Listen, My Bridge Is SO Cool!

The Other Side of the Story

by Nancy Loewen, Cristian Bernardini (Illustrator)

The troll SAID he wanted to gobble up the billy goats, but what's the real story behind the bridge-dweller's roaring and stomping? Readers find out when they sit down one-on-one with him and get a subtle, curriculum-supporting lesson on point of view.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She's published more than 140 books for children. FOUR TO THE POLE (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) and THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her WRITER'S TOOLBOX series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Nancy lives in Saint Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She has two adult children and a cat who sometimes bites her knees under the table as she writes.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Dear Arty,
UR giving trolls a good name, witch is very bad. Get men, or we will remove U from UR post.
The Troll Patrol”

Arty has never been like the other trolls, but now he must be ... or they will take him away from his beloved bridge. Maybe scaring those goats will do the trick, but the first two don’t seem very scared. But the biggest goat is very scared. So much so that the other goats make fun of him. Maybe he and the troll can work something out.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

One that shows appearance can be deceiving, as well as having anti bullying and anti prejudice messages that are not too heavy handed. As usal, critical thinking questions at the end.

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not everything is as it seems and some people put up pretenses to appease others.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the theme of Another Point of View and am delighted to have discovered this series. I believe it's important children learn empathy - and if they can giggle while doing so, and share stories with their families, too, well, all the better! Includes back matter.

This particular episode is more 'fractured' than 'another pov.' The story is changed too much for me ... but I'll still round up to four stars because it's important for readers to learn that there could be more going on that we don't know about. Also I love the biggest Billy. I do recommend it and will keep reading others in the series!

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great twist on the Three Goats story, presenting a highly sympathetic troll, without making the goats the bad guys either. Blame management, not the workers, amiright? An #antiwork story for the fairy tale crowd.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little cheesy, but the second graders enjoyed this fractured version of the Billy Goats Gruff. They especially enjoyed the humor of the Troll Patrol’s spelling, the baby goat’s cuteness, and the battle between troll and the biggest goat.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very light hearted listen. This audio book filled me with glee and joy. Wonderful story of overcoming perceptions.

[Jan Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the letter from the troll patrol.

[Milli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute!

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fairy Tales with a Twist books are all interesting takes from the other side, for example Cinderella as told by the "Wicked" Step-mother. All of the ones I have read have been good (4 - 4.5 range).