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FOLKTALES AND NURSERY RHYMES
Barnett, Mac, Reteller

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

48 pp. | Scholastic/Orchard | October, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-1-338-67384-5 $18.99
(1) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Frequent collaborators Barnett and Klassen serve up a delectable rendition of the oft-retold folktale. The bare-bones narrative "clip clops" along with abundant humor and plenty of verbal delights, repetition, and rhyme ("Who seeks to reach the grassy ridge? / Who dares to walk across my bridge?") as the brash, blustery bully of a troll gleefully lists all the ways he loves to eat goat. Droll digitally compiled illustrations created with ink, watercolor, and graphite capture a proscenium view of the action above and below the bridge and depict a large, rodent-like troll who dwells in the muck of a bone-strewn riverbank. How the menacing meat-eater gets his comeuppance and the clever brothers go on to enjoy grassy glory on the other side of the bridge are the stuff of legend, and here they're given a playful twist by these masters of the deadpan. The tale wraps up with the troll floating down the river and around a bend. "Where he ended up I really can't say. I've never gone that far. There are too many mosquitoes." Sure to be a read-aloud favorite, this engaging interpretation will sit comfortably next to classic versions by Marcia Brown, Glen Rounds, Paul Galdone, and Jerry Pinkney.
Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2023

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