Monday's Troll

by Jack Prelutsky, Peter Sís (Illustrator)

The collaborators of the Dragons Are Singing Tonight have combined their extraordinary talents to concoct an irresistible collection of trolls, wizards, witches, giants, ogres (and a solitary yeti). No spell is needed for these poems and pictures to enchant the reader.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy

40 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1996

About the author

Jack Prelutsky is an American poet. He attended New York public schools, and later the High School of Music and Art and Hunter College. Prelutsky, who has also worked as a busboy, furniture mover, folk singer, and cab driver, claims that he hated poetry in grade school because of the way it was taught. He is the author of more than 30 poetry collections including Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep< and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. He has also compiled countless children's anthologies comprised of poems of others'. Jack Prelutsky was married to Von Tre Venefue, a woman he had met in France. They divorced in 1995, but Jack remarried. He currently lives in Washington state with his wife, Carolyn. He befriended a gay poet named Espiritu Salamanca in 1997 and both now work together in writing poems and stories for children and adults alike.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading children's books now. My reading hit a wall and children's books help because they are simple and short. If you believe that we become psychology stuck at a point of trauma and remain there until the trauma is healed, then my reading children's books might not surprise you. What might surprise you and me is that the content of this book and other children's books challenges me enough, which is enough for me to accept that I never made it too far past childhood in this respect. Everything is going to be just fine.

Yes, and reading about trolls is cool too.

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

While trying to think of a gift to bring three-and-three-quarters Griffin and his mom next week, I realized that the set of Jack Prelutsky/Peter Sis fantasy poetry books would be perfect.

It's too bad that the publisher's blurb for this doesn't contain an excerpt of the actual poetry from this collection. It is fantastic read-aloud stuff: funny, rhythmic and even "big" words to help build vocabulary and spark conversation. Several of the poems made me laugh out loud. Of course, I think Peter Sis is a genius with his brightly colored illustrations and bizarre flights of fancy. Despite the title, this collection seemed to have more poetry about ogres, wizards and witches than poems about the trolls. The title poem seemed to be one of the least in collection. My favorite poem was "Underfoot," about "the least of the trolls, no bigger than a bug," because it struck me as a clever twist on the warning to children that they not "get underfoot." This poem also has one of my favorite advanced vocabulary lines: Underfoot claims that his blood is "liquid anthracite."

Personally, I didn't like Monday's Troll as much as The Dragons Are Singing Tonight, but that's because I am partial to dragons in general. Even so, I still hope Griffin's mom lets me do the first reading!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Prelutsky's Monday's Troll is a collection of poems about a wide variety of mythological creatures; ogres, wizards, witches and trolls as well as Yeti's and giants. In 2006 he became our nation's first Children's Poet Laureate, however, I'm unsure if Monday's Troll has won any literary prizes itself. The intended audience is elementary school age but a younger crowd can certainly enjoy his jaunty rhymes and spooky subject matter. A wide variety of monsters are introduced and a reader may need some background information if they are unfamiliar with the character's lore The vocabulary he uses is sophisticated and he never talks down to his readers. Some younger readers will need some help with this but what wonderful exposure; vocabulary expansion is guaranteed! The artist, Peter Sis, illustrates the work with great detail. The illustrations are gothic and a little creepy. It is the perfect accompaniment to this dark subject matter. I highly recommend this book; it will turn even the most resistant readers into poetry lovers. My one warning would be about a classroom presentation of the supernatural subject matter. Some parents of students will find it objectionable and may complain. Gage your audience and their guardians carefully.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Prelutsky find at the library. We read this during Morning Time for fun, term 3...krb 6/10/22

[Dana Haberman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of poems by Jack Prelutsky, who has written many children's poetry books. This time, the collection focuses on dragons, orcs, goblins, wizards, and trolls. Each poem is wonderfully silly, with some that use simple, short words and others that are challenging tongue twisters.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimate Reading Challenge 2017. A book with pictures.

I love the poetry of Jack Prelutsky and I think it probably appeals a great deal to little boys. The illustrations are as usual wonderful.

[Anthony Morello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monday's Troll is a poetry book about different types of fairy tale monsters and creatures. The poems I read for review were: "I Thought I Spotted Bigfoot", about a boy seeing Bigfoot in his neighborhood; "Monday's Troll", about trolls for each day of the week; "I Told the Wizard to His Face", about a boy criticizing a wizard and the consequence; and "Blizzard", about a wizard that plagues humans with his powers.

I enjoyed Prelutsky's poetry for his originality and humor that would be great reads for younger children. The illustrations work well with the text and enhance it to give it greater creativity; I especially liked the full-bleed with a different frame specific for each poem. The poetry uses rhyming couplets, usually rhyming every other line except for the shorter poems which rhyme in pairs or longer poems like "Blizzard" which rhymes every fourth line. "Blizzard" was my favorite poem from this book because it is unique from the other poems in this book in its rhyming sequence and is a small ballad. Overall I enjoyed this work, but it didn't blow me away.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poetry book telling of creatures and their bad habits, lifestyles, and looks. I think this book is great for children to work on adjectives like Jack prelutsky. However the book I read was a hardback not a paperback book

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jack Prelutsky's poetry and this book was filled with fun poems just like his other books, but I didn't enjoy the poems in this book as I have in others I've read of his. However, the book was still good and had some pretty good poems in it.

[Nancy Jo Lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am doing an author study slash poetry cafe and station exploration with the kids at my school for National Poetry month. This is one of the books I am using for this activity. I enjoy Jack Prelutsky's poems because they are easy to read and understand and also fun!

[abookgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love that my 2 year old loves this book! So much fun to read.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great, creepy poems for performing.

[Hannah Starnes]

This book can be used for any age when discussing poetry. They can learn different types and can be used in comparison to other poets.

[Ashley Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has poems that are about different kinds of "monsters".

setting- various

grade- 2nd/3rd

use- I would use this as a fun way to introduce poetry to my students

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry. Good poetry book. Could be used for a Halloween party or unit on monsters.