Good Babies: A Tale of Trolls, Humans, a Witch and a Switch

Any parent who has ever been sleep-deprived will smile at this richly illustrated, lively original folktale that reassures us that all babies are good babies — and that patient love can foil even the worst-laid plans.

A troll-baby living with humans? A human baby with trolls? What chaos and heartache that would lead to!

Long ago, a dark-eyed witch, passing through a valley deep in the mountains of Norway, discovered two families — one human and one troll — each with a brand-new baby. The human baby slept all day and cried all night, driving his family crazy, no matter how much they rocked or sang or made funny faces. Likewise, the troll baby was a terror who slept all night and cried all day, which is when trolls like to take to their beds. Meanwhile, the witch, hoping to refresh her travel-weary bones with some wickedness, gleefully swapped troll-brat for human infant. But what is a wily witch to do when her bad intentions backfire?

TIM MYERS is the author of numerous books for young readers, including the acclaimed NEW YORK TIMES bestseller BASHO AND THE FOX. Of GOOD BABIES, he says, "Until she was two, my daughter never slept longer than three hours at a time. This almost turned her mother and me into trolls — but Cassie turned out wonderful! I think patience with children is at the heart of what it means to be civilized."


Kelly Murphy has written and illustrated several books for children and is the illustrator of LOONY LITTLE by Dianna Hutts Aston. She says she had many an inspiration for GOOD BABIES as she's "of a trollish nature and known to munch on polliwogs from time to time."