The Goats Gruff and the Baa-dly Built Bridge

by Jason M. Burns, Dustin Evans (Illustrator )

A retelling of the classic tale of The billy goats Gruff from a scientific point of view. Includes a glossary and bibliography for further reading.

Dr. Gnome-It-All is host of the most popular internet show found on the World Wondrous Web—STEM Stream. In graphic-style format, he teaches his audience about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, while entertaining them with adaptations of timeless fairy tales. STEM Fairy Tales explains science concepts as they appear in the story and gives readers a new perspective on favorite fables.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2022

About the author

New York Times best selling author Jason M. Burns made the leap into the comic book industry in 2004 after being asked to write a short story for Dead@17: Rough Cut. Since that time he has written and created a number of critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful comic book series, including A Dummy’s Guide to Danger, Curse of the Were-Woman, and The Expendable One, which is being developed into a major motion picture by Intrepid Pictures. Burns has also spent time writing for such recognizable brands as Sesame Street, Shrek, Megamind, Jericho, Pocket God, Kung Fu Panda, Riche Rich, and Fraggle Rock, while working with on-screen talent as well, including Law & Order: SVU’s Christopher Meloni.

Most recently Burns wrote, directed, and produced the live action web series Adults Only, which stars Danny Nucci, Vincent Pastore, Brian Austin Green, Sebastian Bach, and others.

Burns was born and raised in Massachusetts where he began his career as an entertainment journalist and public relations professional.

Reviews

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

This retelling of the Billy Goats Gruff is designed to teach about bridges. The story makes good use of humor and of the brother goats working together. The interplay between all the characters and the narrator Dr. Gnome-It-All was fun as well.

I particularly like that the list of favorite bridges included one that was not as famous and from a non-Western country.

This book teaches in a fun and entertaining way. It was nicely done. The illustrations are campy enough but still good.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

The Goats Gruff and the Baa-dly Built Brudge is a fun and imaginative children's book that is a cleverly written mash up of science and fairy tale with added facts and information. I love retellings for children and adults so I jumped at the chance to read and review this.
The characters are so much fun and I loved the name of Dr Gnome-it-all! STEM is becoming so popular now in schools and education and these clever little books are a fantastic idea and would make a great classroom or STEM club resource! There is scientific language within this book which was great and included at the back was a glossary so anyone - young or old, can flick to the back to read what the word means. This book focuses on bridges - a baa-dly build one is the main focus. There is information about bridges in this book which I would have found better being placed at the end of the book but doesn't cause any problem with yhe book, that's just my personal opinion/preference.

[Ankit Saxena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the Illustrations and story too. Though Historically speaking Adam's bridge is the oldest ever built bridges much before even the name Rome or Romans came up. And, Aqueducts were first came in use ingeniously under Harappan civilization which yet again was much before Romans. Facts must be kept with proper study on the subject. Story on the other hand is good to read but could be better. I do not wanna put it under chidlren section due to controversial facts.

My NetGalley reviews: https://www.netgalley.com/book/270852...

[K-la Hugie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished my first Jason M. Burns comic and was so enamored that I immediately picked up this one to see if it was just as good! This was even more enjoyable than the for me. I particularly liked how the author didn't skimp on using technical words in a sentence and had a glossary at the end where the reader could go look up the definition if needed.

One of my only complaints with the other book in this series was how the "Once Upon A Facts" interrupted the story and were oddly placed, but that is not the case here. I can easily see an adult reading this book to a child and doing the different voices for the story vs. facts vs. Dr. Gnome-It-All. I do think the list of favorite bridges should have been put at the end next to the glossary though. Overall, I would recommend this book. I even learned some new things!

[el (celestialbronz) · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a combination of alternate fairytales and science. theres scientific facts & informations accompanying the tale, especially about bridge. it's interesting.

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young reader presenting the story of the Billy Goats Gruff, who always managed to best the troll under the bridge leading to the greenest pastures, but with more – in fact we get a gnome telling us where the troll has gone wrong with his bridge-building. Roman arches and some classic examples of the world's bridges are introduced, but while that's fine and dandy it does jar a little, and isn't really incorporated into the legend. People who come here for a thoroughly rethought and quirked-up telling will be disappointed, but teachers will be happier with the two-types-of-book-in-one aspect. Three and a half stars.

[Mairéad · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 This fun, STEM focused retelling of the classic Billy goats Gruff fairy tale is sure to interest and entertain readers aged 7+ Perfect for use in the classroom when introducing the concept of bridge building this comic strip style picture book encourages critical thinking and curiosity about the world around us in a humourous, engaging way. I'd love to see this made into a cartoon for classroom use as I think it would be high engaging for primary aged pupils and I look forward to reading more from the series.
Thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and Norwood House Press for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Goats Gruff and the Baa-dly Built Bridge' by Jason M. Burns with art by Dustin Evans is a graphic novel in the STEM Fairy Tales series.

Weaving the story of the billy goats gruff with principles of bridge construction, we see the goats cross a crumbling bridge built by the troll who lives underneath. Will his own bridge be his undoing?

This was a fun read with just the right amount of great engineering information fed along the way. The art was fun too and makes this a great read for younger readers.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning about bridges disguised in a folktales about three goats brothers. So three goat brothers are about to cross this bridge, but only one can pass through at a time. Here the gnome professor will explain about bridges and since it was explained in between the story, it is easy to understand and fun enough to read. Great read for curious minds, moreover to those who likes buildings.

[Averil Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book! What a cute and fun way to introduce kids to STEM concepts - in this case, physics and engineering. The familiar story was interspersed perfectly with fun facts and humor from Dr. Gnome-It-All, and I loved the charming fairytale puns. To top it off, the author perfectly blended reading-level-appropriate language with great new vocabulary words for kids to learn and practice.

With cute characters rendered in lovely, colorful illustrations, you'll easily be able to keep kids' attention with this book while you discuss not only the story but all that can be learned from its pages, and it's not a painful slog for parents and teachers to get through either, as some children's books can be.

I can't wait to buy a copy of this book for my nephews and nieces!

[Jeanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great way to retell classical fairy tales. The set up is a comic form script. It takes all the STEM concepts and makes it more interesting for the young curious mind. A mind that likes to figure out how things work and make things better. For the young analytical mind.

A special thank you to Norwood House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.