Customer Reviews

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls (New York Review Children's Collection)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great read filled with colorful illustrations & all the usual excitement you'd expect to find in a troll adventure. Of course, there is also a beautiful princess to be rescued. I don't know why Amazon lists the reading level as "baby, pre-school"!!! No baby or pre-schooler would sit through the first page. Maybe the illustrations would interest that group, but the amount of reading is far too lengthy. As a "read alone" book, I would say it is best suited for grades 3 and up.

This book has become a family classic in our home. I enjoyed it in hardback when I was a young boy and now my children are too. This book draws you in with its unique and mysterious stories of folklore long ago. You can picture these stories actually taking place in the areas of the world where they originated. The illustrations are curious and strange in a way that helps add to the book's tales. I am constantly asked to read this title at our bedtime. I can not think of a book that has been enjoyed more by my children and myself over the years. I give it my highest recommendation. Shawn C. Osting (shawn@intouch.org or scoitm@aol.com

As someone who is trying to cultivate a love of literature AND a lengthy attention span in my homeschooled children, I *did* purchase this for my pre-schooler and he sat happily through the entire book (3 evenings worth of reading for us). The d'Aulaire illustrations were, as always, engaging, soft, and encouraging to the child's imagination. Detailed without taking over the telling of the tales. Basically, it covered all of my criteria to be purchased: well written and if it has illustrations they need to be worthy of the story and worth looking at.

The down side to this book is that it is in some ways a long treatise on trolls that happens to include some stories as examples. This means that your child ends the book having been exposed to a lot of the folk beliefs of Scandinavian trolls, with a limited number of stories, and that it doesn't simple cut-off points for bedtime reading. On the other hand, it means it is a book worth revisiting as a child grows older; in our case so our children will be versed in the folklore and belief of their ancestors. A simpler bedtime book with lovely woodblock illustrations would be Lise Lunge-Larsen's "The Troll with No Heart in His Body." It is a collection of the stories with very brief intros that can be included or omitted according to the moment (at bedtime with my pre-schooler I tend to leave them out; when reading during the day I am more likely to include them).

I'm not really suggesting one book over the other. In a search for either cultural literacy or multiculturalism, both have their place and are both well told, well illustrated and will add to your child's imaginative landscape.

This was one of my favorite books as a child. I checked it out of the library over and over . The pictures just seem to come to life, the stories are enchanting. A must have for troll collectors. I purchased a copy at long last! Thanks Amazon

My grandsons loved this book. The illustrations are beautiful and the tales are quaint. We will be certain to treasure this book for years.

I love this book. Simple as that. Many of the stories are the same ones you'll find in other troll books, but no one tells them (or illustrates them) quite like the D'Aulaires. Not only is it one of the most magical children's books of the last fifty years, it's one of the best books period.

This is a great book to read to children; fun and ridiculous. The illustrations are excellent. I would recommend.

A very funny and entertaining look at trolls and their history. It is an excellent book for kids curious about the lives that trolls lead.

The D'Aulaire's Book of Trolls is a delight for any reader who enjoys tales with a bit of gruesome detail. The heavy pages are so satisfying, making this feel much more substantial than just a children's storybook- it has the feel of a work of art. The classic black/white D'Aulaire art was originally done with lithographic stones and the color pages were done with acetate overlays- one for each color. The final feel is almost as if the images were hand done in your personal copy of the book.

The tales themselves are filled with fun but not for the faint of heart- here is a favorite passage in our house 'The more heads a troll had, the more trouble he had at mealtimes, for all his greedy mouths shouted, "I am hungry. Feed me first. It's my turn!" Since even a many headed troll had only two hands, he would be a very tired troll before the meal was over...'