's bridge and the biggest Billy Goat Gruff, who butts the troll from the bridge. Nor do the frequent use of exclamation points, changes in font size and capital letters compensate for the lack of either storytelling voice or drama in the straightforward text. This tale is better served by previously published renderings, such as the standard Paul Galdone version. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rounds has never won the big awards, but this gem is evidence of a marvelous talent that has produced ever stronger and subtler illustration since Ol' Paul, the Mighty Logger (1936). He tells this familiar tale like a fine storyteller who doesn't remember the traditional words, exactly, but knows what's important and which corners want smoothing to suit his audience, producing a vigorous text--as good as the original--that tempers the violence (the troll is knocked into the river and never seen again) without compromising the tale's essential character. The illustrations may be Rounds's best. His bold, black, angular lines are feathered or broken here, varied in weight or smudged into the judiciously added color that brightens the clean white pages, to create marvels of characterization: the prancing goats' careless arrogance is slyly modulated from goat to goat and scene to scene, while the troll--despite gory-looking extremities and a terrible visage--has an appealing vulnerability. The designer deserves special credit for choosing a bold but elegant typeface that harmonizes perfectly with Rounds's art, in weight and position and through the many changes in size that the tale demands. Absolutely splendid. (Folklore/Picture book. 1-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823410153
• ISBN 13: 9780823410156
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Rounds Glen
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32