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The Trolls
Aunt Sally is beyond any of Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee's expectations. She has come all the way from Vancouver Island, Canada, to take care of the children while their parents are away, and right from the start Aunt Sally enchants them with tales of her childhood with their father. Odd characters figure largely in the stories, like Maud, a hunter rumored to have killed eighty cougars; Great-uncle Louis, a health nut who insists everyone should gnaw on sticks for extra fiber; and Fat Little Mean Girl, the star of a cautionary tale involving witchcraft and candy. All of Aunt Sally's reminiscences lead up to a crucial story about trolls, sinister creatures who supposedly lurked along the shore at night. The trolls had the power to change Aunt Sally's life forever, and their legacy may change the lives of the three present-day children as well.
135 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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718 people want to read
About the author
Polly Horvath
45 books300 followersPolly Horvath is the author of many books for young people, including Everything on a Waffle, The Pepins and Their Problems, The Canning Season and The Trolls. Her numerous awards include the Newbery Honor, the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature, the Mr. Christie Award, the international White Raven, and the Young Adult Canadian Book of the Year. Horvath grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She attended the Canadian College of Dance in Toronto and the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City. She has taught ballet, waitressed, done temporary typing, and tended babies, but while doing these things she has always also written. Now that her children are in school, she spends the whole day writing, unless she sneaks out to buy groceries, lured away from her desk by the thought of fresh Cheez Whiz. She lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
June 28, 2018
The three Anderson children’s parents are going to France for a week’s vacation. With the usual babysitter out of commission, the kids are left in the care of their Aunt Sally, whom they have never met before.
Melissa (age ten), Amanda (age eight), and Frank (age six)—called Pee Wee by his sisters—know very little about their father’s large, eccentric, Canadian family. They’re familiar enough with their Aunt Lyla, and they know that Uncle Edward drowned at sea on his honeymoon years ago, but that’s about it. They’ve never even seen a picture of their Aunt Sally; the only proof of her existence till now has been the card, featuring a moose with tree lights strung in his antlers, that she sends them every Christmas.
So they’re quite unprepared for the charismatic and whimsical figure that arrives, with her towering blonde beehive of hair, her fondness for green beans and surprise meat loaf, her talent for drawing, and most of all her storytelling abilities.
For Sally’s stories so transfix her nieces and nephew that they’d rather listen to her than watch TV. They’re the stories of growing up on Vancouver Island in the late sixties and early seventies that their father has never told them. The tales are full of witty observations, sometimes uproariously funny, but there lurks an undercurrent of darkness. Pee Wee is too young to notice, but his sisters do, and are drawn to it even as they dread it…
Content Advisory
Violence: Sally’s Uncle Louis claims that the woods along the beach on Vancouver are inhabited by nocturnal trolls. People who want to get rid of something badly sometimes leave that thing on the beach for the trolls to find.
Unfortunately, the “thing” in question is usually a person, and once you give something to the trolls, you can never get it back. What do the trolls do with the people and animals they claim? No one knows—and there’s quite a few jokes earlier in the book about critters eating people, so we can strike that off the list. This technique allows the reader to fill in the blanks with the scariest thing they know, depending on their maturity level.
Uncle Louis and Sally’s brother John conclude that a neighbor mortally injured her own beloved dog to leave it helpless for the trolls. Louis also claims that he saw a little girl get left on the shore for the monsters by her babysitter, then the child’s parents retaliated by leaving the babysitter, which prompted the teenager’s parents to hand over the child’s parents….nearly the whole town had been taken by the trolls, so he says, when the grocers started carrying fresh asparagus at a low price, which saved the day. Louis is a health fanatic and he manages to bring every conversation back to the subject of eating one’s greens.
There’s also the Vancouver Andersons’ neighbor, Maud, who claims to have shot eighty cougars. One day she takes Edward, John and Sally on an expedition and happily shoots a number of small animals out of their perches, insisting that each one is a cougar. She also believes the mailman to be a cougar and shoots him, although luckily she only grazes his arm.
A boy jumps out of a window and hops frantically into a boat, followed by his demented uncle, and they are both attacked by the raccoon family that has taken up residence in that boat. Another kid gets his fingertip bitten off by a clam.
Sex: There’s a hint that the mother of a neighborhood kid, whom Sally cruelly dubs “Fat Little Mean Girl” had a scandalous past, at least by small-town 1960s-70s standards. Likewise, one wonders how exactly FLMG/Marianne herself got Edward Anderson to marry her, the event which led to both of them dying young. Like the activities of the trolls, this is left almost completely blank, and what the reader comes up with to fill it in depends entirely on the worldly knowledge of the reader.
Language: Melissa and Amanda are cutting and a bit rude to their little brother, constantly telling him to shut up and that he doesn’t know anything. Sally has no patience for this. One could argue that the girls learning to treat Pee Wee well is the whole point of the book, so their unkindness is there to teach a lesson.
Substance Abuse: Marianne was an overeater, hence her mean nickname.
Politics and Religion: Louis accuses a local pastor of leaving four consecutive wives for the trolls.
Sally and her brothers buy a product from a friend’s mom, who’s a Wiccan, hoping to cast a spell to make FLMG/Marianne stop bullying their sister. They sprinkle it on her school lunch, but all it accomplishes is making her barf all over herself.
I don’t think Horvath’s opinion on either Christianity or Wicca can be inferred from these incidents, but your mileage may vary.
As you might have noticed, some of the humor in this book is not politically correct. I first read this book in second grade and was never tempted to call anyone “Fat Little Mean Girl” or anything close to that after reading it. But if your young reader is the type to repeat whatever they hear, take note.
Nightmare Fuel: The trolls are almost impossible to see, because they always stick to the shadows, but Uncle Louis states that they have stony skin and craggy shapes. They make no noise, they have no mouths, and their eyes are little pinpricks of electric green on otherwise featureless faces.
.
Maud’s house is full of taxidermy animals.
There’s a few anecdotal stories about people getting drowned, burned in their house as they slept, swept away by rogue waves, or being mauled and eaten by cougars and/or bears. Cheery stuff.
Conclusions
This is a brilliant opening sentence, establishing both the surreal black comedy of the book, and that the Anderson children must be really unpleasant. Somewhere, Rosalyn from Calvin & Hobbes is slapping her forehead and asking “Bubonic plague! Why didn’t I think of that?!?”
I remember how that first sentence hooked me, carpooling with a friend in second grade. That family always travelled with audio books. I don’t remember the name of the narrator but she was outstanding, with this very clean, sharp line delivery and perfect diction that sealed each line in your memory. It’s been in my head ever since.
Within such a short novel—136 pages—Horvath conjures all these larger-than-life characters and makes them more real than some folks I’ve suffered through series of thick books with. They’re as bizarre as the dramatis personae of the Lemony Snicket novels, but somehow believable too—and the stories feel like real family stories, some exaggerated to comic strip proportions, others related almost exactly as they happened. I particularly liked how Aunt Sally tapped into the tradition of ancient oral storytelling by fixing descriptive epithets to her characters (“grey-eyed Athena” “swift-footed Achilles”)—“Maud who shot eighty cougars”, “Great Uncle Louis who came for two weeks and stayed for six years.”
The stories start out boisterous and slapstick, and become stranger and darker as they go, although the humor doesn’t disappear entirely .
The ending ties the present-day frame story to the main one in the past. You thought you were reading an episodic chronicle of family life, and all along it was building to a retelling of
I would classify this book as upper middle-grade, even though it’s short, due to the advanced vocabulary/sentence structure and the subject matter. If your kid can handle Inkheart they can definitely handle this. And it’s witty, poignant, and surprising enough that teens and adults reading by themselves can still be caught up by it.
Warmly recommended for anyone who likes a little depth with their humor and a touch of the supernatural in their family tall tales—especially fans of Over the Garden Wall. Speaking of OGW, if any of its creators are by some chance reading this review: ADAPT THIS BOOK. IT WOULD BE AMAZING.
Melissa (age ten), Amanda (age eight), and Frank (age six)—called Pee Wee by his sisters—know very little about their father’s large, eccentric, Canadian family. They’re familiar enough with their Aunt Lyla, and they know that Uncle Edward drowned at sea on his honeymoon years ago, but that’s about it. They’ve never even seen a picture of their Aunt Sally; the only proof of her existence till now has been the card, featuring a moose with tree lights strung in his antlers, that she sends them every Christmas.
So they’re quite unprepared for the charismatic and whimsical figure that arrives, with her towering blonde beehive of hair, her fondness for green beans and surprise meat loaf, her talent for drawing, and most of all her storytelling abilities.
For Sally’s stories so transfix her nieces and nephew that they’d rather listen to her than watch TV. They’re the stories of growing up on Vancouver Island in the late sixties and early seventies that their father has never told them. The tales are full of witty observations, sometimes uproariously funny, but there lurks an undercurrent of darkness. Pee Wee is too young to notice, but his sisters do, and are drawn to it even as they dread it…
Content Advisory
Violence: Sally’s Uncle Louis claims that the woods along the beach on Vancouver are inhabited by nocturnal trolls. People who want to get rid of something badly sometimes leave that thing on the beach for the trolls to find.
Unfortunately, the “thing” in question is usually a person, and once you give something to the trolls, you can never get it back. What do the trolls do with the people and animals they claim? No one knows—and there’s quite a few jokes earlier in the book about critters eating people, so we can strike that off the list. This technique allows the reader to fill in the blanks with the scariest thing they know, depending on their maturity level.
Uncle Louis and Sally’s brother John conclude that a neighbor mortally injured her own beloved dog to leave it helpless for the trolls. Louis also claims that he saw a little girl get left on the shore for the monsters by her babysitter, then the child’s parents retaliated by leaving the babysitter, which prompted the teenager’s parents to hand over the child’s parents….nearly the whole town had been taken by the trolls, so he says, when the grocers started carrying fresh asparagus at a low price, which saved the day. Louis is a health fanatic and he manages to bring every conversation back to the subject of eating one’s greens.
There’s also the Vancouver Andersons’ neighbor, Maud, who claims to have shot eighty cougars. One day she takes Edward, John and Sally on an expedition and happily shoots a number of small animals out of their perches, insisting that each one is a cougar. She also believes the mailman to be a cougar and shoots him, although luckily she only grazes his arm.
A boy jumps out of a window and hops frantically into a boat, followed by his demented uncle, and they are both attacked by the raccoon family that has taken up residence in that boat. Another kid gets his fingertip bitten off by a clam.
Sex: There’s a hint that the mother of a neighborhood kid, whom Sally cruelly dubs “Fat Little Mean Girl” had a scandalous past, at least by small-town 1960s-70s standards. Likewise, one wonders how exactly FLMG/Marianne herself got Edward Anderson to marry her, the event which led to both of them dying young. Like the activities of the trolls, this is left almost completely blank, and what the reader comes up with to fill it in depends entirely on the worldly knowledge of the reader.
Language: Melissa and Amanda are cutting and a bit rude to their little brother, constantly telling him to shut up and that he doesn’t know anything. Sally has no patience for this. One could argue that the girls learning to treat Pee Wee well is the whole point of the book, so their unkindness is there to teach a lesson.
Substance Abuse: Marianne was an overeater, hence her mean nickname.
Politics and Religion: Louis accuses a local pastor of leaving four consecutive wives for the trolls.
Sally and her brothers buy a product from a friend’s mom, who’s a Wiccan, hoping to cast a spell to make FLMG/Marianne stop bullying their sister. They sprinkle it on her school lunch, but all it accomplishes is making her barf all over herself.
I don’t think Horvath’s opinion on either Christianity or Wicca can be inferred from these incidents, but your mileage may vary.
As you might have noticed, some of the humor in this book is not politically correct. I first read this book in second grade and was never tempted to call anyone “Fat Little Mean Girl” or anything close to that after reading it. But if your young reader is the type to repeat whatever they hear, take note.
Nightmare Fuel: The trolls are almost impossible to see, because they always stick to the shadows, but Uncle Louis states that they have stony skin and craggy shapes. They make no noise, they have no mouths, and their eyes are little pinpricks of electric green on otherwise featureless faces.
.
Maud’s house is full of taxidermy animals.
There’s a few anecdotal stories about people getting drowned, burned in their house as they slept, swept away by rogue waves, or being mauled and eaten by cougars and/or bears. Cheery stuff.
Conclusions
The week before Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were to leave Tenderly, Ohio, for the somewhat more bustling metropolis of Paris, their babysitter…came down with a minor case of bubonic plague and called tearfully to say she didn’t want to spread the buboes around.
This is a brilliant opening sentence, establishing both the surreal black comedy of the book, and that the Anderson children must be really unpleasant. Somewhere, Rosalyn from Calvin & Hobbes is slapping her forehead and asking “Bubonic plague! Why didn’t I think of that?!?”
I remember how that first sentence hooked me, carpooling with a friend in second grade. That family always travelled with audio books. I don’t remember the name of the narrator but she was outstanding, with this very clean, sharp line delivery and perfect diction that sealed each line in your memory. It’s been in my head ever since.
Within such a short novel—136 pages—Horvath conjures all these larger-than-life characters and makes them more real than some folks I’ve suffered through series of thick books with. They’re as bizarre as the dramatis personae of the Lemony Snicket novels, but somehow believable too—and the stories feel like real family stories, some exaggerated to comic strip proportions, others related almost exactly as they happened. I particularly liked how Aunt Sally tapped into the tradition of ancient oral storytelling by fixing descriptive epithets to her characters (“grey-eyed Athena” “swift-footed Achilles”)—“Maud who shot eighty cougars”, “Great Uncle Louis who came for two weeks and stayed for six years.”
The stories start out boisterous and slapstick, and become stranger and darker as they go, although the humor doesn’t disappear entirely .
The ending ties the present-day frame story to the main one in the past. You thought you were reading an episodic chronicle of family life, and all along it was building to a retelling of
I would classify this book as upper middle-grade, even though it’s short, due to the advanced vocabulary/sentence structure and the subject matter. If your kid can handle Inkheart they can definitely handle this. And it’s witty, poignant, and surprising enough that teens and adults reading by themselves can still be caught up by it.
Warmly recommended for anyone who likes a little depth with their humor and a touch of the supernatural in their family tall tales—especially fans of Over the Garden Wall. Speaking of OGW, if any of its creators are by some chance reading this review: ADAPT THIS BOOK. IT WOULD BE AMAZING.
March 12, 2009
This book makes you laugh and laugh and laugh, and then suddenly it’s not funny anymore.
The Andersons are on the verge of a week’s vacation in Paris when their usual babysitter calls in sick. Frantic, they call on the only person who’s free—Aunt Sally from Canada. The Anderson children—Melissa, Amanda and Pee Wee—have never met Aunt Sally before. They’ve never even heard of her.
Aunt Sally doesn’t do things the usual way. She tells them stories—stories about their family that they’ve never heard before, stories so outrageous that it’s hard to believe that they’re true. She makes them WANT to eat green beans. In short, Aunt Sally is wonderful.
Aunt Sally’s stories are hilariously, heartbreakingly funny—heartbreaking because you wish your own childhood had been like that, outrageous and funny and full of larger-than-life characters and adventures.
Aunt Sally’s stories are funny, funny, funny, until suddenly they’re not—and the serious core of the book is revealed, and it hits you like a load of bricks, and makes you stop and think. It's the best kind of funny--funny with a core of smartness and importance that catches you right in the heart.
I loved this book. It’s a great read-aloud—you’ll want to read bits and pieces out loud to people you love, and it’s such a short read that it’s perfect for bedtime reading. It ends a bit abruptly, but that almost feels like real life—most of the time, you never get to know the ending.
The Andersons are on the verge of a week’s vacation in Paris when their usual babysitter calls in sick. Frantic, they call on the only person who’s free—Aunt Sally from Canada. The Anderson children—Melissa, Amanda and Pee Wee—have never met Aunt Sally before. They’ve never even heard of her.
Aunt Sally doesn’t do things the usual way. She tells them stories—stories about their family that they’ve never heard before, stories so outrageous that it’s hard to believe that they’re true. She makes them WANT to eat green beans. In short, Aunt Sally is wonderful.
Aunt Sally’s stories are hilariously, heartbreakingly funny—heartbreaking because you wish your own childhood had been like that, outrageous and funny and full of larger-than-life characters and adventures.
Aunt Sally’s stories are funny, funny, funny, until suddenly they’re not—and the serious core of the book is revealed, and it hits you like a load of bricks, and makes you stop and think. It's the best kind of funny--funny with a core of smartness and importance that catches you right in the heart.
I loved this book. It’s a great read-aloud—you’ll want to read bits and pieces out loud to people you love, and it’s such a short read that it’s perfect for bedtime reading. It ends a bit abruptly, but that almost feels like real life—most of the time, you never get to know the ending.
April 1, 2008
This book is my favorite Horvath. It has been fantastic to read aloud to my 4th graders. Yes, there are hard parts to it (notably the mean girl), but it is still excellent, I think. Meanness is around and Horvath is blunt and funny in the way Aunt Sally tells her childhood stories and Horvath as she tells the current framing one.
There is such an interesting strain of melancholy underlying the stories. The different threads needing to be put together finally by the reader.
About siblings, memory, childhood, and meanness. And, most of all, very funny.
Just that very first line about the bubonic plague still grabs me every time.
There is such an interesting strain of melancholy underlying the stories. The different threads needing to be put together finally by the reader.
About siblings, memory, childhood, and meanness. And, most of all, very funny.
Just that very first line about the bubonic plague still grabs me every time.
October 12, 2011
A whacky, rather episodic story, that my eight-year-old enjoyed lots. I could have done without the chapter entitled "Fat Little Mean Girl!" which is as insensitive as it sounds, but apart from that, I'm blown away by how, underneath the surface goofiness, there is such a quietly devastating sadness to this book. I finished it feeling hit in the gut, while my oblivious son begged me to go back and reread the absurd parts about fingers being bitten off by clams and such.
July 1, 2023
Well this was super adorable. I was hooked from the first line where the babysitter called in sick with the bubonic plague and they were like "oh no, feel better!" I was cackling at the bathroom incident. "Well what do you usually do when someone's locked themselves in the bathroom and got stuck in the paper towel machine?" "It's never happened before!" And then the ending just kinda hits you in the gut with a touch of melancholy that you realize has been there the whole time. Would like to get my hands on a physical copy.
May 8, 2019
"It's your own darkness that leads you to the trolls"; life was never the same again.
Everyone needs an Aunt Sally. Someone who mixes truth with play; deeper meaning, for those who wish to extract more than just what the surface of listening carries within it.
I liked this book; and, I didn't. It's not a book I'm encouraging my children to keep, (we're going to donate it); however, I'm glad we read it.
Most of the stories within "The Trolls" went well over my kid's heads (6.5; 8; 10; and 11 year's old respectively). They were waiting for the trolls to appear and didn't like that the story never made them known; and, they didn't like an ending without end. This book was no winner for them.
What I appreciated was the subtle darkness. How quickly things can change. How life doesn't always make sense; and, how decisions people make as children can haunt long into adulthood.
I also appreciated the aspect of a family story-teller. As my children are getting older it's time to dust off my old photo albums and start telling my children their family lineage/heritage; from who, and what, their stock of kin was made of. It'll be good for 'em; and, best of all, (at least from a mother's standpoint), not a troll in sight!
Everyone needs an Aunt Sally. Someone who mixes truth with play; deeper meaning, for those who wish to extract more than just what the surface of listening carries within it.
I liked this book; and, I didn't. It's not a book I'm encouraging my children to keep, (we're going to donate it); however, I'm glad we read it.
Most of the stories within "The Trolls" went well over my kid's heads (6.5; 8; 10; and 11 year's old respectively). They were waiting for the trolls to appear and didn't like that the story never made them known; and, they didn't like an ending without end. This book was no winner for them.
What I appreciated was the subtle darkness. How quickly things can change. How life doesn't always make sense; and, how decisions people make as children can haunt long into adulthood.
I also appreciated the aspect of a family story-teller. As my children are getting older it's time to dust off my old photo albums and start telling my children their family lineage/heritage; from who, and what, their stock of kin was made of. It'll be good for 'em; and, best of all, (at least from a mother's standpoint), not a troll in sight!
August 3, 2019
I read this with my 8-year-old son and found it more thought-provoking than the "grown-up" novel I was reading at the time. This book centers on Aunt Sally, a sophisticated kind of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, who comes to stay with her 2 nieces and nephew when their parents vacation in France. Every chapter is another fanciful story told by Aunt Sally, involving her family in Canada growing up. The story includes the children's father (the youngest sibling of Aunt Sally in the story). There is a subtle undercurrent of family brokenness....why did Dad never talk about Aunt Sally? Why was Dad hesitant to have Aunt Sally come stay with the children while they were gone?
This book is great because it is enjoyable on 2 levels...child and adult. It is a book of great childhood stories....and a meditation on the kinds of acts that change everything instantly incidents that can change relationships for a lifetime. But it's also about hope and healing.
7/21/19---we're reading it together again....uncovering wonderful new insights and layers!
This book is great because it is enjoyable on 2 levels...child and adult. It is a book of great childhood stories....and a meditation on the kinds of acts that change everything instantly incidents that can change relationships for a lifetime. But it's also about hope and healing.
7/21/19---we're reading it together again....uncovering wonderful new insights and layers!
September 22, 2018
'The Trolls' is likely my single favorite piece of children's literature. Horvath is a master of language; her young characters have beautiful, advanced vocabularies that never feel out of place, and she can turn a poetic phrase with the best of them. Does it help the book in my eyes that it seamlessly blends a collection of pseudo-parables with a through-line of sheer Lovecraftian terror in the form of the titular creatures? One-hundred percent a resounding "yes." The book doesn't shy away from looking loss, regret, even death in the face, and in 144 pages is somehow makes some sense of all of these subjects. It's a creative delight for young readers and a nostalgic, introspective joy for older readers. In short, it examines and embraces, as Lovecraft himself put it, "that world of wonder which was ours before we were wise and unhappy."
September 7, 2018
We are really enjoying Polly Horvath, who has quickly become another family favorite author, even though we discovered her more or less by accident. She writes very well, and her books lend themselves very nicely to reading aloud, but I have been amazed at how different they are from one another. This one, The Trolls, is really quite excellent. Light-hearted and whimsical, and yet insightful, thought-provoking, and at times even profound. Delightful characters, which realistic charm and ordinary flaws. Not a long book, and really a pretty fast read, but lots of substance here. Highly recommended.
July 24, 2023
One of the few books from my childhood that not only holds up but improves and deepens with my adult perspective.
As a kid, I loved it for the humor, the absurdity of Aunt Sally’s stories, and the delicious eerieness of the trolls. As an adult these elements are still extremely entertaining but added to them are the poignant reflections on sibling relationships, what we remember or choose to leave behind from childhood, and the questions about what truth really lies behind the tall tales.
The characters jump off the page and the plot and pacing are drum-tight. So so so good
As a kid, I loved it for the humor, the absurdity of Aunt Sally’s stories, and the delicious eerieness of the trolls. As an adult these elements are still extremely entertaining but added to them are the poignant reflections on sibling relationships, what we remember or choose to leave behind from childhood, and the questions about what truth really lies behind the tall tales.
The characters jump off the page and the plot and pacing are drum-tight. So so so good
February 15, 2023
This is funny, sometimes absurd, and occasionally a little shocking, considering it's a children's book. But it's also rather sweet in its own way.
This probably wouldn't be appropriate for very sensitive kids, as there is mention of people and animals dying rather violently and animals being killed.
Note: God's name is misused, there's one instance of "hell" used as a curse word, and the kids use phrases like "shut up" occasionally.
This probably wouldn't be appropriate for very sensitive kids, as there is mention of people and animals dying rather violently and animals being killed.
Note: God's name is misused, there's one instance of "hell" used as a curse word, and the kids use phrases like "shut up" occasionally.
October 15, 2008
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Please, May We Have More Beans?,
Aunt Sally came to stay with Melissa, Amanda and Pee Wee while their parents went to Paris. From the beginning, I wondered why she was the last resort, and Dad did not want to call his sister.
Was their dad upset with the way Aunt Sally taught the children to eat their green beans, using them as nose pickers, or walrus tusks? Was it because she told them stories of their dad's past, growing up in Canada?
Each night, the children would beg for green beans. Pee Wee built them into log cabins before eating them. And each night she would tell of the family history. Aunt Sally told them about Uncle Lewis who came for two weeks and stayed to six years. There was also a tale of Great Aunt Hatty and the mysterious man.
Along with Amanda, Melissa and Pee Wee, I loved Aunt Sally's storytelling, building a tree house, and teaching the children how to eat meatloaf by adding surprises. The children continued to wonder why their dad did not want her around.
Aunt Sally hinted that maybe their dad wasn't happy about the trolls.
Uncle Lewis told Aunt Sally's family that the reverend had gone through six wives. When he was finished with one, he would take her to the beach and leave her for the trolls. "That," said Aunt Sally, "is what happened to all six wives." Uncle Lewis also told about the neighbor's dog, which fell off the front porch. She was also taken to the beach and left for the trolls.
"Once the trolls get ahold of someone they will never come back."
Trolls by Polly Harvath became more and more interesting, as it built up to the conclusion.
Jill Ammon Vanderwood
author: Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
July 6, 2008
Being a 1st Grade teacher means that I am very well-versed in picture books and early readers, but occasionally I like to read fiction for teens and older children just to keep up with the times.
What I find tricky about these novels is that each one interprets the line between too-grown-up and okay-for-children in different ways. I'll come to the point: I was reading The Trolls to see if it was an appropriate book for my summer school kids, some of whom are reading at 3rd and 4th grade levels even though they are just 2nd Graders. It was very hard for me to evaluate this book on its own merits because it contains 2 deaths in a fire, a death by a rogue wave, 2 deaths at sea, a fear of trolls, Wiccas, and a woman who shoots squirrels and thinks they are cougars. It is hard for me to imagine recommending this to a child.
What I find tricky about these novels is that each one interprets the line between too-grown-up and okay-for-children in different ways. I'll come to the point: I was reading The Trolls to see if it was an appropriate book for my summer school kids, some of whom are reading at 3rd and 4th grade levels even though they are just 2nd Graders. It was very hard for me to evaluate this book on its own merits because it contains 2 deaths in a fire, a death by a rogue wave, 2 deaths at sea, a fear of trolls, Wiccas, and a woman who shoots squirrels and thinks they are cougars. It is hard for me to imagine recommending this to a child.
April 23, 2011
Fun book about an unknown Aunt who comes to look after 3 kids while the parents are away. She is a master storyteller and great with the kids (more Year Down Yonder than Polly Anna). Very entertaining but if you are looking for a book about trolls, look elsewhere. This one is more about sibling dynamics.
March 8, 2016
Another dysfunctional family kids' story. Despite the nice eccentric, creative aunt as the storyteller/protagonist, I have to wonder, "why tell it?" No happy ending here, but at least a caution about the importance of sibling relationships.
August 12, 2023
I'm not sure how I feel about this book, which I just found on our shelf, having no idea when or how we acquired it. I'm perhaps rating it a bit high, but I did enjoy it. It's quite funny in parts, quirky thoughout, and full of food for thought.
It starts when Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee's usual babysitter "came down with a mild case of bubonic plague and called tearfully to say she didn't want to spread the buboes around." So her parents (who are going to Paris for a week) are forced to call on Aunt Sally, whom they have never met and their father never talks about.
Aunt Polly takes good care of them, gets them to happily eat green beans, sews amazing Hallowe'en costumes, and tells them preposterous stories. It's not at all clear how much of her stories are true (I can't believe her family chewed on sticks after supper, for fiber), but they are certainly interesting and full of odd insights. She insists on calling six-year-old Pee Wee "Frank", which is his actual name. He appreciates the respect. But she makes him go to bed earlier than the girls (who are 8 and 10) and doesn't tell him any stories about trolls.
Here's a sample insight, "Now that it's too late, I wish I had asked Grandma Evelyn what the deep dark secret was.... So let that be a lesson to you, ask your parents all these questions before it's too late...." I certainly wish I had asked my parents more questions.
A bigger insight is that "some acts alter everything forever" - in a quite sad story (involving trolls) which gives us a clue why her brother, the children's father, has almost no relationship with her.
Aunt Sally does not claim to have seen the trolls herself. She has heard a lot about them from her Uncle Louie, though, and she appears to believe in them. When the girls get scared and ask if the doors are locked, she tells them, "There are no locks to keep out trolls. But don't worry, the trolls don't come to you. It's your own darkness that leads you to the trolls."
I have a problem with the story of the Fat Little Mean Girl. Even the chapter title is unkind to fat people! If I were reading the book to children, I might leave this chapter out, or just leave out the word fat, though it gets a bit more complicated than that in one or two places. The chapter also involves Wiccans, but does not portray them in a very attractive way and I wouldn't mind reading that part to kids, despite my Christian faith. (It doesn't portray them as Satan-worshippers either, but plausibly, as fairly ordinary eccentrics, one of whom is mean.) If I gave the book to a child, I would talk to them about calling people fat and about Wiccans.
With those stipulations, I recommend this as a read-aloud or for kids 8 and up to read themselves. If your kid is prone to night-time fears you might want to wait a year or two longer.
It starts when Melissa, Amanda, and Pee Wee's usual babysitter "came down with a mild case of bubonic plague and called tearfully to say she didn't want to spread the buboes around." So her parents (who are going to Paris for a week) are forced to call on Aunt Sally, whom they have never met and their father never talks about.
Aunt Polly takes good care of them, gets them to happily eat green beans, sews amazing Hallowe'en costumes, and tells them preposterous stories. It's not at all clear how much of her stories are true (I can't believe her family chewed on sticks after supper, for fiber), but they are certainly interesting and full of odd insights. She insists on calling six-year-old Pee Wee "Frank", which is his actual name. He appreciates the respect. But she makes him go to bed earlier than the girls (who are 8 and 10) and doesn't tell him any stories about trolls.
Here's a sample insight, "Now that it's too late, I wish I had asked Grandma Evelyn what the deep dark secret was.... So let that be a lesson to you, ask your parents all these questions before it's too late...." I certainly wish I had asked my parents more questions.
A bigger insight is that "some acts alter everything forever" - in a quite sad story (involving trolls) which gives us a clue why her brother, the children's father, has almost no relationship with her.
Aunt Sally does not claim to have seen the trolls herself. She has heard a lot about them from her Uncle Louie, though, and she appears to believe in them. When the girls get scared and ask if the doors are locked, she tells them, "There are no locks to keep out trolls. But don't worry, the trolls don't come to you. It's your own darkness that leads you to the trolls."
I have a problem with the story of the Fat Little Mean Girl. Even the chapter title is unkind to fat people! If I were reading the book to children, I might leave this chapter out, or just leave out the word fat, though it gets a bit more complicated than that in one or two places. The chapter also involves Wiccans, but does not portray them in a very attractive way and I wouldn't mind reading that part to kids, despite my Christian faith. (It doesn't portray them as Satan-worshippers either, but plausibly, as fairly ordinary eccentrics, one of whom is mean.) If I gave the book to a child, I would talk to them about calling people fat and about Wiccans.
With those stipulations, I recommend this as a read-aloud or for kids 8 and up to read themselves. If your kid is prone to night-time fears you might want to wait a year or two longer.
January 16, 2019
I remember reading The Trolls as a child and loving the wacky, strange stories that the children's Aunt Sally would tell. I remembered the different children and the different relatives that Aunt Sally would tell about. I even remembered how the story ended, so picking this book back up as an adult I didn't expect to be surprised by anything. I expected a slightly dark and wacky story that I had read many times throughout my childhood.
However, what I got instead was the undercurrents of the story. The hints of the real and the relational in the story. The sadness of the stories not because of the things that happened but instead because of the things that don't. As an adult I saw the truth of family relationships that broke and the knowledge that there might be no way to mend the relationship.
Throughout the story, Aunt Sally will tell the children different stories about their relatives. Once Frank/Pee Wee the youngest goes to bed she also starts to tell the older girls a story about the trolls. She claims not to tell Frank this story because it will be too scary for him and he'll have nightmares and as a child I never questioned this explanation, yet as I reread this story it seems as if Aunt Sally is telling the girls this story as a lesson, as a warning of sorts to them, so they don't follow in the same vein as she did in the story.
Perhaps, I read to much into the story. Either way it is quite enjoyable and I remember loving to read it as a child and listen to the audio-book on long car trips. I would recommend to any adult or child who likes their books a bit wacky and just a touch dark.
However, what I got instead was the undercurrents of the story. The hints of the real and the relational in the story. The sadness of the stories not because of the things that happened but instead because of the things that don't. As an adult I saw the truth of family relationships that broke and the knowledge that there might be no way to mend the relationship.
Throughout the story, Aunt Sally will tell the children different stories about their relatives. Once Frank/Pee Wee the youngest goes to bed she also starts to tell the older girls a story about the trolls. She claims not to tell Frank this story because it will be too scary for him and he'll have nightmares and as a child I never questioned this explanation, yet as I reread this story it seems as if Aunt Sally is telling the girls this story as a lesson, as a warning of sorts to them, so they don't follow in the same vein as she did in the story.
Perhaps, I read to much into the story. Either way it is quite enjoyable and I remember loving to read it as a child and listen to the audio-book on long car trips. I would recommend to any adult or child who likes their books a bit wacky and just a touch dark.
June 1, 2017
Melissa, Amanda and Pee Wee's parents are going to Paris and the babysitter is ill, so Dad calls on his sister Sally to come stay with the kids.
When Aunt Sally arrives she is a surprise to the kids. Tall, wearing very high heels with chunky soles and laces that wound up her legs. She had a lot of yellow hair that was piled high on the top of her head, sparkly eyes and long dangle earrings.
Aunt Sally brings with her tales of her childhood and life on Vancouver Island in Canada. Stories about Great-Uncle Louis who came to visit for two weeks and stayed six years and his belief that everybody had to eat all their green beans, bullrushes, fiddlehead ferns and other vegetables to be healthy. Also the fact that he believed in trolls. Grandma Evelyn and Grandpa Willie who had a pretty happy-go-lucky house. The next door neighbours, the Hoffners and their dogs Mrs. Gunderson and the new Mrs. Gunderson. And much more.
Aunt Sally talks to the kids as people and not kids. Her stories are entertaining but with a message about families and how the members relate and the importance of families. Some seem so full of exaggeration to be hard to believe and some so very down to earth.
This was a terrific read to me. And I really wish I had an Aunt Sally like her. Life would have been even more interesting!
When Aunt Sally arrives she is a surprise to the kids. Tall, wearing very high heels with chunky soles and laces that wound up her legs. She had a lot of yellow hair that was piled high on the top of her head, sparkly eyes and long dangle earrings.
Aunt Sally brings with her tales of her childhood and life on Vancouver Island in Canada. Stories about Great-Uncle Louis who came to visit for two weeks and stayed six years and his belief that everybody had to eat all their green beans, bullrushes, fiddlehead ferns and other vegetables to be healthy. Also the fact that he believed in trolls. Grandma Evelyn and Grandpa Willie who had a pretty happy-go-lucky house. The next door neighbours, the Hoffners and their dogs Mrs. Gunderson and the new Mrs. Gunderson. And much more.
Aunt Sally talks to the kids as people and not kids. Her stories are entertaining but with a message about families and how the members relate and the importance of families. Some seem so full of exaggeration to be hard to believe and some so very down to earth.
This was a terrific read to me. And I really wish I had an Aunt Sally like her. Life would have been even more interesting!
April 27, 2023
when i was a kid i somehow obtained a used copy of this book from an unknown origin, maybe from a neighbor or a garage sale, and i think in my mind this heightened the hallucinogenic and surreal plot and place that this took in my mind. the book starts off lighthearted almost, but you can feel a lingering malaise that becomes catalyzed at some point mid novel, where the book moves from being funny surreal to a dark and twisted insight on the psyche. i think that it’s so funny that it’s a children’s book— from the point that i read it first, which i think was a little before 4th grade, i would think about the ending constantly. do you ever have a moment as a kid where you learn that people can be bad people? that what you do as a kid, right now, will affect the person that you grow up to be? this was my moment i think. when i was younger i thought i would grow up and be a different adult than other adults. the nicest high school teacher, the fun camp counselor, the cool aunt, just like aunt sally. as i approach these years of my life, reminisce on this book, i wonder what this says about me and my personal character
October 23, 2024
With all the great kids books that are out there, I would give this one a hard pass. The content has a lot of negative features, without many redeeming ones (adequate story at best, with only a few original or funny parts). The kids in the story are quite rude, and very mean to their little brother, and this behaviour is never addressed as being inappropriate. The stories the aunt tells are also very full of mature and disturbing subject matter (numerous deaths, graphic dismemberments, a mother being mauled to death by a cougar to save her child, a crazy woman shooting someone, women practicing Wicca, to name just a few of the topics…). Some of the stories I found frankly upsetting even as an adult. There is so much in this book that I wouldn’t want to expose my children to. I don’t think all kids books don’t need to be sickly sweet or moralistic, but this one was rough.
October 30, 2018
The longer I think about this book, the better I think it is. It began by being entertaining, with the arrival of the children's outrageous aunt and her even more outrageous family history stories. But she stories create questions for the children, and for the reader, and, in the last night of her visit, the aunt answers our questions with a sad and touching story that rings entirely true - to her nieces and nephew and to us, as we consider life.
This book is a great example of just how good children's literature can be. Horvath, has addressed in this short children's novel, some universal human things in a way that makes the story accessible and understandable - even profound. This story is one I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
This book is a great example of just how good children's literature can be. Horvath, has addressed in this short children's novel, some universal human things in a way that makes the story accessible and understandable - even profound. This story is one I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
February 6, 2018
What a fun little read. I listened to the audiobook (which I would highly recommend) and really enjoyed Aunt Sally's crazy/wonderful stories.
We start out with Aunt Sally coming to the rescue, substitute babysitting for their regular babysitter who's caught the bubonic plague and doesn't want to spread the buboes around.
And with that introduction, you have the entire tone of the novel. You're never quite sure if Sally's telling the whole truth or just enough of it. The novel has the feel of sitting at your grandma's feet and hearing stories about people you've never met but you feel deeply connected to. I see why so many people like it as a read-aloud.
We start out with Aunt Sally coming to the rescue, substitute babysitting for their regular babysitter who's caught the bubonic plague and doesn't want to spread the buboes around.
And with that introduction, you have the entire tone of the novel. You're never quite sure if Sally's telling the whole truth or just enough of it. The novel has the feel of sitting at your grandma's feet and hearing stories about people you've never met but you feel deeply connected to. I see why so many people like it as a read-aloud.
March 1, 2020
Picked this up from the children's library for the kids but ended up, I was the one that finished it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have expected a very light hearted, ironic fare for the kids to appreciate wit and sarcasm in a story but turned out, The Trolls have so much more to offer. It's a tale of love, trust, respect and redemption. A masterful storyteller, Hovarth weaves so many values that resonate even with adults in a children story. It's a bold story, treating issues like death, violence, betrayal and grief with honesty, astuteness and serendipity. Trust the children is probably Aunt Sally's motto, even if she no longer has any from her family. Absolutely enlightening!
June 29, 2023
Another wonderful and unconventional book by Polly Horvath. Think Mary Poppins with more personality and an endless supply of family stories (some of them rather disturbing). There's a vegetable obsessed uncle, a trigger happy neighbor, a Halloween prank that goes terribly wrong, potions purchased from a group of Wiccan mothers...and a LOT of impressive words for a middle school fiction. My only quibble is that the last character comment on the last page puzzles me. I have no idea what she is referring to--an annoying mystery, but I still think the book is great.
August 22, 2023
I wanted to reread this because I remember reading it a lot when I was a kid, and while it was overall entertaining, there were certain things that have not aged well. Also Melissa was insufferable and made the reading experience much worse. I have no idea what hers and Amanda's problems were with Pee Wee, but it felt like they were mean to him for the sake of being mean. On top of that, some of the dialogue was incredibly repetitive, which felt unnecessary.
Still, if you want to give it a shot, go for it. Its not the worst, but definitely a victim of its time.
Still, if you want to give it a shot, go for it. Its not the worst, but definitely a victim of its time.
August 23, 2019
A very enjoyable tale of how it is okay to not like your family. Aunt Sally is called in as a last minute babysitter. She is not her brother's favorite person, yet she teaches her young charges the true value of family and the importance of cherishing each other.
Her tales of the family seem to be a little over the top, but they hold a message that teaches each child to honor their worth and to appreciate each other. You never know what will happen to separate you and your family.
Her tales of the family seem to be a little over the top, but they hold a message that teaches each child to honor their worth and to appreciate each other. You never know what will happen to separate you and your family.
October 12, 2022
This book gave me a lot of giggles when I was little, so I was excited to read it with my daughter. We traded off reading several chapters, laughed a lot, but something was missing. Then I remembered during the Pinball chapter. This is a book that HAS to be read via audiobook. The narration is hilarious. So it became our car ride book for the remaining chapters.
I don't love how the siblings are bratty to each other, but that's kind of the point of the book.
I don't love how the siblings are bratty to each other, but that's kind of the point of the book.
October 15, 2017
I know this book is directed towards younger readers, but we listened to it in the car when Tia was young and she loved it. Recently it came up as available on the library site, and I got it for Kai to listen to. I decided to listen again myself and remembered why I LOVE this book! It is so quirky, and has some sly humor woven seamlessly into the writing. Nice message about family loyalty too.
September 5, 2018
Not my favorite Horvath so far (I've been reading a lot of hers lately). A story about someone telling lots of little stories. Cute stories, but they felt really disjointed with the whole until the end. And then there was a cute little moral to the story and it all worked out. So pretty average for the genre.
I think it's probably a good read for kids, especially kids with siblings.
I think it's probably a good read for kids, especially kids with siblings.
February 6, 2020
The book is filled with mystery stories, funny stories, and some are not too good stories. As children meet new people, this book can help them understand that new people can bring amazing stories into their life. I can also use this book to allow them to think about their actions and about their families. I am concerned that the book has some sad and profound messages within the story, but the fun stories and adventures make this book one of the best.
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