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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, August 7, 2006
This review is from: Troll Bridge: A Rock'n' Roll Fairy Tale (Hardcover)
Moira is a classical harpist who plays with the Minnesota symphony. For publicity purposes she has sought and won a spot as a state fair Dairy Princess. Along with the other 11 girls of the "court," she attends community events and has had her likeness carved in butter. Traditionally, every year, the butter sculptures of the Dairy Princesses are placed on Troll Bridge. In time they melt or "disappear." This year, though, environmental concerns have nixed leaving the butter offering on the bridge. As Moira and the other princesses prepare for a photoshoot at Troll Bridge, they are caught up by a giant troll, who spirits them away to Trollholm. Meanwhile, four brothers who make up a popular boy band called The Griffsons are taking a vacation before their next concert tour. By chance the brothers end up at Troll Bridge too and are also carried away. In Trollholm, Moira alone has evaded the enchanted sleep that has bewitched the other eleven princesses. As she casts about to escape the fate of becoming a troll bride, she meets a mysterious and vaguely sinister fox named Foss who seems willing to help her. Jakob Griffson awakens in Trollholm only to discover that he and his brothers are soon going to be troll food. Moira and Jakob must work together to rescue all of them from the clutches of Aenmarr the troll and Trollhom itself. I liked the mixture of traditional folk tales and a teen's world. In this story they have called on The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Twelve Dancing Princesses as source material. Foss the fox is taken from the Scandinavian trickster Fossegrim but also reminded me of kitsunes in Japanese folklore. Musical imagery and elements run throughout the story. The beginning page of each chapter is decorated by a faint treble clef and the sections of the chapter are indicated by a fermata. A collection "Songs from Troll Bridge" completes the book. The lyrics are provided but would be fun to hear the songs. Stemple is a professional musician. Maybe he could make audio versions available on his website. This is the second "rock 'n'roll" fairy tale Stemple has written with his mother, folklorist, Jane Yolen.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
An Interesting Modern Fairy Tale, November 3, 2011
This review is from: Troll Bridge: A Rock'n' Roll Fairy Tale (Hardcover)
Trollbridge is a fun adventure set in both this world and the world of trolls. Seems a pact was made a few hundred years ago between the small town of Vanderby and a troll named Aenmarr; however nowadays no one believes in trolls so why continue a silly tradition to appease them? Since the pact was broken, Aenmarr decides to capture the twelve young ladies known in Vanderby as Dairy Princesses. He's intentions are to marry them off to his three sons; four wives apiece! Aenmarr's plans are soon discovered by Moira, a 16 year old musician girl. As she tries to save the Dairy Princesses, help comes to her in the form of three famous rock and roll brothers known as the Griffson Brothers and a mysterious fox named Foss who can talk telepathically with musicians. Yes I enjoyed reading this story. It was one that kept my interest although I must say some parts were quite detailed in description. For example - spoiler about to be mentioned so if you don't want to know, skip the rest of this paragraph - when Jakob is captured and about to be made into stew, he tricks Aenmarr's son into trading places with him. The plan works and when Aenmarr returns to kill Jakob, he instead kills his son. The book describes this act and although it's only a few short paragraphs I felt it was vivid; but then again, it could be only me and my great imagination going to work and thinking about the poor troll boy being dissected and cut up. You can actually read for yourself and determine if this is something you want your child to read, you can find this part of the story in chapter 9. Other than that I believe the story was well written. The authors did a good job of using two radio personalities to keep the reader in the loop of how the disappearance of the Dairy Princesses and of the Griffson Brothers affected the outside world. This helped to blend the two "worlds" and kept the reader engaged emotionally to the people awaiting the (hopefully) safe return of the missing girls and boys. There were also songs written throughout the book that were suppose to tell the tale through the musician's eye (Moira and the Griffson Brothers), however, I didn't find them that entertaining and not really necessary for the story. I pretty much began to scan through or skip them when I came across them. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys fairy tale type stories, but it is directed towards the younger audience. I would recommend letting kids 10 years of age or older read this book. Now, I liked the story and I'm way above that age range which means if you are older and like stories with trolls, well, I believe you'll enjoy this book too. It's easy to read but it will also intrigue your imagination!
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Okay, but not "wowing", May 1, 2011
I got both of Yolen/Stemple's "Rock and Roll Fairy Tale" books (the other is Pay the Piper) for $1 each, and was super excited because the concept and titles hooked me. Though I have yet to read Pay the Piper, Troll Bridge was a little disappointing. I mean, it was cute enough, and a quick read for sure, but it was just...shallow in the telling. It never really grabbed me enough to make me need to keep reading. I'm not entirely sure where the fault lies. Part of it, I think, is that it's definitely more middle grade, and I wasn't expecting that, and I don't know that my brain ever fully shifted over and altered expectations. I kept thinking that it would have been nice to have more development and depth, but that's partly because I was coming at it thinking it was aimed for an older audience. I think, too, that the musical elements, and the sort of poprock poetry/songs ala what I assume the Jonas Brothers write (and lord help me if my little sister ever reads this), felt forced at times, and where on occasion they were cute and bolstered the story, at other times, they just seemed unnecessary and a little silly. It's hard, because it's a part of the story, and it's really a crucial part at that, but it just didn't always feel natural. Part of me wonders if this was due to the attempted blending of Yolen's writing and Stemple's (her son). Books with multiple authors are writing a book and trying to make their combined writing seamless seem to struggle to me. (At least where each author isn't writing their own segments from a set POV. The blending just never seems to work for me.) But I did like Moira, who was a fun, plucky heroine, and I liked the brothers, and the predicaments they found themselves in. The fairy tale elements - both the tales that were woven in and the typical tropes found in fairy tales - were used in a fun way, and I don't consider the book a waste of my time. I was more ambivalent in the beginning, which was slightly rocky for me (but again, as I said, this could be due to the fact that I was expecting a YA read, not a MG); but as it went along and they found themselves deeper in the world of Trollholm, it became more readable and fun, and the ending, though a bit abrupt, was enjoyable. All in all, it was a quick, fun and silly read, though flawed and not entirely memorable.
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