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

~ Ingri d'Aulaire (Author), Edgar d'Aulaire (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Luminous, magical pictures  transport readers deep into the mountains and forests  of Norway and into the consciousness of old  believers. This is a robust and resonant natural history  of trolls."--Kirkus Reviews. -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Available once again, this beautifully lithographed collection of lore introduces children to some of traditional literature's bad boys (and girls)." --School Library Journal

“Over their nearly five-decade career, Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire penned and illustrated nearly 30 books, winning them wide acclaim and several awards. Trolls, originally released in 1972, was among this lauded group. New York Review Books has now returned it to print, and we have two words to say about that: Thank you. Trolls combines charming tales from Norse folklore with a fantasy traveler’s guide to the hairy beasts. We learn about forest trolls, mountain trolls and bridge trolls—their habitats, habits and even number of heads. We meet three creatures who share a single removable eyeball, and cursed princesses who burp toads. But nothing’s too scary: The lithographed pictures have a warm, hand-drawn look that transforms all beasts from horrific to humorous. The press reprinted another of the couple’s classics last year, D’Aularies’ Book of Norse Myths, with a preface by novelist Michael Chabon. This new entry in the collection arrives without endorsement, but trust us, it doesn’t need one.” –Time Out New York Kids


“There are children whose drawings of even the most ferocious monsters still reflect a quality of their own innocence and sweet temperament. The same is true of the artwork of the d’Aulaires. No matter how fierce their subjects, they can endow them with a kind of vulnerability that is both touching and–especially in the case of trolls–ridiculous…Combining knowledgeableness with easy-going humor, the d’Aulaires work anecdote after anecdote into a kind of patchwork story-quilt. Each patch, while complete in itself, contributes to an over-all understanding of the Norwegian troll world, fragments of which have survived into today…[They] have written an authoritative book on trolls and created a nearly perfect picture book for children.”–The New York Times

“D’Aulaires’ Trolls, an informative Baedekar on the moss-grown mountains of Norway and their weird inhabitants of more than a century ago, exemplifies a happy balance of art and text…Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire have completed the legends and descriptions with fittingly grotesque color and black-and-white sketches of myriad trolls.”–The Washington Post

“The crayon-like drawings have a humorous ugliness, and in their own outlandish way are a delightful change from all the antiseptic ethnic literature being turned out with one eye on the ethnic dollar.”
–Christian Science Monitor

“This book represents the quintessence of the d’Aulaires’ art.”–Horn Book

“[A] real winner.”–Boston Globe

“The D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths taught a generation about the legends on which much of literature is based. Now their D’Aulaires’ Book of Trolls by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, first published in 1972, returns to print to shed light on another staple of Norway: the magical trolls, ‘as old and moss-grown as the mountains themselves,’ in all their diversity.”
—Publisher’s Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: NYR Children's Collection for ages 7-12 (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590172175
• ISBN-13: 978-1590172179
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,482 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #4 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology > Children's Books > Norse
  #4 in	Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Norse
  #23 in	Books > Children's Books > Literature > Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths > Anthologies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic in our home!, July 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: D'Aulaires' Trolls (Hardcover)

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 ([e-mail] or [e-mail]

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roll with the Troll, August 3, 2005

By	wolf lady - See all my reviews

This review is from: D'Aulaires Trolls (Hardcover)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It *IS* a worthy choice for pre-schoolers!, September 9, 2007

By	A. Karlsson "AKWindsong" (Alaska) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

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.