Never underestimate a small troll with a lot of ambition. This hilarious Maynard Moose tale as retold by master storyteller Willy Claflin takes us on another whimsical journey with the misadventures of a Bully Goat who suffers from Random Hostility Syndrome.
The Bully Goat clashes with a three headed troll "fambly" and is undone by a baby girl troll when she suddenly realizes that, ..".everybody ought to mess with him!" Her inspiration leads to a confrontation with the Bully Goat using only a pillow and three raggedy old bed sheets. After she cleverly outwits the Bully Goat, all of the forest animals follow her example and the threat of the bully is eliminated.
Fortunately, everyone lives happily for "never afterwords" except for the Bully Goat since nobody likes a "dubnoxious beastly." This goofy twist on a familiar fairytale will teach readers the importance of resourcefulness, courage, and responsibility.
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"There is also some impressive vocabulary on display—trajectory, apogee, process, soporific, synergistic—and, of course, the whole concept of the double negative is at the heart of baby troll's solution. Stimson's illustrations are as droll as ever, his characters full of personality, and spreads that are packed with details will require repeat readings to uncover them all. Between the moose dialect and the story's twist, this may not be one of your grandmother's tales, but even she won't be able to resist a few chuckles. Hysterical."
Copyright 2012 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission.
Gr 2-5--With a storyteller's voice and a wry sense of humor, this offering turns "Three Billy Goats Gruff" on its head. Suffering from Random Hostility Syndrome, Bully Goat Grim enjoys tossing little furry "amunals" over the tops of trees with his big, boney head. When he encounters a "fambly" of trolls living under a bridge on his way to the upland pasture, he bellows, "Beware, beware, the Bully Goat Grim!/Nobody better not mess with him!" While Daddy's and Mommy's multiple heads get bogged down in arguing with one another about how best to deal with the "dubnoxious" creature, the baby figures out that there's a double negative in that threat and finds a satisfying solution to the goat's head butting. Transcribing the Piney Woods dialect of narrator Maynard Moose into readable text requires some "displain[ing]," so there is a glossary of "Moose Words" and several "Grown-up Words" (e.g., "soporific," "synergistic"), and therein lies the only weakness of this book. For while Moose language is fairly simple to understand as a sort of fractured English, the Grown-up Words and concepts weigh down the text and make the audience for this title less clear. Certainly as a read-aloud, or listening to the CD provided, there is plenty to enjoy in this folksy tale, but as a book children would read on their own, it is less successful. Fortunately, the colorful illustrations carry the story along and make everything funnier, from stern-looking Bully Goat Grim and his humongous horns to the green-headed trolls. For collections in which fractured folktales are appreciated.--Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.